According to scientists, the depths of the Amazon rainforest could give birth to the next deadly pandemic. Read to know why.
Could the Amazon rainforest be the source of a deadly pandemic?
Scientists reveal deep caves such as the Planaltina cave in the Amazon housing thousands of bats could be the source of a new deadly pandemic. Several such caves exist in the Amazonia hence increasing the chances of a pandemic similar to the coronavirus. Some of the most devastating viruses emerge from bats. A countless number of bat species remain undiscovered and unexplored. Brazil is ranked third in places hosting the highest number of bat species.
Scientists are now trying to deepen their knowledge of the emergence of viruses to prevent the possibility of pandemics in the future. “If you don’t do this now, there may be other outbreaks in the future and end up in the situation we are in today of not knowing where this outbreak comes from, where SARS-CoV-2 comes from. And that’s a big problem because if we don’t know how to identify the path that this virus took, the evolutionary question, and how it got to man, we can’t fight it,” stated Sebastien Charneau. Charneau is a professor at the Biology Institute at the University of Brasilia.
Speedy deforestation, the real culprit?
According to David Lapola, a Brazillian ecologist, the next pandemic can arise from the Amazon rainforest due to “rampant deforestation”. The speedy process is a result of human encroachment on the wild habitat. “The Amazon is a huge reservoir of viruses. We’d better not try our luck,” warned Lapola. Lapola is studying how human activity can shape the future of the ecosystem of tropical forests. Additionally, according to Peter Ben Embarek, the novel coronavirus comes from a group of viruses spreading and originating in bats. However, it’s unclear which animal links the infection to humans. Embarek is the World Health Organisation‘s expert in zoonotic diseases.