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| Image from Amazon.com |
I was looking for something to watch the other night and came across a very interesting and scary documentary. It's called "Unseen Enemy" and it's about infectious diseases and how they infect humans and wreak havoc. It originally appeared on CNN but I was able to catch it on Amazon Prime. Given the current pandemic we're living through, I immediately began watching it. I wanted to know more.
Here's some of what I learned...
Nearly all new viruses come from animals. In the 21st century, 75% of all new infectious diseases have come from them. A prime example is bats. Their habitats are being stressed by climate change and humans. This is affecting their ability to find food. As they begin to starve in their natural habitats, they start looking elsewhere for food, including in our agricultural fields. It's not hard to see how they might transmit a virus to us.
We have dramatically increased our contact with animals through deforestation, industrialization of agriculture, and by eating more of them. As a result, we've increased the risk of one of these viruses that they carry jumping to humans. We've already had swine flu, SARS, and MERS in the 21st century. It's not if, but when.
Other viruses discussed in the documentary include HIV/AIDS, which came from a few monkeys and chimpanzees in Africa to infect millions worldwide, SARS, which jumped from a bat, then to a cat, and finally to a villager in China and to more than 30 countries in a matter of weeks, and the Zika virus, which originated in Africa, then migrated across Asia, then to the South Pacific, and finally to Brazil in 2013. It's suspected it arrived when fans went to Brazil for the Confederations Cup the year before the World Cup. The major Zika outbreak in South America occurred in 2015 and 2016.
The film also covered smallpox. It was the first infectious disease to be eradicated, but not before it killed up to 500 million people during the 20th century.
Finally, there's the flu, which so many of us have compared to the current coronavirus, perhaps as a way to put ourselves and others at ease. It's true, the flu is pretty deadly. It causes worldwide epidemics every year. Globally, 3 to 5 million people per year are hospitalized and 200,000 people die from it. Most of those who die have a pre-existing condition such as a weakened immune system or diabetes. However, it can also kill a perfectly healthy, young, strong person in a matter of days. New strains of influenza are of particular concern to experts.
The documentary has so much more information that I didn't cover here. Watch it. It will open your eyes and probably scare the shit out of you. We were due for a global pandemic. The experts knew it - and they knew it would change life more than anything we currently face. Climate change is probably a close second.
If there was just one take-home point from the movie, it would be this: we are all on the front line of battling these diseases - not just the infectious disease experts and doctors. Educate yourself. Practice good hygiene.
If you ask me, our greatest enemy is not the virus - it's ignorance.
Check out the trailer below or you can watch the full documentary here.