Pandemic infections from animals

The phenomenon of people suffering from diseases that are normally only acquired by animals is strange. The worrying thing is that recently, such cases have increased abnormally. Even poultry such as chickens and ducks are causing great dangers to the H5N1 virus.

Multiple problems

There have been countless diseases that animals can infect.

AIDS : People infected with the HIV virus from human-like monkeys in Central Africa, most likely from Shimpanze. Nearly 24 million people died of AIDS.

SARS : The guess is that it comes from weasel. The disease was discovered in China in early 2003 and infected several thousand people, including more than 800 people killed (299 deaths in Hong Kong).

Rash fever : Caused by mosquitoes. The first outbreaks of this disease appeared in the 50s of the last century in Thailand and the Philippines. In the 70s of the last century, 9 countries suffered from typhus. Currently, in 100 countries there are cases of typhus.

Ebola fever :

Patients with Ebola fever
(Photo: aerzte-ohne-grenzen)

The conjecture is that humans suffer from Ebola fever from human-like monkeys. Pathogens are transmitted directly through the patient's blood and waste. In the 1970s, in Sudan, Ebola fever was discovered, killing up to 90% of infected people.

Yellow fever : Humans are infected with yellow fever virus from monkeys who reside in Central Africa, most likely from Shimpanze. Transplant pathogens are mosquitoes. The first cases of yellow fever were reported 400 years ago. Yellow fever vaccine was invented about 60 years ago.

West Nil fever : Humans are infected with this pathogen from birds through mosquitoes. This is one of the most dangerous epidemics and causes the most deaths. Cases of this disease were discovered not only in Africa but also in Europe, Asia and North America.

Malaria : The causative agent is transmitted to humans after being bitten by Anofel mosquitoes. Every year about 300 million people get malaria, of which about 1 million people die.

Laima disease : Humans infected with the virus cause this disease from deer and mice. Symptoms of infection are like the flu but the progression is much more severe and leads to arthritis. The name is based on the name of the city of Laima in the United States, where the disease was first discovered.

Smallpox : People get this disease from camels. Smallpox has been known for three thousand years and for a long time is considered the main cause of death for children. Among the victims of smallpox there are many famous historical figures, such as the Russian king Piotr the Great or the French king Louis XV. According to historians, by the end of the nineteenth century, about 50 million people were smallpox each year. The proportion of people dying from smallpox accounts for 30% of the total number of infected people. The most recent case of smallpox was recorded in 1977.

Monkey smallpox : People infected with this disease from yellow rats. Cases of monkeypox infection were first detected in late May 2005 in the United States. The disease progresses like regular smallpox until it causes death.

Plague : Humans are infected with plague from rats and other types of rodents. The causative agent is transmitted through the bite. The first major plague was recorded in the sixth century in Vizantia: nearly 100 million people died of plague in 50 years. In the XIV century, plague killed one-third of Asia's population and half of Europe's population. By the nineteenth century, the third largest plague occurred - the inhabitants of 100 ports in the world have been affected by this disease. In 1999, the plague broke out in 14 countries, mainly in Africa. Nearly 2.6 million people have plague and 212 of them have died.

Mad cow disease : Humans are infected with this disease from beef. In the world there have been a number of deaths of people eating beef infected with pathogens, damaging the brain. Occasionally there are people who die from mad cow disease in different countries. Damage caused by this disease caused the European economy to estimate from 60 to 120 million USD.

Encephalitis : Encephalitis agent is transmitted to people from mice and other rodents. The species that mediate this pathogen are mosquitoes and mites. Every year in the world, there are about 100 to 200,000 people suffering from encephalitis, of which about 10-15 thousand patients die .

More and more dangerous

Experts at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases say that things are just beginning in that dangerous adventure. In the near future, it will appear on many animal diseases and the loss of life and material will increase.

Laurie Garrett , author of the book " Future plague " (Photo: wise.virginia) Due to the development of the globalization process as well as the destruction of the environment, the close contact between humans and animals has become more frequent than before. Even many animals that have never lived with humans have been domesticated into cattle before. Many kinds of exotic animals from Asia or Africa have become food for both European or American residents . The modern food industry structure leads to the risk of animal diseases. threatening the life and health of many hundred thousand people. Climate change also changes the migration of birds and insects, insects (such as mosquitoes, for example), allowing them to spread pathogens more widely than before. The changing environment of humans and animals also changes the way the effects of different pathogens .

According to Laurie Garrett, author of " The Future Plague ," commented that we have so far not envisioned the scale of this problem. Before the agent causes common diseases in animals that have not appeared on humans, no one can predict this. It is also unclear why the virus in animals can mutate and become dangerous to humans.

Infection can also occur through an intermediate animal. It could be a mosquito (mosquitoes that cause malaria after burning people), but it can also be an animal that people use as food . No one knows exactly what animals can infect from human. So far, almost no country has had a particularly intensive research program of animal diseases that can infect humans.

Sword of Damocles

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the H5N1 virus often rarely infects other organisms, including humans. However, this is a virus that can mutate to causing bird flu in humans. Around the world, there have been over 70 cases of people dying from bird flu in Asia in the last two years. WHO also said that no country can be safe once a pandemic of bird flu occurs. Even " seclusion " cannot help prevent a pandemic. If in the past, pandemics needed 6-9 months to reach the global scale, now, due to the development of public mass media, the pandemic has only spread over 3 months. around the world.

It could be said that bird flu and H5N1 virus are now hanging on the head of mankind and every country must be wary of this pandemic.

In fact, if a pandemic of bird flu occurs on humans, almost all countries will face great difficulties. Scientists believe that the spread of bird flu in humans is 38 times faster than SARS. According to WHO, all countries are lacking avian vaccine and anti-avian drugs. Unable to envision the number of victims who could die because of this pandemic, only knowing that the number could reach tens of millions . WHO predicted that there could be between 2 and 7 million people dying when outbreak outbreak. As predicted by some scientists, this number could reach 20 to 100 million people