Continuous consumption, illegal trade of wildlife may cause more pandemics

The World Health Organization has confirmed that the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a zoonotic disease.

According to GMA Digital’s “Need To Know’ episode, zoonotic diseases originated from animals before it transferred to humans.

Citing reports, the “Need To Know” episode said COVID-19 possibly started in a wet market in Wuhan, China, where wildlife species including bats, and snakes, among other animals were being illegally sold.

Studies from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) in America showed that 66 percent of the first 41 COVID-19 cases in Wuhan in December 2019 came from the said wet market.

COVID-19 is not the first zoonotic disease in history. In 1918 the Spanish Flu is believed to have come from chickens and transferred to pigs before it was transmitted to humans.

Meanwhile, the 2002 SARS-COV came from bats which spread among civet cats.

The report said the MERS-COV in 2012 came from bats which was then transmitted to camels.

Other zoonotic diseases include rabies, dengue, fever, malaria, Ebola, hepatitis E, and leptospirosis.

President and CEO of World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Joel Palma said studies showed that every three to four years, a new infectious disease was being discovered by medicine and science.

“Majority of these are actually coming from animals. Of course, zoonotic sources siya and most of them are coming from wildlife species,” he said.

How virus transfer from wildlife species to humans

“’Yong bats ang tawag dyan, sa wildlife usually ang tawag sa mga pinanggagalingan, origin, reservoir, natural reservoir,” said Dr. Theresa Sison Lim said, executive director of the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity.

She is also a licensed veterinarian from University of the Philippines and the former head of the DENR Biodiversity Management Bureau.

According to Lim, the natural reservoir doesn’t die of the virus.

“Nandoon lang sa bibig nila or in some of their organs makikita mo, made-detect mo ’yong virus. But it doesn’t immediately jump from the bats to humans,” she explained.

Lim said the strains or the types of viruses in domestic animals which were originally not infectious become one when they turn pathogenic or if the virus blended with the wildlife.

“It goes to domestic species, nagkakaroon ng mixing doon ng mga materials and then nagkakaroon ngayon ng capacity ’yong virus to infect humans,” she said.

According to the Centers for Disease and Control Prevention in the US, there are several modes of transmission for zoonotic diseases.

One is through direct contact with saliva, blood, urine, mucus, feces, and other bodily fluids of an infected animal.

The report said this happened when a person touched the infected animal or when a person got bitten or scratched.

The second mode of transmission is through indirect contact with contaminated places where the animals lived.

This can happen inside aquariums, chicken coops, on plants, or soil where the animals walk, and places where they eat, among other locations.

Another is called the vector-borne disease. This happens when a person gets bitten by insects including fleas.

The fourth mode is foodborne which means the disease comes from animal products such as unpasteurized milk, undercooked meat or egg, raw vegetables, and fruits contaminated by animals.

The report said aside from humans, these diseases could also infect pets.

Lastly, these diseases can also be waterborne. This happens when the water humans drink gets contaminated with animal feces.

The report stated that the WHO hadn’t identified the animal host of COVID-19.

According to a recent study, COVID-19 may have come from bats then transferred to snakes and to pangolins before it was transmitted to humans.

An NCBI study showed that viruses that came from bats may cause diseases to humans.

The report said it could also affect animal species or livestock.

According to WHO, 500 coronaviruses were discovered in bats in China.

Consumption, illegal trade of wildlife species main cause of pandemic

Since Southeast Asia is one of the hotpots for wildlife trade, it serves as the supplier, consumer, and outlet of import and export of the species.

“We know that wildlife species are traded and marketed not just in China but also in many parts of Southeast Asia as part of cuisine,” Palma said.

Palma said this pandemic was an eye-opener that consumption and illegal trade of wildlife species “can cause more harm than good.”

“At the end of the day, just like we say in the Philippines, no matter how good laws are, if it’s not implemented well, it doesn’t make much of an impact.”

