Do we have it coming?

[Terxpahseyton]

it was an analogy.

Granted, but analogies have the habbit to carry a message and in that case the message was "Worry!" without bothering to prove it. That's what I disliked.

Normally, people avoided intruding into certain areas, because they were very "unhealthy" for them.

Like...? As far as I know every jungle has or has had human inhabitants.

Today, humans are cutting deeper into the natural reservoirs of diseases, so it's pretty logical that sooner or later, they hit the jackpot (and "win" a pandemic).

Those natural reservoirs may have a high deversity, but not one which comes close to outmatching the entire rest of the world. Hence it's importance is highly exaggerated.

As the author of the book said: if HIV was as stealthy as it is now, but as communicable as common flu, we'd now face extinction because 95%+ of humans would be infected.

True, but that stuff just happens and if it does we are screwd anyways. Things like jungles who get explored and so on IMO do not have a significant impact.

You underestimate the scope of the problem. As I explained in another thread, our society is now more vulnerable to a really bad pandemic than the medieval society was to the Black Death.
In the past, no virus could spread as fast as today and no virus would find so dense human populations to spread in.

I see the possibility of a super-mega-pandemic but not our possibility to rule that out or to cause it in a way which could have been prevented. I also see the possibility of our universe exploding any minute or a plaine crashing on my house. But as I won't worry about the plaine nor the universe I also won't worry about end of humanity because of a terrible desease. And I wouldn't advise it to anybody else due the lack of a point.

1) We're sticking our noses into nature's reservoir of very deadly diseases

Already dismissed, next!

2) The parts of the world where this is happening are very underdeveloped, lacking a proper healthcare which could discover/stop the disease before it gets a chance to spread

You think HIV as infectious as an pandamic could be stopped?

3) Air travel can spread these diseases around the world in just few days

Well, true.

4) We're so overpopulated that the virus won't find it hard to infect more people

True, again!

Still as long as something ain't as mean as HIV we can fight it pretty good. And if it is ... busted man.

Nature is pretty capable killer and a random mutation can produce something as deadly as any human researcher. You can downplay it as much as you want, but denial doesn't make the problem disappear.

See above.
I don't deniale, I think practically

 

[Winner]

Sorry, I stopped doing quote battles a while ago

 

[Terxpahseyton]

But..but..they are so much fun

 

[Zack]

Sorry, I stopped doing quote battles a while ago

Is there a particular reason?

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

OP seems to be arguing for more research funding towards virology.

 

[Winner]

OP seems to be arguing for more research funding towards virology.

I am not arguing for anything, I am informing

I honestly don't know if we can do something about it - Africans will surely not listen when we tell them "don't clear rainforests and don't hunt and eat wild animals" and the miserable condition of their countries make it impossible to set up a working early warning system.

Maybe there should be better controls at the airports, especially for people returning from high-risk areas (tropical Africa/Indonesia/Amazonia). On the other hand, Ebola has a long incubation period, so it's pretty possible to travel from Africa to Europe and get six days after your arrival.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

I am not arguing for anything, I am informing

Never said you were. By OP, i mean your original post, not you as the original poster.

Africans will surely not listen when we tell them "don't clear rainforests and don't hunt and eat wild animals"

What I find interesting about this is that it is not the developed countries who are doing this now.

Maybe there should be better controls at the airports, especially for people returning from high-risk areas (tropical Africa/Indonesia/Amazonia).

Not a bad idea.

 

[Winner]

What I find interesting about this is that it is not the developed countries who are doing this now.

You can surely blame many multinational companies for illegal logging. However it's the African govs who should prevent this from happening, so the ultimate responsibility is theirs.

In any case, pointing fingers does no good here. Just visit CDC webpages and take a look at the recent Ebola outbreaks. Ebola Zaire, for example, has nearly 90% mortality.

Such a virus, if it mutated to an airborne strain, would most likely be a civilization killer. In the past, Ebola has demonstrated a limited ability to spread through air (among monkeys), so it's not all that impossible.

And that's just one of the viruses hiding in the tropical jungles.