Humans to blame for spread of coronavirus and other ‘zoonoses’ | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Sunday
June 15, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
SUNDAY, JUNE 15, 2025
Humans to blame for spread of coronavirus and other ‘zoonoses’

Coronavirus chronicle

BSS/AFP
21 April, 2020, 11:35 am
Last modified: 21 April, 2020, 02:42 pm

Related News

  • 4 including doctor tested positive for new variant of Covid-19 in Cumilla
  • Health alert issued at Mongla Port to prevent Covid spread
  • Bangladesh records 2 Covid-related deaths, 15 new cases in 24 hours
  • 10 more Covid-19 cases reported in country
  • Chattogram prepares hospitals amid rise in Covid cases

Humans to blame for spread of coronavirus and other ‘zoonoses’

The name given to diseases transmitted from animals to humans is “zoonoses”, based on the Greek words for “animal” and “sickness”

BSS/AFP
21 April, 2020, 11:35 am
Last modified: 21 April, 2020, 02:42 pm
File Photo
File Photo

Whether it came from a bat or a pangolin is not certain, but one thing is: the coronavirus outbreak that has killed tens of thousands and turned the world upside down comes from the animal world.

It is human activity enabled the virus to jump to people, and specialists are warning that if nothing changes many other pandemics of this nature will follow.

The name given to diseases transmitted from animals to humans is "zoonoses", based on the Greek words for "animal" and "sickness".

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

They are not new — tuberculosis, rabies, toxoplasmosis, malaria, to name just a few, are all zoonoses.

According to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), 60 percent of human infectious diseases originate from animals.

This figure climbs to 75 percent for "emerging" diseases such as Ebola, HIV, avian flu, Zika, or SARS, another type of coronavirus. The list goes on.

"The emergence of zoonotic diseases is often associated with environmental changes or ecological disturbances, such as agricultural intensification and human settlement, or encroachments into forests and other habitats," said a 2016 UNEP report.

"Changes in the environment are usually the result of human activities, ranging from land use change to climate change."

Gwenael Vourc'h of INRAE, a French public research institute, also blames human activity for the crossover between species.

"Given the growth of the human population and its ever more intense use of planetary resources, the destruction of more and more ecosystems multiplies contacts," she says.

A key area of concern is deforestation to make way for agriculture and intensive livestock farming.

Domesticated animals are often a "bridge" between pathogens from the wild and humans. The widespread use of antibiotics in the livestock industry has also led to bacterial pathogens building up immunity to front-line drugs.

Urbanisation and habitat fragmentation are also highly disruptive of the balance between species, while global warming can push disease-carrying animals into new territory. – 'Unprecedented in human history' –

The novel coronavirus is believed to have emerged in a wet market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.

Scientists think it originated in bats and could have been passed on via another mammal like a pangolin, an endangered species whose meat and scales are highly prized in parts of Asia.

But researchers have yet to come up with a definitive answer on how it migrated to people.

The only sure thing is that human activity facilitated the jump.

"The process that leads a microbe, such as a virus, from a population of vertebrates such as bats to humans is complex, but driven by people," says Anne Larigauderie, executive secretary of IPBES, the panel of UN experts on biodiversity.

"People, through their actions, create opportunities for the microbes to come closer to human populations.

"The rate of global change in nature during the past 50 years is unprecedented in human history, and the most important direct driver of change in nature is land use change."

Beyond the current outbreak of coronavirus, IPBES estimates that zoonoses kill some 700,000 people a year.

A study by American researchers published last week and completed before the new coronavirus outbreak identifies rodents, primates and bats as hosts of three-quarters of viruses transmitted to humans.

But domestic animals also carry about 50 percent of the zoonoses identified.

In terms of endangered wildlife, the study shows that those who share the most viruses with humans are precisely "populations declining due to exploitation and loss of habitat".

Christine Johnson, of the University of California veterinary school, who led the study, blames the human urge to "alter the landscape".

"This also increases the frequency and intensity of contact between humans and wildlife — creating the perfect conditions for virus spillover," she says.

'Global tragedy'

According to Larigauderie, this coronavirus outbreak may just be the tip of the iceberg.

