This past April, when the first cases of
H1N1 swine flu were detected in Mexico and the United States, health officials around the world went on high alert.
Surveillance measures were put in place. Pharmaceutical companies
stepped up production of antiviral drugs. In cities with confirmed
cases, schools were closed. Large public gatherings, such as sporting
events and concerts, were canceled. Malls, restaurants and other public
places were empty. The scenes were very similar to what happened during
the
SARS and avian flu outbreaks that unfolded in Asia earlier this decade.
Aided by modern transportation, the virus spread rapidly. On June 11,
with more than 125,000 confirmed cases and 140 deaths in 73 countries,
the World Health Organization (
WHO) finally
declared the never-before-seen virus a pandemic—a global disease
outbreak. The organization had long hesitated to take such a
step—declaring the first global flu epidemic in 41 years—lest widespread
panic result.
What the final outcome will be remains to be seen. With the arrival of
summer in the northern hemisphere—and warm temperatures that flu bugs
don't like—the spread slowed considerably. While there have been a large
number of infections, this strain has been milder than originally
feared and has been responsible for a relatively small number
of fatalities.
Still, “that may only be the lull before the storm,” warned Richard
Besser, M.D., acting director of the Centers for Disease Control (
CDC)
in Atlanta, Georgia. His concern is over what will happen this fall
when the traditional flu season begins. “What has been seen with
previous outbreaks is flu goes away in the summer,” he noted. “But
during the winter flu spreads better, so the virus could go away and
come back.”
“I believe we are not out of the woods yet,” added Christopher Ohl,
M.D., associate professor of medicine in the section on infectious
diseases at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in
Winston-Salem, North Carolina. “I am concerned this virus is going to be
with us for a while. It could change, become more virulent, have an
increased secondary transmission rate…in the future.”
Of course, the spread of swine flu isn't the only disease problem
health officials are concerned about right now. Let's consider the scope
of the threat before us, look at some of the underlying causes, and see
what light the Bible sheds on how the situation has developed and where
things could go from here.
Deadly pathogens emerging or reemerging
Currently the
WHO is monitoring
about 40 emerging infectious diseases. These have been around only a few decades.
The list includes acquired immune deficiency syndrome (
AIDS), Ebola, dengue hemorrhagic fever, Lassa fever, Nipah, Hendra, hantavirus, Marburg, monkeypox, mad cow disease (
BSE), severe acute respiratory syndrome (
SARS),
West Nile virus, Lyme disease, Legionnaires' disease and the cyclospora
parasite. These pathogens—disease-causing agents—have either mutated or
genetically recombined to become new strains or novel microbes, or they
may have existed for millennia but weren't discovered until
recent years.
According to the
WHO, at least one new
infectious disease has emerged each year since 1980, many of which evade
traditional therapies and have no vaccine or cure. “There are far more
virulent, very difficult-to-treat infectious diseases today than there
were 20 or 30 years ago,” warns Klaus Stohr,
D.V.M., Ph.D., director of the influenza task force for the
WHO in Geneva, Switzerland.
At the same time, old infectious diseases once believed to be
controlled, such as tuberculosis, staphylococcus, cholera, malaria,
hepatitis, influenza and diphtheria, are
reemerging as deadly new, often drug-resistant strains, or are springing up in new regions of the world.
With so many deadly pathogens coming on the scene, notes Dr. Stohr,
“infectious diseases are once again the leading cause of death in the
world—something that hasn't been the case since the pre-antibiotic era
of the early 1900s.” Of the estimated 57 million deaths that occur
annually in the world, the
WHO estimates that
15 million of them are directly caused by infectious diseases. Millions
more deaths are due to secondary effects of infections.
Scientists have identified close to 200 bacterial, viral, parasitic and
fungal pathogens that are linked with emerging and reemerging
infections among human beings. There could be another 1,000 out there,
according to Dr. Stohr. They just haven't been introduced yet into
the population.
