Many different creatures are found around the world, from fish to frogs, to bears and bats and they all can carry diseases that can be spread to humans. But how do diseases jump from one species to another?
During the past few years researchers have been trying to find an answer to this question. In West Africa bats have been the cause of the spread of Ebola hemorrhagic fever and SARS.
Researchers believe that the cause of this species jump between bats and humans is because bats natural habitats are being destroyed causing them to move into West African homes and even some hospitals.
Another cause is because people in the area are beginning to eat bats because more traditional food like apes and antelope are either a protected species now or are simply not as available anymore to the people in the area.
The relation to bats living closer to humans is similar to the Black Plague and people living with rats. The plague was a result of rats moving in with people at the time and leaving behind their fleas for the host families to be bitten by making them sick and dying eventually.
Another example in history is smallpox. When the Columbian exchange began with all the new goods being brought to the new world disease was also brought infecting the natives. Europeans had built up immunity to Smallpox because they lived so close to their animals, but this was not the case for the natives.
There have been many examples though out history with disease jumping from species to species.
Researchers fear that one day it will be out of their control and there will be no way to stop it.
“We are concerned the solution will be to just kill the bats to control the virus. We need to find another way that protects bats and people at the same time.” Says Andrew Cunningham; bats play a key roll in the pollination of plants and to kill them off would effect the growth of many plants. With killing one species it affects many other species as well. All the species in an ecosystem play a part to make it work but if you remove one part others don’t work.
Not only has there been a problem with bats spreading disease in West Africa but pigs have been spreading disease as well. “It looks like there is a spill-over from bats to pigs in Ghana. This is the first step along the line to a public-health threat.” States Andrew Cunningham a wildlife epidemiologist. The great deal of pigs and their meat that is exported in Ghana causes for a fear of the diseases to be spread even further than the continent of Africa.
Recently there has been a movie made about this species cross over “Contagion”, shows just how fast a disease can be spread from species to species. In the movie bats live in the barns with pigs leading to bat droppings getting into the pig food and soon into humans.
During the past few years researchers have been trying to find an answer to this question. In West Africa bats have been the cause of the spread of Ebola hemorrhagic fever and SARS.
Researchers believe that the cause of this species jump between bats and humans is because bats natural habitats are being destroyed causing them to move into West African homes and even some hospitals.
Another cause is because people in the area are beginning to eat bats because more traditional food like apes and antelope are either a protected species now or are simply not as available anymore to the people in the area.
The relation to bats living closer to humans is similar to the Black Plague and people living with rats. The plague was a result of rats moving in with people at the time and leaving behind their fleas for the host families to be bitten by making them sick and dying eventually.
Another example in history is smallpox. When the Columbian exchange began with all the new goods being brought to the new world disease was also brought infecting the natives. Europeans had built up immunity to Smallpox because they lived so close to their animals, but this was not the case for the natives.
There have been many examples though out history with disease jumping from species to species.
Researchers fear that one day it will be out of their control and there will be no way to stop it.
“We are concerned the solution will be to just kill the bats to control the virus. We need to find another way that protects bats and people at the same time.” Says Andrew Cunningham; bats play a key roll in the pollination of plants and to kill them off would effect the growth of many plants. With killing one species it affects many other species as well. All the species in an ecosystem play a part to make it work but if you remove one part others don’t work.
Not only has there been a problem with bats spreading disease in West Africa but pigs have been spreading disease as well. “It looks like there is a spill-over from bats to pigs in Ghana. This is the first step along the line to a public-health threat.” States Andrew Cunningham a wildlife epidemiologist. The great deal of pigs and their meat that is exported in Ghana causes for a fear of the diseases to be spread even further than the continent of Africa.
Recently there has been a movie made about this species cross over “Contagion”, shows just how fast a disease can be spread from species to species. In the movie bats live in the barns with pigs leading to bat droppings getting into the pig food and soon into humans.
Source: Nature News
Read the Article: http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110922/full/news.2011.545.html
When I first read this article I connected it to the Black Death like Cristina did. The rats moved into people's homes just like the bats are moving into homes and hospitals. The animals carrying the diseases are closer to humans now which makes it easier for them to pass the disease on to people. Also, this article reminded me of the movie Contagion because the key factor in the spread of the disease was a bat found in China that infected a pig which caused many humans to become infected. Overall I think this article is very interesting and I think it relates well to the units we have studied so far in class.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is scary that animals that people in most countries are livig with are now becoming the reasons they are contracting deadly diseases. The fact that bats in West Africa are spreading diseases like Ebola hemorrhagic fever and SARS is scary because bats tend to be an animal that people are not getting too close to and now the fear of disease haunts them. People are leaning towards the idea of killing off the bats because the spread of disease is such a big risk. But I think that could potentially back fire on the people of West Africa because recently they have turned to bats as a source of food because they are deprived of their other traditional foods. There seems to be a great risk in just killing the bats off, so the idea of vaccination, if possible, seems like a better alternative to prevent against these diseases.
ReplyDeleteClose animal contact with humans can have a devastating effect on both humans and the animal. Problems are always likely to rise because we inhabit so much of the earth and take up so much space which forces countless species out of their natural habitat. The solution certainly is not to kill off this bat species. They're not the problem, we are. We need to come up with better solutions to our overpopulation crisis not just for the sake of other organisms on the planet but also for the sake of ourselves. Ebola hemorrhagic fever and SARS are a direct result of this over crowding and can be avioded if we just implement some solutions to this problem.
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