"Increased trends in land use change, combined with increased trends in trade, and global travels, are expected to increase the frequency of pandemics in future," she says.

"Transformative change is needed in order to find a solution to this global tragedy."

Vourc'h is also calling for a systemic response.

"Beyond the essential response to each epidemic, we must think about our model… rethink our relationship with natural ecosystems and the services they provide," she says.

The 2016 UNEP report, which noted that "ecosystem integrity underlines human health and development", said effective strategies already exist to control most neglected zoonoses. The main constraint, however, appeared to be "lack of investment".

At 86, Jane Goodall has spent most of her life studying and defending animals, especially chimpanzees in Africa, especially from Tanzania. And she pulls no punches on where she lays the blame.

"It was predicted that this was going to happen and it's going to happen again until we learn the lessons," warns the British primatologist.

"It is our disregard for nature and our disrespect of the animals we should share the planet with that has caused this pandemic."

Top News

Coronavirus / COVID-19 / Coronavirus Pandemic / Coronavirus Infection / Global Pandemic / Zoonoses

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Representational image. Photo: Collected
    Banks' classified loans soar by Tk74,570cr in 3 months, hit Tk4.2 lakh crore
  • A missile is launched during an air defence drill in an undisclosed location in Iran, in this handout image obtained on January 12, 2025. Photo: Iranian Army/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
    Investors on edge over Israel-Iran conflict, oil price volatility
  • File Photo: TBS
    Covid-19: One death, 26 new cases reported in 24hrs

MOST VIEWED

  • Tour operator Borsha Islam. Photo: Collected
    ‘Tour Expert’ admin Borsha Islam arrested over Bandarban tourist deaths
  • Fighter jet. Photo: AFP
    3 F-35 fighter jets downed, two Israeli pilots in custody, claims Iranian media
  • Infographic: TBS
    Chattogram Port proposes 70%-100% tariff hike
  • Vehicles were seen stuck on the Dhaka-Tangail-Jamuna Bridge highway due to a traffic jam stretching 15 kilometres on 14 June 2025. Photo: TBS
    15km traffic jam on Dhaka-Tangail-Jamuna Bridge highway as post-Eid rush continues
  • Ahsan H Mansur. TBS sketch
    BB governor meets global litigation funders to mobilise $100m for tracing stolen assets
  • Burnt out cars and damaged buildings are all that’s left of this street in Ramat Gan Credit: AP
    Iran threatens to strike US, UK, and French bases if they help defend Israel

Related News

  • 4 including doctor tested positive for new variant of Covid-19 in Cumilla
  • Health alert issued at Mongla Port to prevent Covid spread
  • Bangladesh records 2 Covid-related deaths, 15 new cases in 24 hours
  • 10 more Covid-19 cases reported in country
  • Chattogram prepares hospitals amid rise in Covid cases

Features

Renowned authors Imdadul Haque Milon, Mohit Kamal, and poet–children’s writer Rashed Rouf seen at Current Book Centre, alongside the store's proprietor, Shahin. Photo: Collected

From ‘Screen and Culture’ to ‘Current Book House’: Chattogram’s oldest surviving bookstore

1h | Panorama
Photos: Collected

Kurtis that make a great office wear

2d | Mode
Among pet birds in the country, lovebirds are the most common, and they are also the most numerous in the haat. Photo: Junayet Rashel

Where feathers meet fortune: How a small pigeon stall became Dhaka’s premiere bird market

4d | Panorama
Illustration: Duniya Jahan/ TBS

Forget Katy Perry, here’s Bangladesh’s Ruthba Yasmin shooting for the moon

4d | Features

More Videos from TBS

New Weapons, Old Rivalry: Iran Fires Missiles at Israel

New Weapons, Old Rivalry: Iran Fires Missiles at Israel

12m | TBS World
5 Islamic banks to merge into one, no one will lose their jobs: BB governor

5 Islamic banks to merge into one, no one will lose their jobs: BB governor

37m | TBS Today
How the world is reacting to Israel attacks on Iran?

How the world is reacting to Israel attacks on Iran?

52m | TBS World
Chattogram Port proposes 70%-100% tariff hike

Chattogram Port proposes 70%-100% tariff hike

1h | TBS Insight
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net