AUSTRALIAN FEAR COULD BECOME A GLOBAL EPIDEMICS

Viruses never sleep, they are always lurking us, no matter where we are located and what we do. The viruses have their own rhythm of life and it seems that they never give up on hunting and haunting people. Human beings are not safe and the worst enemy is one that is silent and invisible. The evil that waits for its final purpose.

It is not so easy to understand the viruses and their mission in our world, their place on the organic  collage of the Earth. They are somewhere between living and dead, they are not totally pure life forms but they are not material things. If we call them crystals, we will miss to imagine their perfect killing nature and ability to find hosts and survive even when they do not live. The evolution process that is old thousand of years confirmed that viruses are the loyal followers of the human race and its biological presence on this Planet. We are in some kind of cohabitation with them and it wouldn’t be possible to perform the life and death without deadly or not so deadly microbes. I guess their importance is in enabling the  natural balance in healthy parameters.

However, sometimes, the viruses come out and bring only chaos and move the chances for peaceful  coexistence into the negative area.  That is not only the fault of the pathogens but also the responsibility of human race, that failed to serve the nature but turned the nature into the humiliated servant. The new deadly viral diseases are the reaction on the action, dangerous feedback on the mankind’s egoism. The boomerang. Karma.

The  nightmare started this Australian hot summer, from december 2016 when the Ross River viruses has been detected in parts of Victoria and New South Wales. In the period of almost three months, the Murrumbidgee Local Health District, obligated for the region from Albury to central-west New South Wales,has registered about 264 cases of the  mosquito-borne virus known as the Ross River virus. Along with this virus, there is a possibility for Barmah Forest virus and Sindbis virus also to be on rise.

From the beginning of the 2017, there were new patients, about 317 across the state. Victoria is having a real issue since the virus has been marked in 314 people for the last year and for just two months of the current year, in more than 548 cases.

What is the main reason for this virus to be occurred? First of all, spring rainfall was very strong for the region of north-east Victoria and the southern New South Wales and that obviously caused that mosquitos have had all perfect conditions to find water to lay and develop their eggs.

The Ross River virus is not deadly as other dangerous viruses but has a potential to become global epidemics and to indicate the severe health problems. It is known as epidemic polyarthritis, created by encapsulated single-strand RNA alphavirus, endemic for the  areas of Australia and the zone of South Pacific

The CDC informs travellers to avoid the zones in Australia where this viral disease is endemic. The problem is that the number of mosquitos is increased when we have the hot and wet summers and then the risk from being infected with this illness is also on rise:“Ross River virus disease (RRVD) is spread through mosquito bites. About 55%–75% of people who are infected do not feel sick. For those who do feel sick, symptoms of RRVD include joint pain and swelling, muscle pain, fever, tiredness, and rash. Most patients recover within a few weeks, but some people experience joint pain, joint stiffness, or tiredness for many months”

The majority of infected people are recovered after some days but some have fight to overcome the outcome of the disease and the tiredness and body weakness that last for weeks after the disease is somehow defeated. The basic reason for complications are the lack of right diagnosis because the one must be given only after the blood test is done. Many tourists that visit the Ross River virus zone are not aware of this so they go back to their homes, carrying the virus with and prolonging the chance for fully recovery.

The disease is transmitted by the mosquitos but the real reservoir of the virus are local animals.The  wallabies and kangaroos in Australia seem to be the most attractive for RRV to chose them as its host. Then,after the mosquito bites the infected animals (host), the virus is further delivered to the next victim of mosquito bite, possibly the human being. The human-to-human transmission is not real in this case and that reduce the global risk of this viral disease. Some scientists warned that Ross River virus has an ability to be Australian Zika virus, that will hit the rest of the world but the reality is that it has no full capacity for such a planetar strike and also the genesis of the illness is not so aggressive to cause the worldwide panic. It will definitely make serious problems to the people with low immune system and to the pregnant women (which is also the case with Zika) but the destruction nature is not  unlimited.

According to some research, the virus is hidden in the South Pacific, because there were many passengers that have it carried from Southern Pacific area and not directly from Australia:“It was previously thought that the mosquito-borne virus could only sustain itself among marsupials, which kept the disease endemic to Australia and Papua New Guinea.But research fellow at the University of Adelaide Professor Philip Weinstein said he and his partners at the Australian National University (ANU) found the disease silently planting roots in the South Pacific.Professor Weinstein said the new finding meant that even though there were no marsupials in the Pacific Islands, the virus was seemingly able to maintain itself there anyway.He warned that if the virus could sustain itself in areas where there were no marsupials, ‘then it could sustain itself anywhere in the world'”. The mentioned researcher believes that RRV has genetic structure and dangerous survival logic so it could do all just to survive, even if that means a bit of genetic mutation to move itself from Pacific into the whole world. There is no doubt that virus will be changed through the different species and it could be shaped to even kill at the end of the day, but those assumptions are not  proved for now.

The people who experienced this disease have no positive memories but rather fear and pain when they talk about it. Some told  that they thought  like they die, other believed their whole body is broken. There were those who couldn’t have walked without help. Everybody reaction on the virus was different but what was common is: the virus is not naive and light as it is usually described in media. Maybe it is not Ebola’s daughter but it is still not a daily cold we pick up wth. Sometimes the ordinary influenza is worse than any other deadly pathogen but sometimes our bodies even survive the Ebola attack. It is all about the individual strength of the organism and the mutated attributes of the virus and its super offensive policy of inter-species travelling and destruction with no mercy.

There is no medicine or vaccine to prevent the RRV but there are some procedures and standards for those who are under the first risk.   Among the most important are those to be informed about the zone of risks to be infected and the clothes and means that are needed to be used for avoiding the illness. In the case of positive diagnosis on RRV, all we have is supportive therapy and increased capacity of immune system of body. There is no quick solution to be cured or even to be prevented from infection. The good thing is a map of RRV activity and the red alert of the places where the mode of acting must be adjusted to the local potential to be affected by this virus.

When we learn how to read the secret runes from the nature, we will learn that the cohabitation is possible but it is responsibility of the both sides. We must stop blaming the nature for everything that is against us, maybe we are those who are against everything else on this world that is not only ours.