The world of Tzu Chi April 2020 (Vol.121)

TZU CHI 121 55 caused by influenza epidemics has exceeded that of World War II. We shudder at the atrocities of warfare, but tend to turn a blind eye to the fatal consequences of zoonotic diseases. Besides livestock, wild animals also serve as host organisms or intermediate agents for infectious diseases. The virus is passed on from animal to human when the latter comes into contact with the carcass of the animal after hunting it down. Once infected, one risks infecting others with the contagious disease. The 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak, caused by the SARS coronavirus, is another example of cross-infection between animals and humans. The epidemic erupted in Hong Kong and swept rapidly through Canada, Taiwan, Singapore and Vietnam, provoking terror among the masses on an international scale. When SARS cases were detected across the Causeway, our close proximity to Singapore was a cause for prevalent fear among Malaysian hospitals; anxious medical staff were unsettled by the uncertainty of whether patients with apparent symptoms of respiratory illnesses were in fact infected by SARS-CoV. Scientists traced the SARS-CoV to the bat population and deduced that the virus was linked to masked palm civets, who contracted the virus from the bats and in turn infected humans who handled their carcasses. The virus soon spread to various countries through human transmission. The Ebola virus is also highly contagious. It was first discovered in 1976, residing in bats as its natural host. Humans were susceptible to infection upon exposure to the carcasses of infected animals, but the reach of the pandemic was limited and kept under control. In 2014, the Ebola virus returned in full force and spread through several African countries, infecting approximately 20,000 people with a fatality rate of nearly 40 percent. At the time, the WHO issued a directive that subjected travellers entering any country from Africa to temperature checks; travellers who displayed signs of fever were immediately quarantined for further examination. The implementation of this and other similar precautionary measures managed to contain the spread of the virus. The Ebola virus again unleashed its wrath on the Republic of Congo in August 2018, culminating in 3,000 cases of infection and a death rate of 67 percent a year later. However, the outbreak was confined within the borders of the country; no other country reported any Ebola cases thus far. A meaty issue Generally, the mortality rate of novel diseases is especially high at the onset, as reflected by the Nipah and SARS epidemics in their nascent stages. This is because medical professionals and scientists have yet to gain adequate knowledge of the microorganisms causing the epidemic and hence are unable to identify the appropriate antidote to counter the disease. A thorough understanding of the root cause of an epidemic is crucial in defending against it.