Spillover Blog Post
Hello! Welcome back to Blogging With Julia! Today I will be diving into vaccines and viruses which are two topics that are more important than ever. Be sure to stick around until the end, where I share some exciting curious questions to think about!
In AP Biology, we recently watched a documentary called Spillover, which came out in 2016. I was shocked to learn that most infectious viruses are zoonotic. A zoonotic virus is a virus that jumps from animals to humans. Human activities, such as wildlife trade and farming, increase contact with infected animals and raise the risk of zoonotic outbreaks.
The image above shows us how truly interconnected we all are.
I was surprised to learn that Ebola originally came from bats, similar to how COVID-19 began. I was incredibly saddened to learn that sometimes the best way to protect others is to stay away from loved ones when sick. The documentary explained that slowing the spread of disease often means staying apart, even when that is emotionally difficult. I learned that bats have antibodies that protect a bats immune systems from viruses. While bats can survive these infections, bats can spread different viruses to humans, whose immune systems are not equipped to handle the viruses. This made me curious to learn more about bats and how powerful immune systems works, so I read an article. This article helped me understand bats better and how disease affects bats powerful immune systems. I encourage everyone to learn more about bats and learn how we can learn about disease protection from bats.
Above is an image of a brown long-eared bat found in England! This small organism has an incredibly powerful immune system, making the species a fascinating subject to learn more about!
An essential message of this blog is the importance of protecting each other and ourselves as effectively as possible. We can protect ourselves from viruses, and one of the best ways is to get vaccinated. Vaccines expose an immune system to a safe and weakened version of a disease to build up a bodies immunity. Getting vaccinated helps the body prepare for unwanted viruses and supports safer, healthier communities. To learn more about the importance of vaccines I decided to read an article from the National Foundation of Infectious Diseases. In the article I learned about the ten most important reasons why everyone should get vaccinated. The article reinforced what the documentary said about the importance of getting vaccinated. I encourage everyone to read the article and help teach others why getting vaccinated helps everyone.
The information in the documentary was extremely valuable. Extremely eye-opening to see how some countries have extremely limited access to vaccines and healthcare. Not having access to vaccines increases the spread of infectious disease. The documentary showed me just how important having access to correct information, facilities, and vaccines really is.
Below I have a picture of the countries with the best and worst healthcare. The countries in red have some of the worst healthcare in the world. I believe countries with better healthcare have a moral responsibility to help out struggling countries. To help prevent the spread of future pandemics, countries need to help each other out. We live in a global village and helping one another out is essential in keeping the world a healthy and safe place. Together if countries can increase healthcare access to people in every country we can help prevent pandemics and countless unnecessary deaths.
I was surprised to learn how Nipah Virus started. Although scientists discovered that fruit bats were the animals which carried the virus, Nipah Virus spread through human contact with pigs. The first outbreak was in Malaysia when pigs ate pieces of fruit dropped by fruit bats. The disease continued to spread from pigs to humans. I was surprised to learn that fruit bats eating fruit above pigs can set off a chain reaction that results in such a deadly disease. To learn more about Nipah Virus I read a CDC article. I encourage everyone to learn more about how diseases spread, common symptoms, and reducing risks.
The image below shows how quickly a disease can spread through groups of people who are connected.
A few curious questions I have are: Why do some viruses spread so fast while others stay contained? Another question I have is: Why do some people get more severe symptoms from the same virus? My last curious question is one that connects our global village: What are the safest ways communities can prepare for future outbreaks? I encourage everyone to think about my curious questions and come up with ones yourself!
I hope this post inspired everyone to stay informed, stay protected, and keep asking questions about the world around us. I encourage everyone to stay up to date with vaccines to continue staying safe and healthy. Welcome again to Blogging With Julia! I will be sharing more very soon! Stay tuned!
Works Cited:
https://ca.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/spillover-zika-ebola-beyond/
https://www.naturebureau.co.uk/blog/the-truth-about-bats
https://news.utexas.edu/2020/08/12/early-spread-of-covid-19-appears-far-greater-than-initially-reported/
https://dispatcheseurope.com/polya-pencheva-an-expats-guide-to-health-insurance-in-belgium/
https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/vaccine-basics
No comments:
Post a Comment