At least 75 percent of these pathogens are zoonoses—meaning they are
transmitted between animals and people—which makes these diseases even
more problematic. Transmission can occur through direct contact with an
infected animal's blood, saliva, urine or feces, or via an intermediate
vector—typically an insect or rodent—that gets the pathogen from an
infected animal reservoir and then passes it to people.
“Zoonotic diseases cannot usually be eradicated due to the fact that it
is not possible to eliminate all of the animal reservoirs or vectors
that might be carrying the zoonosis,” explains David Freedman, M.D.,
professor of medicine in the division of geographic medicine at the
University of Alabama.
“Even if you developed a vaccine and a cure for a particular zoonotic
disease and it was somehow possible to simultaneously treat every person
in the world that had it,” he observes, “there are still animals that
can transmit that disease back to humans and continue the spread of
that pathogen.”
Deadly epidemics prophesied
If you are familiar with end-time Bible prophecy, none of this may be a
surprise to you. Perhaps what immediately comes to mind is the four
horsemen of the Apocalypse, and in particular the fourth.
The apostle John describes the horse and rider this way: “When He
opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature
saying, 'Come and see.' So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And
the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades [the grave]
followed with him” (
Revelation 6:7-8, emphasis added throughout).
The latter part of this verse refers to death resulting from “the
beasts of the earth.” Considering the huge number of deaths described
here, this could well refer to epidemics caused by animals that transmit
and carry infectious diseases.
In Jesus' parallel prophecy in Matthew 24, He reveals the true identity of this pale green horse: “And there will be…
pestilences”
(verse 7). The fourth horseman symbolizes climactic, globe-encircling
plagues and pandemics. We need only consider the devastating “black
death”—bubonic plague that killed tens of millions worldwide in three
great waves—to understand how horrifyingly real this prophecy can be.
Many factors behind pandemics
That's the simple explanation for why these outbreaks will intensify.
Yet there are a lot of factors behind these pandemics. Many believe
mankind is actually creating its own disease problems,
albeit unintentionally.
“In almost every case humans are the most important single factor in
the surge of new diseases, whether it's feeding cow tissue to cattle to
cause mad cow disease, people eating exotic animals in the case of
Ebola, or air travel spreading dengue around the world,” claims Thomas
Monath, M.D., chief scientific officer with Acambis Inc., a vaccine
development company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
We are not simply victims of emerging infections, he says, but we're
making changes in our environment or lifestyles to cause the emergence
or spread of disease. Most of the change that has occurred involves
several key areas.
• Agricultural practices and consumption of exotic animals
One of the primary ways new diseases emerge is through what biologists
call “genetic recombination.” This can happen when two or more animal
species come in contact with each other and exchange the viruses that
each carries.
“Two different viruses may infect the same cell. Then the genomes get
jumbled, and a totally novel virus emerges—which contains genetic
material from both parental strains,” explains Roy Anderson, fellow of
the Royal Society (
FRS) and professor of infectious disease epidemiology at Imperial College of the University of London.
One way this is happening more and more is through a farming method which is becoming an increasingly common practice in Asia.
“Ducks or chickens are kept in cages hung above pigs, which are housed
in pens directly above fishponds, where other types of fowl may also
swim and eliminate their own wastes,” notes Bruno Chomel, Ph.D.,
D.V.M.,
a veterinary epidemiologist specializing in zoonotic diseases at the
University of California College of Veterinary Medicine.
Farmers use this method to save money on pig feed and increase yields
of fish. The pigs feed on the duck droppings, and the pig manure
fertilizes the fishponds. “The problem is, it puts ducks and other
waterfowl, which are major reservoirs of influenza viruses—although it
doesn't affect
them— in direct contact with pigs, which may also be harboring influenza viruses,” Dr. Chomel says.
A pig that eats duck droppings can take in any viruses the ducks may
have, which may include both avian and human flu viruses. Those can
combine with the pig's influenza viruses, and then they'll all be mixed
up inside the pig's stomach.
That is how the
H1N1 influenza virus—which is
a mixture of avian, human and pig flu viruses—came to be. One of the
reasons scientists are so concerned about the current swine flu outbreak
is that it could recombine with a more virulent strain before returning
to the northern hemisphere in the fall flu season.
