More and more viruses are dying around the world, and the reason is not pleasant at all

Dangerous viruses are emerging more and more. Why so?

It is unclear if you notice, but it seems that more and more dangerous viruses appear, with increasing frequency. Partly because media coverage is so fast, but indeed the number of viruses is increasing dramatically.

New virus appears continuously

In January 2018, Nigeria was at risk of an outbreak, caused by a strange virus called Lassa . Up to now, there have been at least 400 cases, with 100 deaths.

Lassa virus.

In May, the state of Kerala in southern India struggled with a rare disease from the Nipah virus. This disease causes the brain to become inflamed, swollen, and gradually die.

Further, we have the yellow fever epidemic in Brazil in 2017, causing 723 people to get sick and one-third of them die. Especially in the period of 2014 - 2016, we have Ebola outbreaks in Africa, killing more than 11,000 people.

If so, see that viral diseases are emerging with increasing frequency. And according to a recent study, at least 3 or 4 new strains of virus are found each year, not to mention 250 other undiscovered lines.

Virus outbreaks are emerging with increasing frequency.

To find a new virus today is quite complicated, it takes a lot of steps. It involves identifying the complete genome of the virus, along with laboratory testing steps with the huge data system to access.

At the same time, biologists need to do a lot of experiments to understand the certain dangers of a virus. For example, a virus could be found in the 1950s, but it was not until 2004 that it was found to cause illness in children. In short, it is very difficult.

People are factors that make viruses appear more?

Modern humans are actually part of the cause of viruses becoming more dangerous. Basically, a virus can only multiply when it enters the body's cells, then spreads through human-to-human contact.

According to statistics from the United Nations (UN), the world population is increasing at a rate of about 1% per year. And with viruses, that number is synonymous with a potential "viral incubator".

The population has increased, many areas have been urbanized, people live closer together. That's how the virus spreads . Transport means development, travel between countries is also easier. The virus is therefore easy to cross the continent quickly.

Nipah virus has been confirmed to have originated from bat species.

In addition, many confirmed dangerous viruses can be transmitted from animals to humans. For example, there is a source of transmission from bats. Further, the SARS epidemic is also thought to originate from bats. Or the flu viruses spread from pigs and chickens to people are also extremely dangerous.

Besides, the most serious source of virus spread is mosquitoes. Zika, malaria, dengue . all come from mosquitoes.

Why can viruses be so quiet?

The answer lies in the virus's own mechanism . In fact, human viruses are able to replicate extremely fast in extremely large numbers. Thus, their mutation rate is very high, causing the genome to change continuously.

This helps them adapt quickly to changes in the environment. Meanwhile, the human immune system and drugs do not have that ability. And so the virus keeps moving from species to species, from animals jumping to humans without anyone doing anything.

In fact, human viruses are able to replicate extremely fast in extremely large numbers.

Moreover, some viruses have a very long incubation period. For example, Ebola, they can last for months in the body even if the patient has no symptoms. So many people will be infected when contacting the sick person without knowing it.

At the same time, we cannot create any specific drugs for dangerous viruses. The reason is the same as that, the virus grows very fast and diverse, so there are no drugs that can be used for all.

But despite many challenges, people are still trying to do a lot of research to find a breakthrough. For example, Monash University has made a project to look for a safe and neutral form of bacteria. This bacterium will play a role in preventing the survival of the virus in the mosquito body, and thus solve the problem.

Does the research have an application, we need more research. Just hope that people will soon find a solution to this scary virus story.