Congolese professor Jean-Jacques Muyembe Tamfum warns of a future pandemic that is likely to be much more “apocalyptic” than the current one. The reason for this is the ecological destruction by humans and the unsanitary one wet markets bringing with it a wave of new zoonotic diseases. Tamfum was the first virologist to discover Ebola in 1976.
“We are now in a world where new pathogens will emerge. They pose a threat to humanity ”, he says CNN.
According to Muyembe, there is a chance that such a new pandemic is much more apocalyptic than the current one. That would be the case if ‘Disease X’ spreads as fast as the coronavirus but is as deadly as Ebola with a death rate between 50 and 90 percent. “We should all be afraid”.
The main reason for the increasing emergence of zoonotic diseases is the impact of humans on nature. Both SARS and the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 are said to have originated on so-called wet markets in China. Wild meat is sold there and there are often still live animals present that may contain pathogens. Also in Africa bushmeat increasingly popular. It is also being exported further and further.
“When you go into the forest, you change the ecology. Insects and rats will leave this place and come to the villages. That’s how you get transmission of the virus, of the new pathogens, ”says Muyembe.
Bron (nen): CNN Newsmonkey
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