Virus X: Tracking the New Killer Plagues

Virus X: Tracking the New Killer Plagues
by Frank Ryan, M.D. is a fascinating and
different look at the threat of emerging viruses.

The basic idea behind the book is one that
could, if not presented so scientifically,
easily be dismissed as touchy-feely,
tree-hugging environmentalism.

This book opens with an in-depth look
at the outbreak of hantavirus in the
Southwest United States, and also
includes an in-depth look at the
first outbreaks of Ebola in Sudan and
Zaire. These are interesting and
frightening, in the true-life
medical thriller genre of The Hot
Zone by Richard Preston.

Dr. Ryan goes on to propose first
of all that emerging viruses come
from humanity's encroachment into
new environments, especially rain
forests.

That itself is no doubt true, but
hardly a new argument or observation.

His main thesis is that when we
are infected by such deadly viruses,
the viruses acting to protect their
host species -- which we are threatening
by moving into their rain forest environment.

In short, we are being targeted by
viruses which are in symbiosis with
another species which we are threatening.

In Africa, there's a species of plants
which in such a symbiotic relationship
with ants. Ants build their nest around
the plant, getting shelter and access
to the plant's sap.

When a grazing animal starts to tear
leaves off the tree to eat them, ants
swarm over the grazing animal and bite
it until it goes away leaving the tree
alone.

Viruses need to have a host cell in
which to live and replicate indefinately.
This must be a species which it infects
without killing or making the host
more than slightly ill. A virus that
quickly kills its host is a virus that
soon will die itself with the host species.

Therefore, Dr. Ryan concludes that
when we're infected by viruses that
make us sick and kill us, it's because
by invading the natural habitat of
their host species, we are threatening
the host species of the viruses. So
they infect us to kill us, to defend
their host species.

He believes that this is a deliberate
act by the virus to defend its host
species. That each strain of virus
has a genomic intelligence of its
own capable of sacrificing a part
of itself for the greater good.

(That is, the individual viruses
which infect people -- or any other
animal which threatens the host
species, for that matter -- are a
sacrifice because they will eventually
run out of people to kill and will
then die. But the portion of the
virus straining remaining in the
host species will live on.)

I'm not so sure this is all an act
of viral genomic will or simply a
case of circumstances. If a virus
is living within a host species
deep in a rain forest, it simply
won't come into contact with
people unless and until people
go deep into that rain forest.

But if they do, the virus will
latch onto them if possible
(fortunately, we cannot be
infected by the vast majority
of existing viruses) and since
we do not have humoral immunity
against that virus, it overwhelms
our cellular immune system before
our T cells and B cells can learn
which antibody will destroy that
strain of virus.

But the net result is much the
same -- going into new territory
exposes people to new risks of
infections, much more than we
currently realize. This certainly
includes tropical rain forests,
but also the desert (where the
Sin Nombre hantavirus resides
in mice) and possibly the
oceans -- which are teeming with
viruses.

Two likely suspects for viral hosts
are bats and rodents. Out of a total
of 4500 species of mammals on Earth,
guess how many are bats? 1000!

And guess how many are rodents -- 2000!

So far, we've been lucky. The
outbreaks of new lethal viruses
have been contained. We can't
count on luck to continue to protect
us. We must understand that new
and lethal viral diseases are an
environmental threat. They are an
essential piece of the puzzle of
how we as a species must learn to
live on this planet without destroying it
and ourselves in the process.

Many people do not understand that the
threat of emerging viruses is real.
They may have heard of Ebola in
Africa from the news, but few know
that in 1989 it arrived in America
inside some crab eating monkeys
from The Philippines. Most people
do not know that one horrifying
new disease -- Sin Nombre
hantavirus -- is native to the
United States -- NOT Africa or
Asia or South America.

At the end of the book, Dr. Ryan
discusses "Virus X" -- the virus
that could kill off the human
species.

Does it exist? Who knows?

It would have to have 2 obvious
properties. It would have to be
highly lethal and highly contagious.

In practice, highly contagious
means that it would spread "via
aerosol" -- that is, through the
air in casual human contact. By
sneezing, coughing and talking.

If that sounds familiar, it's
because it describes how the
common cold and flu are spread.
That is why they are so highly
contagious.

When Stephen King wrote THE
STAND, he chose a super-cold
bug to kill off 99.99% of the
human race. He probably didn't
know just how medically accurate
that could be.

HIV is lethal to us over the long
run, but its contagion can be
contained by controlling people
to people sharing of body fluids.
Not everybody does this, but
enough people do that it's
unlikely HIV could kill off the
human race.

Some deadly diseases such as
bubonic plague, malaria and
yellow fever spread through
contact with insects, especially
mosquitoes. These can be
controlled by good public hygiene
to control fleas and mosquitoes.

But respiratory infections spread
quite easily. We can't expect
everybody in the world to begin
wearing a N-100 face mask around
all other people.

So Dr. Ryan is therefore given
credit for "predicting" SARS, and
Virus X could just as easily turn
out to be bird flu -- which is
highly lethal and also spreads
via aerosol.

Highly recommended for its
dramatic rendering of how
humanity can be threatened by
viruses we do not know of yet,
let alone understand.