Panzootic Disease: When The Guardian and Daily Mail agree, be very afraid indeed

They’re new and they spread fast. They mutate, jumping species barries with ease. Many of them are new, meaning there are no vaccines and no established treatments. They seem to come in many forms- prions, viruses, bacteria, whatever. What are they? Panzootic diseases. They may turn out to be the most significant health risk of this decade, making it time we all thought more about them. So here are two articles which we hope will give you, gentle reader, a sort of jump-off point from which can can know more.

Let’s start with the eloquent Luke Andrews of the Mail, who concentrates specifically Chronic Wasting Disease, or CWD for short.[1] It is caused by our old friends Prions (remember CJD?) and seems to be fatal to every animal it infects. Infection is by simple contact with any body fluid; and as deer are widely hunted from Wyoming to Pennsylvania, Luke identifies a growing problem, at least in the United States. More worrying for us is Luke’s report that it has jumped to wild pigs (that’s it displaying panzootic behaviour); it causes us to worry what may come next,

Pulling back for a broader view, we come to the erudite Phoebe Weston of the Guardian.[2] Unsurprisingly to well-informed LSS readers, her classic example of a Panzootic is H₅N₁, the avian flu which is currently ripping through hecatombs of our most iconic species of mammals and birds. If you think in terms of hard cash, how good is that for the tourist trade? Intriguingly, she sees COVID-19 as a classic Panzootic disease as well, as it seems to have spread to 48 species (no, we didn’t know that either). Best of all, Phoebe praises a book by a man called Mark Honigsbaum called The Pandemic Century; we link to a quick review here.[3] Because the causes of this are actually quite simple: uncontrolled development. destructive short-term farming and an insatiable hunger for things which bring instant, short-term gratification. That is the real sickness.

[1]https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-14280007/researchers-warn-chronic-wasting-disease-zombie-deer.html

[2]https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jan/15/age-of-the-panzootic-scientists-warn-of-more-devastating-diseases-jumping-between-species-aoe?CMP=

[3]https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jun/23/the-pandemic-century-one-hundred-years-panic-hysteria-mark-honigsbaum-review-riveting

#panzootic disease #prion #pandemic #CWD #habitat loss #global warming #virus

Two possible origins for the next great pandemic

Ah, 2020? Are you nostalgic already for those far off days of masks, empty streets and ballooning Government Deficits? Don’t worry. Covid-19 was just a curtain raiser, an early premonition. Another pandemic is coming very soon. Recently, Nature Briefings has run two st,ories suggesting two hitherto-unexpected sources

A Far-away Fur Farm?

One of the largest studies of viruses harboured by fur animals in China finds a broad array of potential pathogens — including new ones and known ones found in new hosts. For instance, they found the Japanese encephalitis virus in guinea pigs and norovirus in mink. The study highlights the risks of fur farms becoming a bridge between people and the viruses circulating in wildlife, says virologist Eddie Holmes. “This is how pandemics happen.”Nature | 4 min read
Reference: Nature paper

Arctic Agony?

“The Arctic is likely to become a hotbed for zoonotic diseases that spill over into humans from other animals,” argues Arctic ecoscientist Christian Sonne. The natural balance is being upset by pollutants, invasive pathogens and melting ice, and ancient microorganisms are also being released as the landscape thaws. He calls for a ‘One Health’ approach that integrates an understanding of the effects on wildlife, humans and ecosystems. For example, food-safety efforts and better disease surveillance could help reduce the risk of spillover events in places where meat is processed by subsistence-hunting communities.Nature | 5 min read

Once one of these organisms gets out from its natural habitat, it will start to breed very, very quickly indeed, as we saw with SARS-Cov-2. The world is a very small place now-you can get almost anywhere in 24 hours. And the overcrowded, air conditioned plane which you will use is an almost perfect breeding ground for spreading micro-organisms. Soon, the things you are thinking about now may just be distant memories.

#pandemic #medicine #health # #norovirus #pollution #global warming #covid-19

Whither the Labour Government? And why LSS may not be such a donkey after all

On the morning after the UK election results, senior members of the board arrived at work, only to find that someone had tied a large live donkey to the boardroom door. We feel the incident was connected to our insistence that Labour would only receive a majority somewhere around 20-30 Parliamentary seats, as opposed to the 170 they in fact obtained. And that therefore someone among the lower ranks of staff was trying to imply, that we, the Members of the Editorial Board of Learning, Science and Society were, collectively, a donkey.

But are we? Yes, Labour picked up many more seats than we expected. But if you look at their share of the vote, it was only 34%, just 10% above their Tory rivals. What’s worse, the turn out overall was 59.9%, which is appalling in the world’s oldest democracy. All in all, although we wish the new Government the very best, that isn’t much of a mandate. Not very different from only having a 28 seat margin perhaps? Maybe we are not so much Donkeys as Wise Owls after all. If you want to see how all this might pan out for Sir Keir Starmer and co, Larry Elliott of the Guardian has sketched a couple of possible roadmaps of the future her. [1[

Now as for the Donkey. Ok a joke’s a joke. But can someone please come and take it away? It smells, and the noise it makes during board meetings is intolerable. As for other matters, there aren’t enough rose beds in southern England to spread that lot on. There will be no enquiries into how it got sneaked in past security cameras and up the lift, no names called, PROVIDED SOMEONE COMES SOON AND TAKES THE BLOODY THING AWAY! OK?

[1]https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/jul/07/uk-economy-two-possible-endings

ukelection 2024 #sir keir starmer #rachel reeves #economics

Kill Krill? You’ll pay a bill

Today we’re devoting our blog to Krill, those humble but immensely prevalent crustaceans which form the basis of immense and vital ocean food chains. [1]They even form the breakfast of the Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus), that mighty monarch of the sea. They may even play a role in carbon capture and sequestration [2 see part #9] and now, you’ve guessed it-they are under threat. From that brutal ignorant species that has the vanity to call itself Homo sapiens. Not only are they being massively overfished. But now the melting glaciers and ocean acidification, both caused by global warming, are starting to eat into their numbers at alarming rates. If that goes on happening then the whole ocean ecology will collapse, with incalculable consequences for the stability of human society.

“So-what can I do?” we hear you asking. It’s a perfectly good question. And in the last analysis, only you will know the answer, gentle reader. But here at LSS we know one thing. The days of living the quiet suburban lifestyle at sports ground and shopping mall are over. We’re not saying it wasn’t good while it lasted. But it can’t be sustained any longer, not at least without some major social and technological engineering. Could you at least help one organisation that is trying to do something? What about the WWF, who have supplied one of today’s links? What have you got to lose? Well you know the answer to that.

^{Thanks to Gary Herbert}

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krill

[2]https://www.wwf.org.uk/learn/fascinating-facts/antarctic-krill#:~:text=They%20are%20under%20threat,interest%20in%20the%20krill%20fishery.

#krill #crustaceans #ocean #food chain #blue whale #climate change #global warming #glacier #ice sheet