The Indian Express | 4 weeks ago | 03-08-2022 | 02:40 pm
The rise in tourism avenues being promoted into the wild along the Western Ghats could increase the risk of human-wild interactions. In turn, there now stand more chances of zoonotic diseases spreading into the human communities, Dr E Sreekumar, director, Institute of Advanced Virology (IAV), Thiruvananthapuram, has said.Sreekumar was speaking while chairing a session Tuesday on applications of climate information for planning and decision-making for the health sector of Kerala during Kerala Climate Change Stakeholders’ workshop. The two-day workshop, organised by the Kottayam-based Institute for Climate Change Studies, concluded on Tuesday.“Due to growing opportunities promoted by eco-tourism, adventure tourism and travelling into the wild, there is more exposure of humans to wildlife. This also means that there is a higher risk of virus spill over into the community, and some of these could cause severe diseases. The Western Ghats could become a hotspot for spreading zoonotic diseases,” said Dr Sreekumar.The Western ghats—spanning Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala—is one of the world’s ecological biodiversity hotspots. This 1.40 lakh square kilometre area with mountain ranges stretches over 1,600 km north-south along India’s West coast and regulates the Indian summer monsoon. Believed to be older than the mighty Himalayas, the Western Ghats is also included in the list of Unesco World Heritage sites.It is home to some of the endemic and about 325 globally endangered species of flora, fauna, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and fish. It falls under the ‘hottest hotspots’ for its biological diversity. But growing human interventions and climate change could be adding increased stress to the flora and fauna here.Due to such rich biodiversity and multitudes of species, the senior virologist advised efforts to maintain a safe distance while venturing into the wild. “The interactions with the wild should be kept minimal and the natural species balance must not be disturbed. Only then can there be fewer chances of virus spill over into the human communities,” said Sreekumar.The biggest case study would be the coronavirus linked to bats in Wuhan, China, and its subsequent spread into the human communities followed by its viral spread the world over. The World Health Organization (WHO) had declared Covid-19 as a pandemic in early 2020.“Climate change could trigger disease outbreaks as it has a major role in pushing the temperatures and humidity, deciding on the future vegetation of localities and the availability of water,” added Dr Sreekumar.The overall warming and rising temperatures and its role in food safety should be studied in depth, recommended another participant Dr T S Anish, an associate professor in Community Medicine at the Government Medical College, Manjeri, Kerala.With regard to climate change and food, Dr Anish explained the example of how the shelf life of meat could be reduced under warmer conditions.” Earlier a consumer could purchase meat and store it for longer hours either in a refrigerator or otherwise. But due to rising temperatures due to the overall warming, bacteria, if present in the meat, would get favourable conditions to multiply and grow faster. This would make the meat unfit for human consumption. Such bacteria-loaded meat could lead to food poisoning in humans,” he said.In May this year, the Kerala Food, Drugs and Administration (FDA) had sprung into action following the death of a 16-year-old school girl after she had consumed chicken shawarma in Kannur. The food quality tests later revealed that the meat was stale and infected with the shigella virus which killed the schoolgirl.“Sometimes, well-cooked or heated food may have got rid of the bacteria, if at all present. But the poison from it may still linger on the meat and could pose health risks to the consumer,” said Dr Anish.
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