Yesterday once more as viral strains strike

I like that part of me that still thinks for itself as I seamlessly switch between the small and big screens of my smartphone and laptop.

Allan Jacob

Published: Thu 25 Feb 2021, 10:46 PM

Russia alerting the World Health Organisation (WHO) of the first case of avian flu in humans caught my attention last weekend. In normal times, before the current coronavirus pandemic that has upended lives and jobs, I would have ignored the link that appeared on one of the many news sites I visit first thing in the morning. It’s true, I ‘manually’ visit the sites with no prompts from social media or Google.

I like that part of me that still thinks for itself as I seamlessly switch between the small and big screens of my smartphone and laptop.

The ritual of changing screens is because I am desperate for a change of scenery that I am not getting these days with social distancing keeping me away from my usual haunts as germaphobia or corona phobia overwhelm me.

Having been an insufferable hypochondriac for as long as I can remember, this assault by coronavirus has only heightened my fears. But I take solace in the fact that fear keeps humans, beasts and micro-organisms alive. And to survive this phase of history we will need liberal doses of fear with effective vaccines and a little knowledge from genuine sources of information that we can trust.

Staying away from society has come at a cost as I probe into many viruses, strains and mutations. Knowledge offers me some prevention, but I am unsure about protection. Can my body resist the virus? The effort is to try hard not present myself as a favourable host for coronavirus. Spiking the spike protein has meant spraying the entrance to my apartment with disinfectant three times daily.

For many, dodging disease and people for more than a year has been a battle of wills. Experts and virologists are uncertain when this pandemic will end as more studies reveal details about the organism that is only a year old. For those who have contracted the virus, it’s been courageous journey. “You must tell yourself that you can beat it,” said one survivor I spoke to recently who managed to emerge unscathed (and unsymptomatically) from the damage caused by the pathogen.

Perhaps I am reading too much but the distance between the screens is getting closer, literally. For a glance of the news, the smartphone is my gadget of choice. Deep reading requires a laptop, and I keep my eyes focused on the latest strain of bird virus that could pose a threat to humanity if warnings are not heeded. Russia has been transparent about the development and I am having a different opinion about the stoic and closed people who have a history of being opaque. Being a close tracker of history, I put my little knowledge from the past to use here.

These are unusual times, the new abnormal, when imagining the normal can be seen as a sublime pursuit. Information is precious and the more I read about the outbreak in Russia, I realise how dangerous it could pose a threat to humans. Never in my life have I worried this much about chills and fever than during this phase of parlous existence. A sniffle or a sneeze at home gets me thinking about worst-case scenarios. After reading about the latest Russian outbreak, I think this could be it.

So the Russians informed the WHO of the suspicious H5N8 strain of avian influenza after some poultry workers were infected by it. The strain emerged last year and may have been circulating in the European bird population.

History reveals that the last big pandemic from over a century ago originated in birds who then transmitted it to the human population. Yes, what is known as the Spanish Flu of 1918 was an avian influenza. According to data culled over the two years that it raged, 500 million were affected and 50 million died. Back then, the lack of vaccines and drugs could be the reason for the high fatalities.

“It was caused by an H1N1 virus with genes of avian origin,” according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Mortality was high in people younger than 5 years old, 20-40 years old, and 65 years and older. The high mortality in healthy people, including those in the 20-40 year age group, was a unique feature of this pandemic.”

While the Spanish Flu was caused by birds, the current coronavirus pandemic is believed to have started in bats who may have passed on the pathogen to an intermediary animal that later came into contact with humans. Bats are winged mammals who are carriers of different strains of coronaviruses. The latest study published in Nature Communications says, “coronaviruses with a high degree of genetic relatedness to Sars-CoV-2 are widely present in bats across many nations and regions in Asia”.

The link from the 1918 influenza to the latest bird flu in Russia cannot be ignored. Bird viruses are also mutating and are being passed on to humans. Talk of fowl play then and now as we bat up the wrong tree during the pandemic.

— allan@khaleejtimes.com