Of Mutant Flies, Killer Pigs & Deadly Birds
The world when it is first created is all too beautiful. Wherever man looks are evidences of its pristine beauty. The surrounding is green, and the rivers, the seas and the oceans are sparkling bodies of water. The air is clean. Because of these nature grows in abundance. Plants teeming with fruits provide man with readily available food supply. Crops flourish untamed which provide food to animals. Wherever one toils the land and explores the sea, there is food anywhere. People are healthy although diseases are never unheard of. However, sickness is always attributed to unclean spirit. It is associated with sin. Nobody can think of illnesses as caused by nature, by animal vectors and even by plants. This is because the world seems too beautiful to be responsible of such a problem. However today, man knows better than this.
We all know today that diseases are never caused by unclean spirits or of sins. Some primitive cultures, however, still holds the same belief today. That is why to this group of people diseases are always approached in mystical manner and are treated in less than medical ways. Mortality and morbidity are still high. Modern societies believe otherwise. Diseases are caused by pathogens. These can be bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, etc. Illnesses may also be of non-pathogenic origin. They can be dietary and traumatic too. These latter two are treated primarily with behavioral modification – change diet and be careful. Diseases of pathogenic origin pose a greater problem though. They are treated primarily using medicines that work against the identified pathogen. Being living though, these pathogens continue to mutate just as man continues his unrelenting search for longer and better life.
In man’s continued search for longevity and progress, he forgets to take good care of nature which was once so beautiful. He never realizes that it is nature that holds one of the keys to a much longer and better life. The human race forgets all and starts destroying the pristine beauty of the surroundings. People started manipulating organisms in the name of scientific pursuit. We are no longer eating foods that are fresh from the farm or from the sea. We are now eating processed foods, and worse, chemically treated stuffs that are both harmful to the body and to the environment. In the name of progress, we started cutting down trees to provide habitable lands to our rapidly growing population. This has displaced so many wild and exotic animals that once thrive peacefully among themselves, untouched by man and his so-called modern civilization. Sadly, we have changed the world, and more sadly, for the worse.
Because of rapid changes in the environment, our behavior and how we interact with our surrounding, this has changed so much the evolution of diseases. Before diseases of pathogenic origin could easily be diagnosed based on patient presentation and his signs and symptoms; today it is very different. There are diseases with overlapping signs and symptoms and there are also diseases of unknown pathogenic origin. This early part of the century sees the emergence of quite perplexing diseases and exotic pathogens seldom heard of last century. AIDS was the scare of the last century. There was only one. Today, every year there seems to be a new disease with a very long name and an equally tongue twisting pathogenic origin – Ebola reston virus causing massive internal bleeds, SARS and the bird flu caused by the avian flu virus and the most recent swine flu caused by another virus yet to be identified. These are the newer diseases of pathogenic origin which may be caused by man’s continued exploitation of his environment.
Where have all these viruses come from? Obviously, as their names tell us, they are not of human origin. Their vectors clearly are not humans first – monkeys, birds and pigs. However, why are they causing the human race now and the world so much trouble? They have mutated. They cause no harm in their original hosts. Because man is never their primary host, these viruses to man are harmful. We are not meant to be their hosts. How come they have been unleashed to the world of man? Why have they not stayed with the monkeys, the birds and the pigs? Simply, it is because man has disturbed them. We started clearing the forests and the monkeys moved closer to us. We disturbed the peace migratory birds enjoyed along their long distance sojourn for winter. We started feeding pigs with whatever science has formulated and started devouring pork grown from drastic maintenance cost cuts. In pursuit of better life, we have made our lives worse.
The moral of all these sad scenarios of people dying of diseases never heard of before is simple and straight forward. We need to bring back clean surroundings again. We have to approximate back nature as it was originally created. This is a big problem. Environmental damage and pollution have become a global concern. Countries have come to good measures on how to stop the continued destruction of Earth – the only home we ever got to live on. Each of us too has to do our own little things of further harming the environment. Recycle whatever can be recycled. Save water because supply is dwindling. Go green and hybrid. Walk instead of ride. Raw instead of fried. There are so many that we can do to help. Unless we do our share, nature will continue to strike back. I don’t want to hear next year of a canine flu virus and die as a result because my poor pet dog thinks of me as just another viral host.
