Pandemics
The foreshadowing is eerie. Contagion is a 2011 film starring Matt Damon. The plot concerns the spread of a virus transmitted by respiratory droplets, attempts by medical researchers and public health officials to identify and contain the disease, the loss of social order in a pandemic, and the introduction of a vaccine to halt its spread.
Pandemics have been around for a few millennia. What we see today with COVID-19 is nothing new. In 430 BC, two-thirds of Athens’ population was wiped out by a typhoid-like illness.
The Antonine Plague began in 165 AD and lasted 15 years. It claimed millions of lives and devastated the Roman army.
The Black Death claimed one-third of the world’s population in the mid 1300’s.
The Great Plague of London took 20% of its citizens in 1665. The Spanish Flu caused 50 million deaths worldwide in 1918. The Asian Flu claimed another 1.1 million in 1957.
The COVID-19 Pandemic
And now we have COVID-19. The death toll to date is 2.7 million people. Over 123 million people have contracted the virus, a mortality rate of 2.2%.
Pandemics
COVID has changed the world. Its people. Its economy. Society. Many aspects of our way of life not barely a year ago will never again be the same.
Yet in some ways, we’ve been lucky. It could have been worse. Much worse.
From the graph below, note Mexico has by far the highest mortality rate to COVID—over 9% of people who got the virus died. Shockingly higher than anywhere else on the planet.
COVID-19 Mortality https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality
Now think of the story in Contagion, the film. One in twelve of the world’s population contracted the virus with a 25 – 30% mortality rate. Not at all a stretch based on the death rate in historical pandemics.
Think of the global impact of a death rate that high. The fear. The panic. The social unrest.
Terrifying.
The Next Pandemics
Pandemics aren’t going away. As the world population grows to 10 billion, the probability of catastrophic mass death by infectious disease is a certainty. When it hits, there will be no vaccine to save anyone. Many will hope governments learn their lessons from COVID and protect them, their loved ones, and those most at risk.
Already we see danger lurking. The COVID virus is mutating with new variants potentially more transmissible and more fatal. They may confound early detection testing and not even be treatable by the new COVID vaccines.
Makes sense. Much like the flu vaccine doesn’t protect those inoculated from all its variants, new mutations of COVID may prove resistant to the new COVID shots.
There have been recent concerns about the AstraZeneca vaccine and its potential to cause blood clots in the brain. Some European countries have halted its use until its safety can be assured. Not a surprise. Any medication developed that quickly with little testing for long-term effects is bound to have defects and unknown side-effects.
And a recent new item perhaps lost in the COVID media domination: Candida auris is a multidrug resistant pathogen that presents a serious global threat to human health.
Where does that leave us? How do we navigate the health risks so prevalent today? Chronic diseases? Infectious diseases?
Pandemics and Personal Responsibility
There really is only one way—personal responsibility. We need to take responsibility for our own health. For the quality of our own immune system. How?
Lifestyle. We need to adopt a lifestyle congruent with building a strong immune system. Not just to reduce the chance of getting infected. But to mitigate the damage that an infection can inflict on our bodies. To allow us to survive an infection with as little collateral damage as possible.
As the world population grows to 10 billion, the probability of catastrophic mass death by infectious disease is a certainty. When it hits, there will be no vaccine to save anyone.
In the new world reality, we have a choice. In our future is the inevitability of pandemics worse than COVID. We can’t count on politicians and governments to protect us. Some will wait in desperation for the development of a vaccine to protect the masses. Many will trust their health to Big Pharma and its self-serving pursuit of big profits.
But you can make a different decision. Choose wisely.
We can control the choices we make. Our lifestyle choices. Eat well. Exercise. Get adequate rest. Adopt the right mindset. Do what you can to avoid the toxicity of today’s world.
In essence, harness the power of our own immune system.
Do that and you will be prepared for the next pandemic. There are no guarantees of surviving it. But it will improve the odds of doing so.