“If a human flu virus, which is easily transmissible to humans,
combines with a virulent and novel duck or swine flu, that is when you
have problems,” Dr. Chomel says. “You get the worst of both, together in
one virus.”
Recombination can also occur when humans eat nondomesticated exotic
animals. In China, exotic animals like civet cats, coral snakes, tree
shrews, flying squirrels, badgers, martens and pangolins are considered
delicacies. In Africa, monkeys, apes, aardvarks and rats are all popular
meat choices. Guinea pigs, capybaras and armadillos are commonly eaten
in Central and South America.
When people consume these meats, any viruses the animal may have been
carrying can combine with viruses the person may have. The result may be
a new pathogen that infects human beings.
That is apparently how
HIV, the deadly virus that causes
AIDS, emerged.
HIV is a fusion of the simian immunodeficiency virus (
SIV), which infects monkeys and apes, and a similar type of virus that infects people. “
SIV
was transferred to humans as a result of monkeys being killed and eaten
or their blood getting into cuts or wounds on the hunter,” Dr.
Freedman says.
The bottom line, says Dr. Chomel, is “the practice of consuming wild
species opens the door for a much wider variety of pathogens—those of
wild animals—to come in contact with humans and
develop transmissibility.”
• Changing land use increases contact
Ecological changes often cause disease emergence. “There are
environments in the developing world that used to be quite remote that
are now much less so as a result of human activities like deforestation,
dam projects, irrigation, road construction and extensive agriculture,”
says Jim Hughes, M.D., director of global infectious disease programs
at Emory University and former director of the National Center for
Infectious Diseases at the
CDC.
These remote wilderness areas are home to some unique
microbes—bacteria, parasites or viruses not found anywhere else. When
people enter these ecosystems, they encounter these pathogens for the
first time. For example, mankind's first contact with the Ebola virus
occurred in the late 1970s when people began clearing the rainforests of
the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The animal inhabitants themselves can also contribute to the spread of
deadly microbes. “Once forests are cleared, the wildlife that used to
live there have no choice but to migrate further out in search of food
and land in which to live,” says Stephen Corber, M.D., director of
prevention and control for the Pan American Health Organization in
Washington,
D.C.
“A lot of times they end up in suburbs and farming communities where
they make contact with people,” he says. “If they're bringing diseases
with them, that's when you have problems.”
• Rapid international travel allows quick spread
Since the third quarter of the 20th century, individuals have been able
to travel huge distances in a matter of hours—well within the
incubation period of many infectious diseases. “Today anyone can get on a
plane and get to the other side of the world in a matter of 24 to 36
hours,” notes Dr. Hughes.
The speed of travel enables someone in North America, Europe or Asia to
go on safari in Kenya, pick up the Ebola virus or some other pathogen,
fly back home, pass unnoticed through immigration and customs checks,
and then spend the next few days back at work before suddenly getting
sick. During the incubation period—the time between getting infected and
developing clinical signs of disease—this person may expose hundreds of
people to the virus.
“People can be spreading disease and not even know they are ill,” warns
Hugh Pennington, M.D., Ph.D., president of the Society for General
Microbiology in the United Kingdom and honorary professor of medicine at
the Institute of Medical Sciences at the University of Aberdeen
in Scotland.
This is in sharp contrast to past days when people traveled by ship. It
may have taken several weeks to travel from one continent to another.
“If someone had picked up a virus before getting on the ship, he would
have developed that disease while still on board,” Dr. Pennington says.
“Upon arrival, it would have been obvious to port authorities which
passengers were sick and needed to be quarantined.”
As illustrated by the recent rapid spread of the
H1N1 swine flu virus, modern travel can allow deadly pathogens to quickly outrace our best preventative measures.
• Poverty and disease inextricably linked
Not surprisingly, the poorest nations usually have the worst problems
with infectious diseases. Sadly, poverty levels appear to be on the
increase for much of the world. According to a 2008 United Nations
report, more than 80 countries have
lower per capita income today than at the beginning of the 1990s.
