2008 Woodie Awards
Professor: Enjoy life, since plagues are coming
By: Michelle Oyola
Issue date: 11/3/05 Section: News
It's best to cash in now. Have a soda. Enjoy some ice cream. Appreciate life for today, but be aware of the danger.
Webster University professor Mike Salevouris closed his talk "The Coming Plague: Disease in Human History and the Future" with these remarks Oct. 26. The lecture was part of the Brown Bag Lunch speaker's series. It covered both the effects of plagues in human history and the chance of a viral threat in the future.
Salevouris said the human race isn't safe from widespread disease because humans are caught in the food chain - "eaten and being eaten." He said all of the audience members were being munched on by about 4 billion organisms.
One of the main points of the talk was that people have made themselves more vulnerable to diseases by driving diseases away. Every problem that humans fix creates a new problem, he said.
For example, the use of antibiotics has resulted in the breeding of resistant germs. Insecticides are polluting the air and also creating super bugs.
Salevouris also said one of the greatest dangers facing humans is the transfer of diseases from herd animals to humans, like the bird flu. Although the bird flu cannot yet transfer from human to human, he said viruses can mutate rapidly.
If the bird flu mutates, an estimated 2 million Americans will die because of the flu's high death rate - about 50 percent, he said.
"If a pandemic starts, you're all going to be breathing it," Salevouris said.
He said that even humans "miss this one," all of the ecological insults humans commit like unhealthy farming and destroying the rainforest will result in something eventually.
"We can't escape being part of the broader ecosystem," Salevouris said.
Another threat he discussed was the existence of diseases such as small pox, which are being stored in laboratory freezers. He said if one of these gets out, the population would be affected like it was a brand new disease, since it has been generations since humans have had any exposure to it.
Webster University professor Mike Salevouris closed his talk "The Coming Plague: Disease in Human History and the Future" with these remarks Oct. 26. The lecture was part of the Brown Bag Lunch speaker's series. It covered both the effects of plagues in human history and the chance of a viral threat in the future.
Salevouris said the human race isn't safe from widespread disease because humans are caught in the food chain - "eaten and being eaten." He said all of the audience members were being munched on by about 4 billion organisms.
One of the main points of the talk was that people have made themselves more vulnerable to diseases by driving diseases away. Every problem that humans fix creates a new problem, he said.
For example, the use of antibiotics has resulted in the breeding of resistant germs. Insecticides are polluting the air and also creating super bugs.
Salevouris also said one of the greatest dangers facing humans is the transfer of diseases from herd animals to humans, like the bird flu. Although the bird flu cannot yet transfer from human to human, he said viruses can mutate rapidly.
If the bird flu mutates, an estimated 2 million Americans will die because of the flu's high death rate - about 50 percent, he said.
"If a pandemic starts, you're all going to be breathing it," Salevouris said.
He said that even humans "miss this one," all of the ecological insults humans commit like unhealthy farming and destroying the rainforest will result in something eventually.
"We can't escape being part of the broader ecosystem," Salevouris said.
Another threat he discussed was the existence of diseases such as small pox, which are being stored in laboratory freezers. He said if one of these gets out, the population would be affected like it was a brand new disease, since it has been generations since humans have had any exposure to it.