Experts warn that the next pandemic is just around the corner and could come from animals again. They urge governments to invest heavily in the prevention efforts to avoid history from repeating itself as COVID-19 continues to spread across the globe.
The prevention they talk about is deploying more biologists, zoologists, and veterinarians to monitor the animals and people who interact with them. The World Health Organization estimates around one billion cases and millions of deaths each year can be traced back to diseases that come from animals.
Humanity Should Be Prepared for the Next Pandemic
Researchers have found more than 30 types of viruses that can infect humans in the past decade, and over 75% of these viruses originate from animals. Scientists warn that the pace of pandemics like COVID-19 is dramatically accelerating due to human activities.
Starting with SARS back in 2003, followed by the West Nile, Ebola, Zika, and now the COVID-19, these pandemics all came from the bats which spread through humans by coughing and sneezing or through mosquitoes.
Pathology professor Dr. Tracey MacNamara of the Western University of Health Sciences College of Veterinary Medicine said that it is increasingly becoming clear that the time between these outbreaks is getting shorter. It does affect not only the health but also the economy.
For decades, experts like Dr. MacNamara and Dr. Peter Daszak have warned politicians and the public that wild and domestic animals carry a threat to humans.
They believe that the world would be ill-prepared to stop a virus if no proper monitoring and surveillance of these creatures are done.
An early warning system called PREDICT, funded by the US government, was launched in 2009 to combat the H5N1 bird flu outbreak has seen a lapse on its funding in late 2019. Dasak lamented its loss and said that it is much cheaper for governments to spend on small outbreaks rather than controlling a massive pandemic.
But with COVID-19 still, around, the funding of these crucial programs is coming back as PREDICT granted an emergency six-month extension and a new program called the Stop Spillover to be launch this October.
Although it might be too late to stop the coronavirus, scientists said that the threat of spillover grows more imminent each year. The cutting down of forests and altering the habitats of animals have pushed them out and into human populations.
Read Also: Covid-19 Pandemic Wave is Not Going Anywhere: Experts Predict 3 Scenarios
Hygiene and Sanitation Systems
It is well known that poor hygiene and sanitation systems host more germs that infect humans. With the closer interaction between animals and humans, bacteria and viruses from animals can quickly spread to humans.
Once infected, it is now easier for bacteria or viruses to spread all over the world. The illegal trade of wild animals that carry deadly bacteria and viruses goes undetected across borders which threatens further the health of people.
These bacteria and viruses are transferred via bodily fluids like saliva, blood, urine, and feces. People could be infected through indirect means like the soil, plants, animals, and water.
To identify these emerging diseases, Southeast Asian nations focus on testing for viruses in animals and humans, specifically in those locations where viruses can spillover or find a new host. By empowering experts in the field, it would be much quicker to identify the source of a possible outbreak before it spreads.
Read More: The COVID-19 Pandemic Leads to Increase in Animal Abuse and Abandonment: Here's Why
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