This book has really surprised me, and I am really enjoying reading it. My favorite chapter out of the chapters that we read last week was definitely Thirteen Gorillas. This chapter was about Ebola. I have heard about Ebola and sort of knew what it was, but this chapter opened my eyes to how deadly and dangerous Ebola can actually be. The Ebola Virus caused a lot of confusion and worry amongst many people. There were many questions about where it came from and whether it has been here all along or not. "We don't know if it was here before. We don't know if they survive it. But we need to know how it passes through groups. We need to know where it is" (Quammen 68). Quammen also states that "the identity of Ebola's reservoir host has been one of the darkest little mysteries in the world of infectious disease. That mystery, along with efforts to solve it, dates back to the first recognized emergence of Ebola virus disease, in 1976" (86). This chapter in the book opened my eyes to new information about Ebola that I would never have known if I had not read this book. The video we watched was also super interesting and one of the reasons why this chapter was my favorite. The video made everything more personal and showed actually how dangerous this disease is. Overall, this was my favorite chapter because of all the stories it told the details as well about Ebola that I was able to learn while reading it.
The topic that we have discussed that has had the biggest impact on me is the idea that most of our spillovers occur from animal kingdoms to humans. Animals play such an important role in our life and it is scary to think that they could be the ones causing so many people to get sick and possibly die. We eat animals, they live with us and we interact with them in our daily lives. It is hard to believe that we could become sick from an interaction with an animal, but it is true. Scientists from the CDC states that "approximately more than 6 out of every 10 known infectious diseases in people are spread from animals, and 3 out of every 4 new or emerging infectious diseases in people are spread from animals" (CDC.com). For example, one zoonotic disease that I have come in contact with was the swine flu. Personally, I have never had this but people I know have. This version of the flu comes from pigs and when I was in middle school, I remember learning about it because many of my peers got it. Although my peers that got it might not have come in contact with a pig, they were in contact with someone or something that had been who was therefore infected with it. Looking back on this made the idea that there are a lot of diseases that spillover from animals more personal.
During one of our class periods last week, we discussed how animals are infected with diseases and how important it is that we don't touch animals that could have these diseases. My senior trip in high school was a trip to Costa Rica. At one of the resorts we stayed in, they allowed us to feed the monkeys which is something we discussed in class as something we should never do. Overall, this topic is a little frightening just because of how involved animals are in our daily lives. I definitely know from this class; I am going to be more aware of the animals we come in contact with as well as ways to avoid possibly picking up these diseases.
“Zoonotic Diseases.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 14 July 2017, www.cdc.gov/onehealth/basics/zoonotic-diseases.html.
Quammen, David. Spillover. The Bodley Head Ltd., 2012