Does Veganism Reduce Pandemic Risk?

Does Veganism Reduce Pandemic Risk?

This is a question that has been on my mind, so I set out to research, reflect and come to my own conclusion.

COVID-19 is part of the coronavirus family

According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), the coronavirus disease 2019 (abbreviated COVID-19) is a respiratory disease that spreads between two people who are in close proximity (within about six feet).  COVID-19 (officially called SARS-CoV-2) is caused by a coronavirus, a large family of viruses that are common in a variety of animals species, including bats, camels, cats, cows, humans and others.  The coronavirus is aptly named, because of how it appears under a microscope, like there is a crown (the English word for corona) on top of the virus.  The virus has a number of armatures, also known as spike proteins, which are proteins used to grab and penetrate the outer walls of its host cells.

According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, four or five of the coronaviruses cause human illnesses, all resulting in mild to severe respiratory diseases.  COVID-19 is a novel coronavirus, because it has not been seen among humans before.  Laura Maragakis, M.D. of Johns Hopkins explains more in this video:

COVID-19 has natural origins

The Scripps Research Institute (SRI) in San Diego, CA determined that the virus is a product of natural evolution.  Their findings, published in the journal Nature Medicine (3/17/2020), came from genome sequencing data that was made public to the world by Chinese scientists shortly after the epidemic began.   

"The analysis of public genome sequence from SARS-CoV-2 and related virus found no evidence that the virus was made in a laboratory or otherwise engineered."

Of particular interest is the backbone of SARS-CoV-2, which differs significantly from those of already known corona viruses.  If someone were seeking to engineer a pathogenic coronavirus, they would have used the backbone of a virus already known to cause illness.

COVID-19 originated in a non-human species

Rarely, a corona virus can spread between a non-human animal to a human, such as MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2.  The CDC states that all three of these viruses have their origins in bats, which serve as reservoirs for the virus.  In fact, the backbone of the current virus resembles those of related viruses found in bats and pangolins.   The SRI researchers have concluded that there are two main scenarios for the origins of the virus:

1. The virus evolved through natural selection into its current pathogenic state while in a non-human host, then was transmitted to humans.  Previous pathogenic coronaviruses came from non-human species:  SARS originated in civets and MERS in camels.  Regarding CoV-2, there is no known direct link between a bat and a human, so researchers surmise that there was an intermediate species.





Civet

2. A non pathogenic version of the virus jumped from a non-human to a human, then evolved into its current pathogenic state.  In this scenario, the virus could have come from a pangolin, either directly or through an intermediary, like ferrets or civets.  This scenario was considered less likely by the SRI researchers.

Pangolin

Ferret

It's worth noting that genomic sequencing indicates the possibility that the virus can actually be a combination of two divergent viruses that infected a common host at the same time.  According to an article by the World Economic Forum (WEF), COVID-19 has genomic sections that are similar to the bat and pangolin viruses.  The species in which this combination occurred is currently unknown.

Other serious pathogens have come from non-human animals

The origin of SARS-CoV-2 is linked to a live market in Wuhan, China, where live animals are held captive and sold as delicies for food or as pets.  In December, 2019, it was determined that 27 of the first 41 hospitalized for the illness passed through the market, but the first person to contract the virus never went to that market.  From what I've read in preparation for this blog article, it is still too early for researchers to determine definitively the source of COVID-19, and I'm sure they'll be researching this for years to come.

While the source of the current COVID-19 outbreak is not entirely clear, the link between zoogenic pathogens and humans is well-documented.  Take these journal sources, for example:

• Journal of Virology - Indicates that exotic animals, most notably palm civets sold in open marketplaces, are the likely source of SARS.
• Vector-borne and Zoonotic Diseases - Drew a likely link between the Ebola outbreak and exposure to fruit bats that were killed by hunters and sold as a protein source.
• biorxiv - measles is thought to have originated during the process of domestication of sheep and goats as early as the 4th century.
• nature research - Indicates that HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, occurred in the unsafe consumption and preparation of bushmeat.
• National Institutes of Health (NIH) - Describes how the avian influenza can easily be transmitted from wild aquatic birds to farmed chickens, then to humans.
• nature - Describes how the H1N1 Swine Flu was a novel combination of four viruses in pigs, which was then transmitted to humans.  

Open air markets & factory farming increase disease risk 

According to Sentient Media, China's wild animal markets are prime sources of animal viruses and pandemic potential.

"Stressed animals, immunologically compromised and crowded together in unhygienic conditions, create ideal conditions for the propagation of disease. Activities related to the captivity, handling, transport, slaughter, and consumption of those animals enable diseases to jump to humans."

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Conditions that are conducive to the spread of pathogens also exist in industrial agricultural sites.  

"The vast majority of meat, dairy, and eggs consumed today come from operations in which billions of cows, pigs, chickens, ducks, goats, sheep, and other immunologically-compromised animals are confined in cramped, unhygienic conditions, and often transported long distances. These operations have been identified as hot spots for the cross-infection of diseases and the mutation of viruses, some with pandemic potential."

    

Sentient Media goes on to describe how intensive animal farming and confined animal feeding operations increase the risk of pandemics by:

• Amplifying novel influenza strains
• Increasing the risk of outbreak and transmission of zoonotic disease
• Maintaining and dispersing virulent strains of influenza
• Increasing the frequency and scale of pathogenic outbreaks
• Heightening the risk of novel pathogens, due to farm-induced deforestation and overuse of antibiotics

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Factory farms increase the risk of new and more frequent outbreaks

The Pew Trust corroborates that there is potential for transfer of pathogens from animals to humans in factory farms, because so many animals are living in such close quarters.  They list several factors for the increased risk:

• Prolonged worker contact with animals
• Increased pathogen transmission in a herd or flock
• Generation of antibiotic resistant bacteria or new strains of pathogens
• Increased likelihood of infection due to stresses of confinement

The Pew Trust found that 64% of the 1400+ human pathogens are zoonotic, and animals held in factory farms can be a source of new or more infectious agents.  In fact, there is an ever-increasing threat of novel viruses through mutation or re-combinant events that will result in more efficient human-to-human transmission.

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The vegan diet has many benefits

For me, the benefits of maintaining a vegan diet are numerous, and can each be explored and researched extensively on their own merits:

• Increased human health
• Decreased environmental degradation
• Humane treatment of non-human animals
• Environmental justice
• More efficiently feeding the world's burgeoning human population

And now, I think it's well established that I can add another benefit to consuming a vegan diet:

• Reducing the likelihood of zoogenic pathogenic outbreaks and pandemics

Intention Not Perfection

I will never claim to be perfect or free of flaws.  I make decisions that are counterproductive or that fly in the face of my own values.  This is true of my veganism.  Looking back, I have "cheated" or mistakenly/unknowingly consumed animal products (although never meat, directly).  

While I will never achieve perfection, I always intend to try!  

I research, ask questions, read labels, listen to advice then verify it, and I consider the ramifications of my decisions.  Keeping in mind everything I've learned about the connection between animal factory farming and human disease transmission, my decision is clear: veganism is part of the solution to reducing the risk of zoogenic disease transmission, and therefore, future pandemics, by reducing the demand for animal products, and therefore also reducing the need for factory farming.  

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