TODAY IS WORLD HEALTH DAY With the news that a Tiger in New York Zoo was diagnosed positive for COVID 19, the dimension of the pandemic has taken a new dimension. COVID 19 has to be discussed in two phases viz. source of infection and community spread. While source is largely discussed on the marketing of wild animal market around Wu Han, which can be disputed on commercial and political grounds the community spread can be related to travel, tourism and congregations. India (Kerala) received COVID19 from a family who possibly was on a religious tour to Italy and from medical students who possibly ran home from around Wu Han. There were incidence reports from people whose track record showed arrival from a chain of countries from Thailand to Britain or even US.
In a discussion on Coronavirus with “The Guardian”, on Wed 25 Mar 2020 07.00 GMT, M/s Damian Carrington UN Environment editor explained that 75% of all emerging infectious diseases come from wildlife. She said “Never before have so many opportunities existed for pathogens to pass from wild and domestic animals to people,” Continued erosion of wild spaces brought us uncomfortably close to animals and plants that harbor diseases and can jump to humans.
When we cut down trees in our rainforests, cut hills acutely mine quarries for building roads, to fill wetland or flood plains and construct resorts, roads, building and airports (or helipads) in the name of development, pilgrimage, tourism or similar earning opportunities (mainly individual profiteering), we force wild animals to live closer to us. We forget that trees in forest and the burrowing fauna, mangroves or water plants help retain loads of rain water uphill and help recharge the streams, rivers, wells and water holes months after the rains are over. Aaron Bernstein, at the Harvard School of Public Health in the US, said that besides destruction of natural places climate change is also forcing animals to move (towards human habitat): “That creates an opportunity for pathogens to get into new hosts. “We already had SARS, MERS, corona, HIV all of them traceable some way to wild life. We need to see what nature is trying to tell us. We must realize that we’re playing with fire,” said UN’s environment chief, Inger Andersen.
According to Prof Andrew Cunningham, of the Zoological Society of London “The emergence and spread of Covid-19 was predicted [in the sense that] there would be another viral emergence from wildlife that would be a public health threat,”Though the possibility of zoonosis of COVID 19 is not established the Corona (RNA) virus identified in 1950 has zoonotic potential. Report of the NY tiger testing positive is an indication.
COMMUNITY SPREAD OF (COVID19) IS MORE VITAL THAN ITS MORTALITY RATE
Though COVID19 originated in China It spread fast in the belt across Europe and US. This may be mainly through to Cruise or long air travel where there is no guarantee that every traveller covered his mouth while sneezing or coughing or touched the arm rest, seat belt etc. after washing hands. COVD19 entered India through those who travelled for pleasure or pilgrimage (call it Bhakti tourism or congregation).
SOCIAL ASPECT OF DEVELOPMENT:
There is lots of confusion on the way we describe development. Socially our description of “ease” in life gets perceived as “pleasure in life” (or life style dynamics). I remember a debate in BBC (radio) 30 years ago where a spokesman curtly told that, “while the west tend to surge forward to achieve more, the east had an inner culture of restraint on desire”. This is precisely how development program for “ease in life” is different from “pleasures in life”. Life gets socially engineered to achieve higher demands in life. Professor SJS Odendaal of Pretoria univ. South Africa classified human requirements as need, want, greed, craving or craze to achieve. If anyone feels that this matter could be a concrete leftist or socialist ideology, they may revisit the constitution of India specially Article 39, 48A and 51A or the ruling of the Hon’ble supreme court of India in 1996 where the qualification for sustainable development is listed and clearly prescribed
Human pressures in coastal systems are extensive as a large proportion of the global population inhabits these areas and utilizes the natural resources they provide (McGranahan et al., 2007). The magnitude of some human impacts are well understood, such as those caused by land development and occupation along the coastline.
COASTAL ECONOMIES are often supported by activities that rely on commercial or recreational vessels that move people or goods, such as shipping, transportation, cruising, and fishing. Unintentional though vessel traffic contributes to erosion of coastlines; this is where that economy ignores environment.
In 2013, the Ocean Economy for U.S. coastal states comprised about 2.2% of both U.S. GDP and employment, a larger share of the U.S. economy than other major natural resource industries, including farming, food products, oil and gas extraction, and forest products. Marine Transportation, the movement of people and goods across oceans and Great Lakes, generated $59 billion in annual total GDP (Kildow et al., 2016). As coastal communities continue to struggle who will address rapidly eroding shorelines or increasing pandemic threat?
“THE SEPARATION OF HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY IS A DANGEROUS DELUSION.
Our health entirely depends on the climate and the other organisms we share the planet with.” The billion-dollar illegal wildlife trade is part of the problem, said John Scanlon, the former secretary general of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
ARE VETS TO CONCERN WITH POSSIBLE ZOONOSIS AND PUBLIC HEALTH:
A 2007 study of the 2002-03 SARS outbreak concluded: but, “The presence of a large reservoir of SARS-COV-like viruses in horseshoe bats, together with the culture of eating exotic mammals in southern China, is a time bomb. He said other diseases from wildlife had much higher fatality rates in people, ie. it is 50% for Ebola and 60%-75% for Nipah virus, transmitted from bats in south Asia. In that respect we are. a bit lucky with [Covid-19],”.
The Covid-19 crisis may provide us an opportunity for change, but Cunningham is not convinced it will be taken: “I thought things would have changed after SARS, which was a massive wakeup call – the biggest economic impact of any emerging disease to that date,” he said.
“EVERYBODY WAS UP IN ARMS ABOUT IT. BUT IT WENT AWAY, BECAUSE OF OUR CONTROL MEASURES. THEN THERE WAS A HUGE SIGH OF RELIEF AND IT WAS BACK TO BUSINESS AS USUAL. WE CANNOT GO BACK TO BUSINESS AS USUAL.” ALWAYS .
There is a need to involve in local, regional and national centres to identify and study the anatomy, physiology. Pathology, microbiology, Pharmacology (drug effect, drug interaction etc.) of our Domestic animal diversity and link it with their local environment and various management conditions. Buffer zone management is another vital issue. Since we conserve animals longer than the west, diagnosis and treatment of geriatric animal species need focused attention.
By – Dr Rama kumar V.(Rtd.)
Founder Secretary, VCI.
