Threats posed by pandemics now obvious after Covid-19

Half a million zoonotic virus threats are increasing rapidly due to the growing population

Prof. Stephen Gordon

There will be a relearning of some of the public health messages that people complacent and forgot with a leading infection biology expert who was underscored last week.

People had to be aware that public health was due to Prof. Stephen Gordon, Professor of Infection Biology at University College Dublin, School of Veterinary Medicine, Biomolecular and Biomedical Science and Medicine, told the Irish Medical Times during the UCD-hosted Universitas21 (U21) health sciences meeting last week.

U21 is a network of research-intensive universities that enables employees and students of the health sciences to exchange top achievements, work together across borders and promote the international exchange of knowledge.

Basically, infectious diseases were nothing new. "We need to understand that infectious diseases are still a tragic part of the challenges facing people around the world," said Prof. Gordon, who served as academic director of the U21 HSG meeting.

We are currently seeing the emergence of a new infectious agent in Covid-19, against which we had no immunity and which had an enormous impact on society.

Though terrible, the death rate was low and appeared to be around 1 percent or less.

The frontline health workers had done an excellent job keeping the infection under control while also considering the social needs of society. However, he underlined the social responsibility that came with infectious diseases, as decisions made by individuals affected the health of others.

Prof. Gordon highlighted the tremendous acceleration in vaccine research that had taken place. The ability to face a new challenge was based on a broad spectrum of experience over decades.

While some may have forgotten the dire numbers of diseases like measles, mumps, rubella, and diphtheria, vaccines had made great strides in healthcare.

"The mobilization of research that we have seen since the outbreak of this pandemic is also unprecedented in terms of dealing with an infectious disease. This will provide us with the knowledge, therapies and ultimately the vaccine that will control the pandemic."

With the pandemic in view, Prof. Gordon hoped that some of the positive outcomes would be to remember the lessons and, as a result, the number of respiratory infections in general would decrease.

In the past, people went to work, visited elderly relatives, or went to meetings when they had respiratory infections and should not have done so.

In a way, it was now obvious what people had faced with the emergence of infectious diseases at all stages of their history.

For every living cell in the world, there were an estimated 10 viruses “out there”. They had proven very successful and parasitized living cells.

Prof. Gordon pointed to many examples of successful pathogens that have been with humans for millennia and have continued to be with us, such as leprosy, tuberculosis, and rabies.

He highlighted the high number of infectious disease deaths around the world, especially in low and middle income countries, which were no longer seen as a problem in Ireland.

During the meeting, Prof. Jonna Mazet, Professor of Epidemiology and Disease Ecology and Executive Director of the One Health Institute at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, USA, spoke about "Pandemic preparedness".

"We can reasonably estimate that there are more than 500,000 zoonotic viruses that we know nothing or very little about that have the potential to move from evolutionary host species to vulnerable ones and cause disease," she said.

"Pandemic and epidemic threats are now clear to every household around the world where a single deadly microbe can suddenly emerge and quickly spread to any community regardless of national borders or social and economic standing."

Attendees heard how the “One Health” approach to virus detection, discovery and characterization in humans, animals and plants has helped identify the full viral diversity in each species and the risk that these viruses pose for transmission between species to classify. • •

valerie.ryan@imt.ie