Coronavirus: A revenge by endangered Pangolins on humanity?
Pangolins are the most trafficked mammals on earth with highly priced scales and meat in global markets. In April 2019, fourteen tonnes (about 5,600 pangolins by average weight) of smuggled pangolins were intercepted by the National Parks Board and Singapore Customs. The Vietnam bound shipment from Nigeria, declared as “Frozen Beef” worth a whooping $38.7 million, was seized.
In December 2019,a health practitioner reported a rare severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Wuhan, the capital of Central China’s Hubei Province. The whistleblower, Mr Li Wenliang, who was detained by police after warning the Chinese populace about the deadly virus has died. This brings the total reported deaths in mainland China to 717 individuals since the outbreak.
Credit : JEN GUYTON/MINDEN PICTURES & GETTY IMAGES
Chinese researchers investigating the animal origin of the virus have listed the pangolin, a mammal belonging to the badger family, as the immediate host after testing more than 1000 samples from wild animals. According to Xinhua news agency,scientists at the South China Agricultural found that, the genome sequence of the coronavirus strain was 99 percent identical to those in infected people.
According to an article by Sciencealert.com, experts from University of Cambridge have urged that, investigations into animal reservoirs are extremely important, but results must be published for international scrutiny. Head of Veterinary Medicine at Cambridge,James Wood, reiterated that, simply reporting detection of viral RNA with sequence similarity of 99+ percent is not sufficient.
Coronaviruses are zoonotic viruses that cause mild-to-severe diseases like Middle East Respiratory Syndrome(MERS-Cov) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome(SARS-Cov). The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that symptoms of the infection include respiratory infections, fever, cough, and shortness of breath. In more severe cases, infection can cause pneumonia, kidney failure and even death.
Until future investigations are conducted,the preliminary connection of endangered pangolin to the infectious coronavirus shall avert illicit trade of wild mammals and their derivatives to control the epidemic. Consumers of game from reserves have been cautioned by WHO to desist from banned species to combat atypical infections.
Pangolins are solitary animals widely spread in Central Africa and Asia. They are poached for their scales, meat and medicinal purposes. Pangolin species are protected under national and international laws with two listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.