Lim said people should address “the opportunities for closer interaction with wild animals, and one of the opportunities closer to interaction is illegal wildlife trade.”

The report said one of the reasons why people were into wildlife species was because some believed it had medicinal properties.

Eating snakes in China and other parts of Southeast Asia is rampant.

According to belief, eating snakes has medicinal benefits, as reported by Xinhua News Agency on Feb. 7.

From 1,000 samples of wild animals, scientists discovered that what they found in pangolins was the same with 99 percent of the coronavirus found in patients.

Pangolins are anteaters and are the most trafficked mammals in the world, according to the report.

The Pangolin Reports said the animal’s scales sold for $5 per kilo in Nigeria and $1,000 to $1,800 in China.

Pangolins are poached for their meat and scales, which are used in traditional medicine.

The mammal’s scales are in demand because it is rich in keratin, while the meat is considered a delicacy.

In the newest version of the Chinese Pharmacopoeia for 2020, however, pangolins have been removed from the list of traditional Chinese medicines.

This was done after China upgraded pangolin from first-class to second-class protected animals on June 5 because of the decrease in the number of the species due to overhunting and habitat destruction.

The “Need to Know” report said consuming wildlife animals would do more harm than good as it would damage human health and nature as well.

“With this belief, this creates demand. Of course we are discouraging that because in the end … the depletion of the wildlife population increases the vulnerability of the population to infectious diseases,” Lim said.

Lim said 10 countries in Southeast Asia were parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

“That means they comply to the agreements, to the decisions that are issued by the convention. they are of course ... if there are some violations, the convention actually calls their attention,” she said.

Lim said this would only be effective if the regulation would be strictly implemented by the government and if the ASEAN countries would work together to follow the law.

“It has negative impact to health. It could be a cause for future outbreaks. It could endanger the health of the population of the communities,” Lim said.

“So awareness raising and of course the social factor... socio-economic factor also needs to be considered,” she added.

The World Bank has a recommendation to strengthen the law enforcing to stop the illegal wildlife trade.

“Una, dapat mapigilan kaagad ang poaching o paghuli ng mga wildlife species. Maaari itong magawa sa epektibong pagpapatrolya ng mga alagad ng batas gaya ng park rangers,” said Lim.

“Pangalawa, para sa mga enforcement agency, kailangang maintindihan ng mga otoridad kung paano gumalaw ang mga kriminal,” she added.

However, the World Bank said enforcing the law was not easy since most cases were being junked due to corruption.

The report said halting the trade would be possible through effective intelligence monitoring, data gathering, and having a strong wildlife crime legal framework.

The World Bank stressed that a law would only be effective if the leader of the country had the political will to do so.

How to avoid future pandemics

Lim said to avoid future pandemics, the health of humans, environment, and animals should be separated from each other.

“If you want to prevent future pandemics as we move forward in addressing this current pandemic that we are experiencing, we need to think about solutions that will, that are medium term and long term,” she explained.

“That includes nature as part of the solution. How we treat the environment, the environmental health is connected to human health and animal health.”

Citing experts from the inter-governmental panel on biodiversity and ecosystem services, there are 1.7 million more viruses from mammals and birds that have a potential to cause havoc in human populations.

“So if we are not careful in treating, in managing our contact with wild species and their habitats, you know there’s a potential that COVID-19 will not be the last pandemic that we will be experiencing,” she warned.

“We went into their space kaya nangyari sa atin ito. It’s not the fault of bats,” Palma said.

Palma said the reason for COVID-19 was because humans went into the habitats of wildlife animals.

“We are already encroaching into their habitats. That's why whatever they have, we have. And then the impact of whatever they have can be very fatal to humans. I would just like to point out, sabi nga, ‘This is a war with the virus,’” said Palma.

“Alam mo, this virus occurs naturally sa bats. Ang problema lang natin, ginulo natin sila, kinain natin sila. Nawala ang habitats nila that's why nakuha natin,” he added. – RC, GMA News