The deadly COVID-19 disease, which has so far claimed more than 3,62,000 people, is believed to one of the worst world's pandemics on record. But the real plague is yet to come and when it happens, it could wipe out half of the world's population, a scientist has warned.
Dr Michael Greger, the author of the best-selling book 'How Not To Die', claims that chickens could be the cause of the next deadly pandemic, and the worst kind. According to him, an apocalyptic virus from chicken farms could lead to a more dangerous pandemic than COVID-19 and wipe out half of the world's population.
In his new book called 'How To Survive A Pandemic,' Dr Greger warns that as "long as there is poultry, there will be pandemics." Dr Greger is a vegan and a strong advocate of a plant-based diet. He has spent years campaigning against the use of animal-based products. The scientist fears that humans' close connection to animals could lead to the worst kind of epidemic. Mention may be made here that the novel coronavirus is also believed to have jumped to humans from bats.
Dr Greger predicts that chicken farms could be harbouring another deadly pandemic that could nearly wipe us out.
The H5NI bird flu that emerged in Hong Kong, China in 1997 led to the killing of millions of chickens to eliminate the virus. But the outbreaks happened again between 2003 and 2009 outside of China, which indicates that the virus has never been fully eliminated and there is a possibly of the outbreak occurring again.
To prevent another outbreak, Dr Greger suggests changing the way chickens are farmed. In mass farms, chickens are kept in such tight spaces that they cannot even flap their wings, Dr Greger points out. He says that the high ammonia level from their droppings are a recipe for diseases.
Suggesting a solution to this problem, the scientist says that we should stop mass production of chickens. He suggests raising smaller flocks in less crowded spaces with outdoor access, better hygiene and without the use of human antivirals. There's also a need to end unnatural egg production and the practice of breeding, says Dr Greger.
The COVID -19 infection is commonly believed to have originated in China's Wuhan city in late 2019. While scientists are still not clear about several aspects of the COVID-19 origin story, many are of the opinion that the virus originated from an animal at the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan.
Some theories suggest that the COVID-19 virus came from bats and first passed through an intermediary animal before infecting humans. The coronavirus which led to the 2002 SARs outbreak is also believed to have the same mode of transmission. Scientists believed that SARs coronavirus originated from horseshoe bats and then spread to cat-like civets before infecting humans.
For COVID-19, pangolin is thought to be an intermediary host between bats and humans. Pangolin is the most illegally traded mammal prized for their meat and claimed medicinal properties, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
