This last year has witnessed an extraordinary worldwide struggle with the COVID-19 disease. Not since the plagues of the 13th century or the 1918 flu has such a huge impact of disease on human civilization occurred. COVID is an example of the dangers we humans flirt with, as we increasingly interact with and encroach upon the natural world. When we do so, we inevitably encounter diseases that leap from animals to humans. We can be thankful for how quickly modern science described the genetic basis of this latest virus and developed a vaccine in record time.
But did we set ourselves up for this threat, and have we handled it well? Yes, we have brought about a situation that virtually guaranteed the current pandemic, with our behavior that has made us vulnerable to animal diseases, and no, we have not dealt with it appropriately. A far better response could be imagined—if only one that fostered better cooperation between countries and regions. Yes, we can take credit for a “warp speed” vaccine, but there are much better ways we could have handled the epidemic.
Considering humanity's dealings with infectious diseases caused by various kinds of microorganisms, the struggle began long ago. But real warfare did not begin until humans concentrated in densely-populated clusters. All of the infectious bugs that cause human disease require high-density environments such as cities, for them to move easily from person to person. They require a host to invade, reproduce inside, and then invade another host, in order to perpetuate their species.
Long before we realized that microorganisms were the cause of these diseases, we turned to religion or magic to protect us. The mysterious sources of these illnesses bewildered us. Then, a couple of hundred years ago we realized that microscopic critters were the cause... critters who invaded our bodies and made us sick. That understanding soon led to some ways in which we could effectively battle against them. So, in the same way that we respond to an invading human army, we went to war with bugs. Our mentality was to defeat them, in order to escape their diseases. Kill them and we could carry on securely.
Soon we began to understand the value of natural antibiotics to enlist in the war. And we later created vaccines—injecting us with harmless versions of an organism that would trigger our immune system to identify and defang the bugs. We began to use hygienic practices that either fended off or destroyed germs. These treatments were fantastically successful in curbing or fully eradicating several social diseases.
But the process of going to war on microorganisms proved to be triumphant only in the short term. Just as humans have been caught up in arms races with each other throughout history—which has succeeded only in perpetuating endless and increasingly devastating wars—bugs have continued to engage with us in battle by quickly evolving to become increasingly formidable foes. As an example, the US developed the atom bomb in the 1940s and used it to terminate WWII (it was a “bomb to end all bombs”). But the USSR soon had the bomb too… so we both graduated to the hydrogen bomb. Now we stare each other down, with our finger on the trigger that could terminate humanity.
A result of this mentality is that, in our war on bugs, we have brought about the evolution of extremely hardy microorganisms that are now immune to most of our antibiotics. We've literally bred superbugs in this arms race. In a very similar manner, we have retaliated against agricultural pests by manufacturing pesticides that we've lavishly spread across the environment, with the long-term result that we've bred super insects that have grown a resistance to our insecticides. These problems have been brought about by our attitude of going to war, with little thought to where that approach will inevitably lead: a never-ending arms race.
Next time, a better way…
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