The world when it is first created is all too beautiful. Wherever man looks are evidences of its pristine beauty. The surrounding is green, and the rivers, the seas and the oceans are sparkling bodies of water. The air is clean. Because of these nature grows in abundance. Plants teeming with fruits provide man with readily available food supply. Crops flourish untamed which provide food to animals. Wherever one toils the land and explores the sea, there is food anywhere. People are healthy although diseases are never unheard of. However, sickness is always attributed to unclean spirit. It is associated with sin. Nobody can think of illnesses as caused by nature, by animal vectors and even by plants. This is because the world seems too beautiful to be responsible of such a problem. However today, man knows better than this.We all know today that diseases are never caused by unclean spirits or of sins. Some primitive cultures, however, still holds the same belief today. That is why to this group of people diseases are always approached in mystical manner and are treated in less than medical ways. Mortality and morbidity are still high. Modern societies believe otherwise. Diseases are caused by pathogens. These can be bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, etc. Illnesses may also be of non-pathogenic origin. They can be dietary and traumatic too. These latter two are treated primarily with behavioral modification – change diet and be careful. Diseases of pathogenic origin pose a greater problem though. They are treated primarily using medicines that work against the identified pathogen. Being living though, these pathogens continue to mutate just as man continues his unrelenting search for longer and better life.
In man’s continued search for longevity and progress, he forgets to take good care of nature which was once so beautiful. He never realizes that it is nature that holds one of the keys to a much longer and better life. The human race forgets all and starts destroying the pristine beauty of the surroundings. People started manipulating organisms in the name of scientific pursuit. We are no longer eating foods that are fresh from the farm or from the sea. We are now eating processed foods, and worse, chemically treated stuffs that are both harmful to the body and to the environment. In the name of progress, we started cutting down trees to provide habitable lands to our rapidly growing population. This has displaced so many wild and exotic animals that once thrive peacefully among themselves, untouched by man and his so-called modern civilization. Sadly, we have changed the world, and more sadly, for the worse.
Because of rapid changes in the environment, our behavior and how we interact with our surrounding, this has changed so much the evolution of diseases. Before diseases of pathogenic origin could easily be diagnosed based on patient presentation and his signs and symptoms; today it is very different. There are diseases with overlapping signs and symptoms and there are also diseases of unknown pathogenic origin. This early part of the century sees the emergence of quite perplexing diseases and exotic pathogens seldom heard of last century. AIDS was the scare of the last century. There was only one. Today, every year there seems to be a new disease with a very long name and an equally tongue twisting pathogenic origin – Ebola reston virus causing massive internal bleeds, SARS and the bird flu caused by the avian flu virus and the most recent swine flu caused by another virus yet to be identified. These are the newer diseases of pathogenic origin which may be caused by man’s continued exploitation of his environment.
Where have all these viruses come from? Obviously, as their names tell us, they are not of human origin. Their vectors clearly are not humans first – monkeys, birds and pigs. However, why are they causing the human race now and the world so much trouble? They have mutated. They cause no harm in their original hosts. Because man is never their primary host, these viruses to man are harmful. We are not meant to be their hosts. How come they have been unleashed to the world of man? Why have they not stayed with the monkeys, the birds and the pigs? Simply, it is because man has disturbed them. We started clearing the forests and the monkeys moved closer to us. We disturbed the peace migratory birds enjoyed along their long distance sojourn for winter. We started feeding pigs with whatever science has formulated and started devouring pork grown from drastic maintenance cost cuts. In pursuit of better life, we have made our lives worse.
The moral of all these sad scenarios of people dying of diseases never heard of before is simple and straight forward. We need to bring back clean surroundings again. We have to approximate back nature as it was originally created. This is a big problem. Environmental damage and pollution have become a global concern. Countries have come to good measures on how to stop the continued destruction of Earth – the only home we ever got to live on. Each of us too has to do our own little things of further harming the environment. Recycle whatever can be recycled. Save water because supply is dwindling. Go green and hybrid. Walk instead of ride. Raw instead of fried. There are so many that we can do to help. Unless we do our share, nature will continue to strike back. I don’t want to hear next year of a canine flu virus and die as a result because my poor pet dog thinks of me as just another viral host.
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