I am convinced that we will win the fight against the coronavirus that caused the pandemic; they will not decimate the human population, because they are not as dangerous as Ebola – believes Prof. Krzysztof Pyrć from the Jagiellonian University. However, other dangerous pathogens may soon appear.
The specialist warns against this in the book “Virologists Talk About Fighting The Plague”, available in bookstores from Wednesday. It includes interviews with leading Polish virologists and epidemiologists who study the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and are struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic. The interviews were conducted by Mira Suchodolska, a journalist of “Dziennik Gazeta Prawna”.
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Virologist prof. Krzysztof Pyrć from Krakow believes that sooner or later the pandemic will be brought under control. Probably it will be possible to develop a drug to fight coronavirus and obtain a vaccine effective in treating COVID-19 disease.
“It is not a pathogen like Ebola that can decimate the human population. It is very dangerous in terms of epidemics, very dangerous especially for the elderly or in some way burdened with other diseases, but it will end sooner or later “- says the specialist.
However, he points out that other viruses may appear after SARS-CoV-2, just as it was many times in the past. Examples include the West Nile virus, SARS, Zika virus, Ebola, and the swine flu virus. Poland was lucky to be located in a temperate climate zone, which these pathogens did not reach, or only to a small extent.
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The SARS-CoV-2 virus has shown, however, that this is not always the case. Our country is also exposed to new germs. Another example is measles, which is recurring in many European countries, including Poland. A new, dangerous type of flu virus, such as bird flu, may appear at any time.
Prof. Pyrć argues that you need to be better prepared for the next epidemic or pandemic and develop a rapid response strategy. Thanks to this, there is a chance that the epidemic will die out before it takes over the whole world, like COVID-19. Perhaps the current pandemic could also have been avoided if China, where it broke out, had reacted faster. But other countries have also made similar mistakes.
“This terrible” something “may come up in a few months or next year and will have to be dealt with. And the costs of coping, as we have just found out, are much higher than the costs of preparation “- emphasizes prof. Throw.
This is also discussed by prof. Włodzimierz Gut from Warsaw. “I hope the world will become more alert. It was an overview lesson, we were taught in several directions, ”he says. He adds that viruses take advantage of our every mistake, and you have to remember that we create opportunities for them.
Because a lot depends on our behavior – experts point out: on whether we wear protective masks so as not to infect others, whether we vaccinate, if it is possible, e.g. against influenza, and whether we come to work with colds and infect others.
Author: Zbigniew Wojtasiński
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