An environmental expert has warned that new viral pandemics could be much worse than Covid-19 and potentially kill tens of millions of people in the years to come.
John Vidal is in particular pointing towards viruses found in animals that could mutate and jump to humans. He says the issue will become evident as human beings push further and further into largely untouched territory and come into contact with rare animals more frequently. He goes on to say that due to air-travel and global commerce any such disease could, like Covid-19, spread rapidly around the world.
Speaking to reporters Vidal said:
"Mankind has changed its relationship with both wild and farmed animals, destroying their habitats and crowding them together - and the process... is only accelerating. If we fail to appreciate the seriousness of the situation, this present pandemic may be only a precursor to something far graver still."
Vidal also points out that many diseases now within the human population originally spread from animals, including:
"HIV, Ebola, Lassa Fever, Marburg and Simian foamy virus in Africa; Sars and Covid-19 in China; Chagas, Machupo and Hantavirus in Latin America; Hendra in Australia, and Mers in Saudi Arabia"
Research backs up Vidal's position. According to Ecologists at University College London (UCL), 335 new diseases have jumped from animals to humans since 1940. These include viral diseases, such as Covid-19, but also bacteria, fungi and prions (as is the case with CJD, commonly known as 'mad cow disease').
Josef Settele, co-author of a new UN-level study on future pandemics, added:
"Covid-19 may be only the beginning. Future pandemics are likely to happen more frequently, spread more rapidly, have greater economic impact and kill more people if we are not extremely careful about the possible impacts of the choices we make today."
While a World Health Organisation investigation is still being undertaken into the origin of Covid-19, it is widely speculated that the disease began in either bats or pangolins and then spread to the human population through a wet-market in the Chinese city of Wuhan. China has since clamped down on the transportation and sale of such animals within the country.
[h/t: The Sun]
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