Pathogens vs. Humans

Microbes and pathogens were the first forms of life on earth. We now have fossil evidence that they came into existence 350 crore years ago. The first human species (Homo Habilis) came into existence 24 Lac years ago, later Homo Erectus came into existence, and finally, homosapiens (wise man) came into existence about 10 Lac years ago. Modern man came about 3 Lac years ago and our human civilization is only 14000 years old.

Microorganisms like bacteria and viruses have a far better evolutionary head start over human beings. With lakhs and lakhs of different species, they are masters of the game of adaptation, multiplication, evolution, and mutation.

Bacteria are a type of biological, unicellular cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. There are convincing arguments that bacteria have been present since the early Precambrian time. Unlike viruses, bacteria can reproduce by themselves. Bacteria can be classified into two categories, good and bad.

Our human body is a biome, we have bacteria and viruses in our body. Our entire digestion system runs on the gut flora. About 10% of the human genome is made up of genetic material. Normally most of the bacteria in our body are good for us but some can cause harm like Tuberculosis. Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. TB) is a bacteria that has caused the maximum number of deaths of human beings.

Viruses are the submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses infect all types of life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. They're neither dead nor alive. They can be classified as active or inactive.?

Viruses are generally harmful. We know of approx 16 Lakh species of viruses out of which 8.5 Lakh are dangerous for human beings. Over lakhs of years of human evolution from homohabilus to homoerectus to homosapiens to modern man, 8% of our DNA is that of viruses. This has now been proven through DNA analysis. Over lakhs of years, our ancestors have fought these viruses and developed immunity against them.

“War of the Worlds” movie’s last commentary aptly summarises the entire human history in the light of viruses and bacteria.?

“From the moment the invaders arrived, breathed our air, ate and drank, they were doomed. They were undone, destroyed, after all of man's weapons and devices had failed, by the tiniest creatures that God in his wisdom put upon this earth. By the toll of a billion deaths, man had earned his immunity, his right to survive among this planet's infinite organisms. And that right is ours against all challenges. For neither do men live nor die in vain.”

Morgan Freeman, War of the Worlds

There are various types of families of viruses. Scientists have identified thousands of them. Some of these family classifications are based on DNA and some on RNA. In 2003 we witnessed the SARS virus which we now call the SARS-COV-1 virus and the Coronavirus is the SARS-COV-2 virus. Both have RNA strands. However, SARS-COV-2 has a lipid coating that keeps the strand safe but can be washed away by sanitizers and soap. On top of the lipid coating, spike proteins exist which get inside the human cell and transfer the RNA. Once inside the human body, the RNA gives instructions to our cells to replicate which then makes crores of copies making us infected. This is the entire process of how Coronavirus infects our system. It’s a very simple machine but a killer machine.

In the last two decades, humans started depleting and entering the natural habitat and forests. Earth and nature’s evolution over the last 450 Crores has some principles. Nature has witnessed many extinction events during history and has now finally stabilized with a set of natural rhythmic rules. However, modern man feels I know it all and the planet is entirely for his consumption and all natural resources are only resources for him, merely tools to enhance his profitability. Trees of the forest, soil, and land are a resource, the river becomes a resource for hydropower plants, the sun has become a resource for solar energy, the wind is a resource for turbines, and mountains are resources for renewable energy or land. This attitude is anti-natural as it creates imbalances in nature. When these imbalances go beyond a tipping point, nature sends a message that you are not the owner of the planet, you are merely a new tenant.

Forest has various species of animals namely mammals, invertebrates, vertebrates, etc. these also have various viruses and bacteria which co-exist in their systems for the last crores of years. These animals. microbes and these pathogens are made to live in the wild in their natural habitat. Due to the laws of nature humans never came across these viruses and so humans cannot co-exist or fight them. Some of these viruses like Covid 19 have extremely high pathogenicity and transmissibility. Our misadventures of getting inside wild natural habitats invited this virus.??

Experts say SARS-CoV-2 originated in bats who are a reservoir of viruses and experts say they either came directly which is one step jump or maybe through an intermediary animal. Bats have 20000 different species and they are such clever mammals that despite being home to some of the most dangerous viruses in the world they have learned to create a balance and survive with them for crores of years now.?

SARS-CoV-2 as suggested by some experts and scientists jumped on humans at one of Wuhan’s open-air “wet markets.” They’re where customers buy fresh meat and fish, including animals that are sold live. This news was initially suppressed by the Chinese regime and media in which the world lost two to three critical weeks to clamp down on the infection and get ready for a response. By this time due to globalization, the virus spread all across the globe. The USA by 10th -15th Jan 2020 had all the signals that a killer virus had come, however, the American government did not do anything about it. The President of the USA was touring the world for the first two and a half months of 2020 all across the Globe including India.