| By :
Mark Etinger
Most of the worst diseases of the twentieth century can be traced back to animals. AIDS came from chimps, Black Plague from mouse borne ticks, and avian flu from birds. Although animals are a vibrant part of the world's ecology, they must be kept at bay. As humans encroach on animal habitats we may see a lot of disease to animal crossover in the future. Mouse glue traps and disposable fly traps are important preventative tools. AIDS is the latest example of a disease carried to humans by mice. AIDS, which is caused by the HIV virus, is closely related to the chimp borne SIV virus. It made the jump to humans at the turn of the 18th century. A hunter probably cut himself when butchering a chimp, giving the disease an opportunity to jump to humans. Since AIDS mutates at predictable rates, scientists were able to trace the virus back to its birth with a specific pack of chimps in Africa. Black Plague was spread by ticks on mice. It was brought over to the New World on ships. These ships did not have glue traps for mice, so when the ships parked, hundreds of mice disembarked. Since the Native Americans lacked any immunity to the Plague and had no glue traps, they were very susceptible to the Plague. It is hard to trace the roots of the Plague back, but it is generally believed to be a mutated form of a virus that exits in many mammals. This mutant virus is also behind chicken pox, cow pox, and shingles. A current disease thereat by pests is malaria. Malaria has been around for hundreds of years but has recently become more problematic. As people move into areas with more mosquitoes without mosquito nests and disposable fly traps, their risk of exposure increases. Deforestation leads to more stagnant water which leads to more mosquito breeding grounds. Humanitarian groups are giving out disposable fly traps and mosquito nets to help stop the problem. By using pest control items like stick mouse traps, we also reduce the probability of a new disease emerging. It takes a number of one in a million occurrences for a disease to make the jump for human to animal. The disease needs to mutate in just the right way in just the right time to make the jump. It is generally determined that about 99.99 percent of diseases die after they jump from human to animal. One adaptable virus however, can kill millions.
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