While the coronavirus is still spreading around the world, scientists around the world have begun to prepare for the next global outbreak.
Camels are the host of the coronavirus Mers. Pictured according to BBC News
According to BBC News on June 6, experts in the field of public health around the world have found that human invasion of the natural world has created a "perfect storm" for the spread of viruses from wild animals to humans, allowing them to spread to humans more frequently and spread rapidly around the world.
Scientists warn that human daily activities are accelerating this process. "This will not be the last pandemic we will face," said Professor Matthew Bayris from the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom.
And in order to prevent the next global pandemic, scientists around the world have taken action. Scientists at the University of Liverpool have now developed a pattern recognition system to predict which wild animals carry the virus that poses the greatest threat to humans.
We dodged five viral bullets, but we couldn't dodge the sixth
Many scientists agree that human deforestation and encroachment on the habitats of various wild animals are helping diseases spread more frequently from animals to humans. Professor Kate Jones of University College London told BBC News that there is extensive evidence that an increased risk of infectious disease in humans is often associated with human-modified ecosystems with lower biodiversity, such as agriculture or plantation landscapes.
"Not all diseases are like this," Jones added. "But the wildlife species that are most tolerant of human interference, such as some rodents, seem to be more efficient at hosting and transmitting pathogens." As a result, the loss of biodiversity increases the risk of human-wildlife exposure and increases the chances of transmission of certain viruses, bacteria and parasites to humans. ”
The "junction" between farms or human activities and wildlife habitats is a hot spot for the emergence of new diseases. Pictured according to BBC News
Previously, outbreaks of some diseases have clearly demonstrated the risk of this "junction" between human activities and wildlife.
In 1999, malaysia's first outbreak of Nipah virus began spreading from a large pig farm built on the edge of a forest. The virus is carried by wild fruit bats, which feed on fruit trees, and pigs on pig farms are infected by eating leftover fruit that falls from trees and is stained with bat saliva. More than 250 people who had close contact with infected pigs were subsequently infected, and more than 100 of them died. The current case fatality rate of the new crown virus is about 1%, while the Nipah virus has caused 40%-75% of the deaths of infected people.
Professor Eric Fivre of the University of Liverpool said scientists needed to keep an ongoing look at areas at higher risk of disease outbreaks, such as farms on the edge of forests, animal markets, which are all locations with blurred borders between humans and wildlife, as well as where disease is more likely to occur.
"In human populations, there may be three or four outbreaks of new diseases per year. Not only in Asia or Africa, but also in Europe and the United States. We need to continuously monitor these junctions and put in place systems to react when any anomalies are spotted," Faifel said.
"Over the past 20 years, we have experienced 6 major viral threats – SARS, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), Ebola, avian and swine flu, and then COVID-19. We dodged five bullets (successfully stopping the spread of the virus around the world), but a sixth hit us. Professor Matthew Baylis said in an interview with the BBC. COVID-19 will not be the last pandemic we face, so we need to pay closer attention to wildlife diseases. ”
Human activities create a "perfect storm" for virus transmission
As part of a close-up study of global wildlife viruses, Professor Bayris and colleagues designed a predictive pattern recognition system capable of detecting a vast database of every known wildlife disease. Among the thousands of known species of bacteria, parasites and viruses, the system can identify the number and type of biological species hidden in their infection, and use these clues to find the virus that poses the greatest threat to humans.
The university of Liverpool scientists developed visual data, each line representing a disease. Pictured according to BBC News
Professor Bayliss said: "Finding out which diseases are causing the pandemic is just the next step, and we are currently making progress on the first step, which is to find clues. "If a pathogen is prioritized, scientists can steer the direction of research to find prevention or treatment before the disease breaks out."
Professor Matthew Baylis told BBC News: "Humanity has created a perfect storm for the outbreak of a pandemic. "Therefore, continuous surveillance of new diseases is becoming increasingly important."
Professor Faifer agrees, saying bluntly: "This kind of incident may happen again and again. In our interactions with the natural world, similar events happen all the time. What matters now is how we understand and respond to it. Fivre said the current covid-19 crisis that is ravaging the world is a lesson for many people about the consequences of our own impact on the natural world.
"All the things we use in our daily lives and think of as things that we take for granted from nature, like food we eat, materials for smartphones. The more we consume, the more people will extract it from nature and ship it around the world for profit. It is therefore incumbent upon all to think seriously about the natural resources consumed and their impact. Professor Fivle said.
Red Star News reporter Wang Yalin Xu Huan
Edited by Guo Yu
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