SEATTLE: Every few years, humanity succumbs to mass hysteria at the prospect of a global pandemic.and now the coronavirus have all generated reactions that, in retrospect, seem disproportionate to the actual impact of the disease.The 2002 to 2003 SARS outbreak in China infected 8,000 people and caused fewer than 800 deaths.
Nonetheless, the fearmongering and draconian responses to each outbreak are unproductive. We are a biological species living among other organisms that sometimes pose a danger to us and have evolutionary advantages over us of sheer numbers and rapid mutational rates. Yet we deploy only a fraction of those resources to the rapid development of vaccines, antibiotics, and diagnostics to fight dangerous pathogens.Advances in biology allow us to understand a new pathogen’s genetic code and mutational capabilities. We can now manipulate the immune system to fight disease and rapidly develop more effective therapeutics and diagnostics.
Medical staff wearing protective clothing to protect against a previously unknown coronavirus arrive with a patient at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital on Jan 25, 2020. A better approach would be to recognise health workers and scientists for their service, create the infrastructure to develop and deploy emergency health technologies, and proactively fund the organisations tasked with pandemic response.