Beware wild meat: UWI doctor looks at connection to virus spread – Loop News Trinidad and Tobago

Hunters and wild meat lovers are being warned that the practice of eating wild meat could result in the spread of more viruses.

Dr Christine Carrington, Professor of Molecular Genetics and Virology and Head of the Department of Preclinical Sciences, Faculty of Medical Sciences at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, said its believed that the novel coronavirus may have been transmitted to humans from bats.

Its almost certain that its ancestor was a bat virus but its still not clear whether that virus moved from bats directly to humans or from bats to another species and then to humans.

The real risk comes from wild animals. All the wild animals out there that have a lot of viruses in them. When we encroach on them or we consume them or we butcher them, theres always the chance of getting infected by viruses that they carry.

However, she said wild animals are not to blame, but humans who insist on hunting and eating them.

The problem is our encroachment into their habitats and our destruction of their habitats. What were doing is creating more opportunities for viruses to jump from animal populations into human populations.

She said another factor which led to the rapid spread of the virus is air travel, which allows human hosts to transmit viruses from country to country within hours.

When somebody gets infected the chance of them moving that virus and spreading it to other people is much greater now than it was before.

Armadillos, locally known as tattoos, are a popular wild meat option and can carry leptospirosis and leprosy.

According to Smithsonian, armadillosare the only other animals besides humans to hostthe leprosy bacillus.

Leptospirosisis a bacterial infection obtained from animals including cattle, sheep, goats and deer.

Leprosy (Hansen's disease) is an infectious disease which can affect the nerves of hands, feet, nose, skin and respiratory tract.

In 2011, theNew England Journal of Medicine publishedan articleformally linked the creature to human leprosy casespeople and armadillos tested in the study both shared the same exact strain of the disease.

Studies have shown that red howler monkeys can also become infected by malariaand yellow fever which are transmitted via mosquitos. Red howler monkeys are protected by law.

Hunting is prohibited by law fromMarch 1st to September 30th each year.

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Beware wild meat: UWI doctor looks at connection to virus spread - Loop News Trinidad and Tobago