Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

ALLoftheFancyPants t1_ir15emv wrote

Reply to comment by fish_whisperer in An obscure family of viruses, already endemic in wild African primates and known to cause fatal Ebola-like symptoms in some monkeys, is “poised for spillover” to humans, according to a new research by giuliomagnifico

There’s so many zoonotic diseases that could spillover all the time and in increasing likelihood with habitat loss driving increased interaction between animals and humans. That’s like the OG source for the majority of infectious diseases, throughout history. Its definitely scary and should be taken seriously in making policy choices (ie preserve habitats, monitor populations most at risk, etc) but panic helps no one.

121

TheGreat_War_Machine t1_ir3nhyg wrote

>That’s like the OG source for the majority of infectious diseases, throughout history.

Most of the major plagues in history came from livestock.

10

[deleted] t1_ir291zy wrote

[removed]

−22

ALLoftheFancyPants t1_ir2omht wrote

I’m not sure how or why you jumped from “increased interaction” to bestiality. Look at Lyme disease, it’s increasing in frequency due to increased habitat (aka deforestation) for ticks in addition more people living in or right near that same habitat. There’s no sex, just existing in the same space, for the overwhelming majority of zoonotic diseases.

8

Angry_Millenial26 t1_ir2qxqo wrote

No one is having sex with monkeys… HIV came from people eating monkeys that had the disease

2

Goatmanish t1_ir2u44z wrote

You're skipping a step there. It likely came from someone gathering bushmeat (apes in this case) who was bitten or cut while hunting or butchering the infected ape. It's not from eating them.

3