“As poverty levels climb, so does the incidence of disease,” says Dr.
Anderson. The poor are often malnourished, lack understanding of proper
hygiene, have no access to medical care and live in densely populated
slums—perfect conditions for the transmission of diseases.
One of the most desperate regions of the world is sub-Saharan Africa. A
2004 World Bank report found that close to half the population in this
region lives in poverty, and this percentage is projected to increase in
the years ahead.
But, warns Dr. Anderson, “This is not just a concern for Africa.” Just
as diseases do not stay in the poorer parts of a town, they do not
confine themselves to poorer nations. “Many of the diseases that Western
nations are contending with today got their start in the developing
world,” he adds.
Sooner or later, there's a visitor to a disease- infested area, or
someone from that area travels to another region and then transports the
pathogen to a new part of the world.
• Urbanization aids disease transmission
Increasing numbers of people, particularly in the developing world, are
moving from rural areas to large cities to find work. In this way,
contagions that may once have been obscure and localized in sparsely
inhabited villages reach large population centers. Once in a city, the
newly introduced infection multiplies among the local population and
then spreads farther along highways and railroads and by airplane.
Many end up living in overcrowded “megacities”—huge urban
conglomerations of 5 million or more residents. There are at least 41
megacities in the world today, most of which are in less-developed
nations. In contrast, 50 years ago there were just eight megacities in
the world, all but two of these in developed countries. Experts predict
that by 2015, 59 megacities will exist, 48 in developing nations.
“Pathogens like dense populations because it promotes transmission from
person to person,” Dr. Anderson explains. Because the populations of
megacities have grown so rapidly, most are not prepared to deal with
such large numbers of residents, nor are their local economies usually
strong enough to finance a lot of city improvements.
“Sewage and water systems are often inadequate, resulting in water
supplies that are tainted with deadly bacteria,” Dr. Anderson says.
“There may not be enough hospitals, so when people do get sick, they
cannot get the medical care they need.” Additionally, he adds, most
megacities are located in tropical or subtropical regions where
infectious microbes thrive.
• Forced displacement due to war or civil strife
The United Nations estimates there to be a record high of 35.6 million
refugees and internally displaced persons in the world today. These are
people who've been forced to flee their homes due to internal conflict,
war or persecution. The majority are from war-torn regions of
sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Southern Asia and Latin America. In
recent years the number of displaced people has steadily risen due to
the increasing number of conflicts in the world.
This trend has a direct impact on the proliferation of infectious
diseases. “Refugees are often in poor health and very susceptible to
infectious agents. Any pathogens they may be infected with are
transported with them on their route and to wherever they end up,” Dr.
Monath explains.
Not only that, he continues, “the temporary settlements or camps they
may be living in are typically overcrowded, have poor sanitation, are
infested with rodents and other vectors, and the food and water supplies
may be contaminated—just what bacteria need to flourish.”
A case in point would be the 800,000 Rwandan refugees who migrated into
Zaire in 1994. Cholera and shigella dysentery swept through the camps,
killing nearly 50,000 people in the first month.
• Human morality and disease
The 1960s brought dramatic changes in human morality, particularly in
terms of sexual behavior. “Whereas having multiple or concurrent sexual
partners was unacceptable in the early 1900s, by the latter half of the
20th century it had become the norm in many societies,” notes
Dr. Pennington.
Not only had “casual sex” among heterosexuals become acceptable, men
having sex with other men became more commonplace. At the same time,
intravenous drug use became rampant, with drug users often sharing
needles with other injectors.
It all fueled the spread of
HIV, hepatitis C,
genital herpes and other sexually transmitted diseases—all of which are
transmitted through the transference of body fluids.
• Overuse of antibiotics creates deadly new superbugs
Widespread antibiotic use—often when antibiotics weren't called for—has
created new antibiotic-resistant bacteria. “Patients will often insist
they need an antibiotic when they have a cold or the flu, and sometimes
doctors will give in to these demands,” observes Trish Perl, M.D.,
director of hospital epidemiology and infection control at Johns Hopkins
University in Baltimore, Maryland. The problem is that colds and flu
are caused by viruses, which are not treatable with antibiotics.
