The chances of getting along with them would be good, after all, in the past, fatal viral diseases such as smallpox and child paralysis were defeated with vaccinations. Alpbach. The current pandemic is far from over, says Palese, who conducts research at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, in the run-up to the Alpbach health talks. “Until June, Covid-19 claimed more lives in 2021 than in all of 2020,” he said. The number of fatalities is (as of August 26) at 4.4 million worldwide with a case number of almost 215 million people. The pandemic has now spread to over 190 countries. “So there are still difficult times ahead of us,” said Palese.
Bola, Marburg, SARS
In the future, eight different types of viruses in particular could cause major problems that are transmitted from animals to humans, the researcher explained: Ebola and Marburg viruses, which are likely transmitted by monkeys and rodents and cause fever and bleeding (hemorrhagic fever). He also named eastern equine encephalomyelitis viruses that move from birds and horses to humans with the help of mosquitoes and cause brain infections. Hantaviruses also come from rodents, which mainly cause lung diseases. HIV continues to be problematic, as are the influenza viruses, which vary from year to year. But SARS viruses also continue to pose a risk, as does the Nipah virus, which, like flu and SARS viruses, enters the body via the respiratory tract. It causes brain inflammation. This disease is also caused by the West Nile virus, which is derived from birds and is transmitted by mosquitoes.
More deaths from smallpox than from wars
In the past, types of viruses such as smallpox, measles, poliomyelitis (infantile paralysis) and influenza have caused problems, Palese emphasized. Between 1900 and 1920, more than 300 million people died of smallpox. In comparison, even the total death tolls of the two world wars as well as the Vietnam, Korean and Gulf wars are much lower. With blankets deliberately contaminated by smallpox, measles and mumps viruses, the genicide of the Native Americans was forced by soldiers from Europe. They killed significantly more people with them than with their bullets, explained the virus researcher.
However, through a worldwide vaccination campaign, the World Health Organization eradicated smallpox by 1977. The British doctor Edward Jenner had developed a vaccine by injecting people with the harmless cowpox virus, which gave them immunity to smallpox. Already in Jenner’s time there were anti-vaccination opponents who, in a famous and notorious caricature, made people spout horns and half cows from their mouths, noses and ears, which were supposed to come from bovine serum. At that time there was also not exactly mild pressure to get vaccinated. In job advertisements of the time, applicants who had been specifically immunized were looked for. “Back then, the smallpox vaccination was a prerequisite for getting a job at all,” said Palese.
Influenza viruses claimed up to 100 million deaths
Influenza had hardly left any less dire consequences. Within three months from the end of 1918 to February 1919, 50 to 100 million people worldwide died in the influenza virus pandemic. At that time, as is currently the case with Covid-19, older people were mainly affected. This is evidenced by a photo from a village in Alaska, on which only the surviving children can be seen. “Your parents and grandparents were all dead,” explained the researcher.
Mechanical ventilators, such as those used in the treatment of Covid-19, were also known earlier, and back then they were no guarantee of survival. In the United States, for example, in the 1950s, patients afflicted with poliomyelitis were placed in tubular aspirators. “But 80 percent of the people did not come out alive, they all died of pneumonia,” he said. “Smallpox and infantile paralysis are now a thing of the past because we have a vaccination against it, just like against measles.” Only influenza has not yet been eliminated because this virus is constantly changing.
Competition between viruses and humans
For the future, Palese predicts a real competition between viruses and humans: “Evolution will continue to bring waves of new viruses in the future, and only vigilant scientists and global health measures will enable us to be one step ahead of them in this deadly game”, declared the Austrian researcher.
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
