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Corona just the beginning? Experts with gloomy prognosis - "there will be more pandemics"

2020-11-03T15:20:46.188Z


Pandemics like Corona could increase, spread faster and become even more dangerous. This is what the World Biodiversity Council reports. But they have a counter-strategy.


Pandemics like Corona could increase, spread faster and become even more dangerous.

This is what the World Biodiversity Council reports.

But they have a counter-strategy.

  • The Biodiversity Council (IPBES) warns of new

    pandemics

    in a current report

    .

  • Nature conservation

    is an effective tool in the fight against infectious diseases

    .

  • Follow all developments

    regarding the corona pandemic

    in Germany, the USA and worldwide

    in the 

    news ticker

    .

Bonn - The first sentences of the current report of the Biodiversity Council (IPBES) are tough: "Without preventive measures,

pandemics

occur

more frequently, spread faster, kill more people and affect the global economy with more devastating effects than ever before."

According to the experts, what sounds like a horror scenario could become reality.

They see a fatal connection between

environmental degradation

and the outbreak of

pandemics

.

The scientists received the order from around 130 governments.

The report appears at a time when Germany is currently struggling with the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

Is Corona just the beginning?

Age of Pandemics: Scientists With Terrifying Report

The 22 international scientists agree in their report: In the future, pathogens will jump from

wild animals

to humans

more frequently

.

The reason for this is that humans are penetrating more and more remote areas that are inhabited by wild animals.

Trade in these is also increasing.

All of this brings humans and animals closer together.

And increase the risk of an

infectious disease

- and ultimately, as in the case of

Corona

- a

pandemic

.

Surname

Biodiversity Council (IPBES)

task

Advice on biodiversity and ecosystem services

founding

2012, based in Bonn

Members

132 countries including Germany

Corona: pangolins under suspicion - animal hosts as a risk for humans

According to the scientists, 70 percent of diseases develop in this way.

These include

Ebola

,

Zika

,

AIDS

- and of course the

coronavirus

.

Because even if the origin of the new virus has not yet been settled, are

pangolins

as the origin host under suspicion.

These diseases are also called

zoonoses

and are caused by microbes of animal origin.

“Transmission can occur through direct contact, via vectors such as ticks and mosquitoes, but also via milk, eggs, meat or other foods.

(...) Due to factors such as rapid population growth, increasing mobility, changes in animal breeding and husbandry, as well as climate changes, zoonoses are becoming more and more important, ”says the website of the National Research Platform for Zoonoses.

Back in July, two scientists issued a worrying forecast.

"

Covid-19

is at least the sixth global health pandemic since the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918," the report said.

What is meant is the

Spanish flu

, which claimed 20 to 50 million deaths by 1920.

According to the analysis, the risk factors that lead to such outbreaks are as follows:

  • Expansion and intensification of land use, such as clearing the rainforest.

  • Wildlife Trade and Consumption.

  • Unsustainable production.

Pandemics: Five more diseases every year

"The same human activities that

drive

climate change

and biodiversity loss also create a pandemic risk through their impact on our environment," says Dr.

Peter Daszak, President of the

EcoHealth Alliance

 and head of the IPBES working group that prepared the report, which was published on October 29th.

The frightening thing about the findings is that around five more

diseases

appear

every year

that - at least in theory -

could

develop into a

pandemic

.

According to the scientists, there are an estimated 1.7 million undiscovered

viruses

in animals

.

And at least half of them are potentially a threat to humans.

This means

that people can become infected

with up to 850,000

viruses

.

“Make no mistake, the Covid-19 crisis ... biodiversity loss & climate change are one big crisis - the greatest that humans have ever faced.

But this report is a document of hope, not despair… the question is not can we [act], but will we? ”@ Realdocspicer https://t.co/3nYQ8t6XZA

- Peter Daszak (@PeterDaszak) October 29, 2020

After Corona: "Era of Pandemics" - prevention as a means against infectious diseases

But the report also gives hope, because there is a method to counteract this development:

nature conservation.

The central demand of the Biodiversity Council is to

focus more on prevention

in the fight against

pandemics

.

Nature must be better protected and the

wildlife trade

curbed.

Instead of bringing diseases under control after they have already broken out - for example through

vaccines

- Dr.

Daszak said: "We can

escape

the era of

pandemics

, but that requires a much stronger focus on

prevention

alongside response

."

The analysis is aimed specifically at politics and lists possible courses of action, including:

  • Establishment of an international council to

    combat pandemics

  • Changes in consumption and production behavior that lead to the outbreak of

    pandemics

    , for example through taxes on meat

  • Education about health risks in areas with wildlife that pose a high risk

  • Combating illegal wildlife trafficking

After Corona: Nature conservation in the fight against pandemics - costs lower through prevention

The benefit of such an approach would also be reflected in the numbers.

The cost of

prevention

would be 100 times lower

than that of measures after an outbreak of disease.

In the summer, the cost of the

corona pandemic was

estimated at $ 8 to $ 16 trillion, according to the report.

In the

US

alone,

it could cost 16 trillion by the end of 2021.

But, as the experts summarize: "Above all, it offers a vision of our future in which we have escaped the current" pandemic era "."

(Aka)

List of rubric lists: © Cover Images / dpa

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2020-11-03

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