"Virus Hunters," on Nat Geo, Reveals the Worst Could Be Yet to Come

That statement should stop you cold If not check your pulse While it may not seem possible that we are in for something worse than what we are going through this year considering that as of this writing more than 445 million cases resulting in more than 117 million deaths worldwide are attributed to COVID19 other possible pandemics lurk What comes through plangently in Nat Geo39s essential doc amp8211 premiering Sunday Nov 1 is that as you read this and watch that scientists are searching for the next potentially deadlier pandemic in hopes of warding it off before another virus hops to humans as so many invariably doquotIt is important to pinpoint where the hot spot would bequot Christopher Golden an ecologist and epidemiologist featured in the film told MediaVillage quotIt could be anywhere It could be in your backyard or somewhere more remotequotA National Geographic fellow and a professor at Harvard Universityamp8217s School of Public Health Golden pictured at top like most scientists isnamp8217t prone to hysteria or hyperbole Still what he calmly lays out is nothing short of terrifying More pandemics loomquotAll of the dynamics that drove coronavirus are the exact dynamics that drove SARS MERS Ebola Swine Flu and HIV as wellquot he said quotUltimately they are all showcasing how we are coming into greater and greater interaction with wildlife and domesticated animalsquotIf you have ever wondered just how a disease jumps species this special amp8211 which also features ABC foreign correspondent James Longman explains it Nearly threequarters of diseases originate from animals If an infected bat defecates on grapes or nibbles an olive those foods could become tainted However the greater likelihood of transmission is through hunting butchering and the preparing of contaminated meatsGolden and Longman travel to Liberia a west African country that had been hit hard by Ebola From the moment they arrive at the airport itamp8217s clear how seriously the country enforces COVID testing to keep its population safe There they travel into the rain forest where researchers study bats for diseases in hopes of discovering them before another global pandemic is sparkedThey stop at a bat cave where Ebola originated Thereamp8217s troubling evidence of skeletons of young bats lining the cave floor but itamp8217s not yet known why As with any Nat Geo film viewers are bound to learn Golden reminds us that quotbats have a unique evolutionary history they are the only mammals to develop flightquotWhatamp8217s remarkable about bats is that they have also evolved to carry certain diseases This might sound like the sort of knowledge you glean from a Snapple cap and forget before you can share it with your trivialoving friend But as Golden spells out in the documentary amp8220With that has come an immune system that allows certain types of diseases to proliferate without killing them These diseases can then be transmitted to humans when there is some sort of humanbat interactionamp8221Scientists need to stay a few steps ahead of bats or any diseased animals that have the potential to wipe out humans But it remains extremely difficult to do so especially when it comes to the food supply chain even in developed countries where governments have safety controls in placeAnd then there are markets about which we all know much more since coronavirus entered our lives But we don39t know everything As seen in the film some of them shockingly sell dead animals gathered from roadsGolden and Longman visit one where people sell bushmeat quotThese people need to feed their familiesquot Longman noted quotThere is huge demand for it and this is just one marketquot The documentary clears up a misconception many have about bushmeat itamp8217s not only the meat from bats rats monkeys and snakes in Africa It is also game served on dinner tables in America They visit a man who hunts deer for his familyamp8217s meat some 300 pounds a year in WisconsinA virus that hasnamp8217t received much attention in the United States Chronic Wasting Disease is always fatal in deer elk and moose It hasnamp8217t made its way to humans but officials are wary because this virus destroys brain matter The warning is clear A pandemic can just easily start in the US once it takes root in the food chainNot surprisingly Golden defined the current era the Anthropocene quotas a period of degradation of natural systems It is a direct result of human activity and so if you think about the unfolding of global events deforestation mining freshwater scarcity temperature increases all are driven by human activity and are reshaping the surface of the Earthquot he explained quotAnd as we are doing that the human population is increasing and coming into contact with domestic and wild animals and this creates a landscape for human and animal interactionquotWhile Golden is in no way an alarmist he added quotWe should definitely be scared if we do not take this pandemic seriously both in terms of immediate action to course correct with the current disease and in developing true preparedness plans for what could be the next onequotDespite surging COVID numbers and recognizing that more deadly viruses are out there somewhere Golden somehow remains optimisticquotI think that there is still hope that every individual can change the trajectory of where the planet movesquot he said quotBe more conscious of what you are buying and what you are eating And next week the election is critical Vote from the standpoint as to how we choose to protect our environment and manage these diseases in an efficient wayquotFor more information and background read Ed Martin39s report on Virus HuntersClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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"Virus Hunters," on Nat Geo, Reveals the Worst Could Be Yet to Come

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