Pandemics: the challenge of the twenty-first century

Serra-Cobo Jordi, Frutos Roger. 2024. Pandemics: the challenge of the twenty-first century. In : Planet earth: Scientific proposals to solve urgent issues. Nunez-Delgado Avelino (ed.). Cham : Springer, 7-23. ISBN 978-3-031-53207-8

Résumé : Humans are part of the biosphere and thus human health is closely related to animal health and to the environment. All human infectious diseases originated from animals. This initial contact generates the primary case. However, from this and the index case, the first person displaying a disease, there is an evolution and adaptation in the human population. Searching for the pathogen in the wild is delusional and futile. It does not exist yet. Medicine cannot prevent or stop an epidemic/ pandemic. It comes too late. What allows for a disease is societal and only two stages can be targeted. The first ones, the amplification loops leading to the emergence, are difficult to eliminate since they impact the normal life. The second, the animal/ human interface leading to the primary case are easier to control. However, the main problem is the dynamic of contact. The massive growth of the human population is generating deforestation and land conversion to accommodate and feed the human population. All species impact the environment they live in. Humans are no exception and besidedeforestation, they generate pollution and loss of biodiversity. These are the first visible markers of excessive human pressure. This increases animal/human contacts and pushes animals to human settlements. It strongly increases the probability of pathogen transmission. The high human population density and mobility further increases the probability of transmission of the disease within the human population. The system is purely probabilistic, and the main driver is the growth of the human population. What must be controlled is the size of the human population. Education and public awareness are essential for efficient birth control. If not, epidemics/pandemics will occur more and more and will play its natural role of population control. This is the main challenge of the twenty-first century.

Mots-clés libres : Pandemics, One Health, Global health

Auteurs et affiliations

• Serra-Cobo Jordi, UAB (ESP)
• Frutos Roger, CIRAD-BIOS-UMR INTERTRYP (FRA)

Source : Cirad-Agritrop (https://agritrop.cirad.fr/612139/)

Métriques

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