According to the
CDC, up to 40 percent of
antibiotics prescribed in doctor's offices are for viral infections.
This is not always due, however, to patients demanding they get an
antibiotic. Sometimes physicians prescribe antibiotics when they can't
make a definite diagnosis or “just in case” bacteria are present.
“With so many antibiotics in the environment, we're pressuring these
bacteria to evolve into resistant strains,” Dr. Perl asserts. “A
particular drug may be prescribed so much that sooner or later the
bacterium outsmarts it and learns how to grow within that environment.”
At that point, the particular drug is no longer effective at treating
that type of bacteria.
Dr. Pennington explains the process this way: “Any population of
organisms, bacteria included, naturally includes variants with unusual
traits—in this case, the ability to withstand an antibiotic's attack on a
microbe. When people take antibiotics, the drug kills the defenseless
bacteria, leaving behind—or 'selecting'—those that can resist it. These
renegade bacteria then multiply and become the
predominant microorganism.”
Adding to the problem, North American livestock producers have been
unnecessarily feeding antibiotics to their animals to try to promote
growth and as a preventative disease-control measure. This has turned
the livestock into a reservoir of drug-resistant germs. When people eat
undercooked, contaminated meat, they can become infected with
antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Today there are drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis, malaria,
streptococci and salmonella—to name a few “superbugs” that have emerged
in recent years. Because they have the antibiotic-resistant gene in
them, they are considered to be genetically new organisms. “Some
infections are now so resistant to the drugs we have available that they
are virtually untreatable,” Dr. Hughes says.
The infamous “flesh-eating bacteria,” methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (
MRSA), is one of these terrifying new superbugs regularly making headlines.
Biblical perspectives
To students of the Bible, many of the factors just discussed are
obvious violations of biblical instruction. A lot of the zoonotic
diseases plaguing our modern societies would never have become a problem
if people weren't consuming exotic or biblically “unclean” animals,
which harbor a lot of contagious diseases that domesticated “clean”
animals do not. We're told in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 which
types of animals should and should not be eaten.
Many of those living in overcrowded megacities and refugee camps are
faced with inadequate waste disposal systems, resulting in contaminated
food and water supplies. This is another area addressed in the Bible.
Deuteronomy 23:9-14 says that human wastes were to be buried outside the community, away from where people were living.
The Bible is clear about what constitutes sexually immoral behavior, which is the root cause of the spread of
AIDS
and other sexually transmitted diseases plaguing our planet. In
Leviticus 18 and 20, God prohibits incestuous relationships,
extramarital and premarital sex, homosexuality and unnatural acts with
animals. Homosexuality is specifically addressed again in
Romans 1:27 and
1 Corinthians 6:9. The Bible tells us in
1 Corinthians 6:18 that “he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.”
Ultimately though, disease outbreaks and pandemics are a result of mankind's broken relationship with God.
When God brought the Israelites out of Egypt, He told them: “If you
diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in
His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I
will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the
Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you” (
Exodus 15:26).
On the other hand, God warned of consequences for disobedience, including disease outbreaks (
Leviticus 26:21, 25;
Deuteronomy 28:15,
21-22, 27-28). Nevertheless, the Israelites persistently disobeyed Him.
So has every society since, and mankind continues to reap
the consequences.
The only real solution to the threat of devastating contagions is to
turn to God in repentance—seeking and remaining committed to His ways.
You as an individual can turn to God, and He will see you through the
dark times ahead. This includes worsening pandemics, as the world at
large is not yet ready to submit to God's will.
Today, humanity as a whole is cut off from God. His promise of
protection from disease isn't there, but someday it will be. Jesus
Christ will return to earth and establish God's everlasting Kingdom (
Revelation 19:11-16).
We can look forward to that day when mankind will be united with its
Creator and will receive all the blessings of living God's way of
life—which includes good health and a world free of disease outbreaks.
GN
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