Must be vigilant

IF the world is to prevent another virus like the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), vigilance is crucial.

That’s according to Dr. Kenneth Connell, Associate Professor in Clinical Pharmacology, The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus; President of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Barbados and Chairman of the Barbados Drug Formulary Committee. He was speaking recently during a webinar hosted by the Sagicor Cave Hill School of Business on the topic ‘COVID-19 – Discussing the Virus, Threats and Impact’.

“We are experiencing a pandemic now and we think it is the worst possible thing that could happen to us in our lifetime, but we don’t know that, we could have several other pandemics. I am not an alarmist but the way our climate has changed, the way the behaviour of viruses is changing, is mutating, it is not impossible in five, ten years’ time or even sooner, to have another pandemic and so vigilance is critical,” he contended.

Connell added, “The one thing we have learnt from COVID-19 that must not be repeated is that we need to be extremely vigilant about zoonotic infections, or infections that go from animal to man.”

The Internist and Clinical Pharmacologist noted that most of the pandemics in recent times have been zoonotic infections and as such, he maintained that veterinary specialists and zoologists who study such diseases in closer detail, have an even more critical role to play going forward.

“Because by the time they [viruses] cross into man, this is already a problem started. The World Health Organisation as well as the Centre for Disease Control both in the United States and Africa and other centres for disease control, I think are well aware of this. And the earliest lesson learnt has been once we get any suspicious, for instance this cluster of 27 cases in Wuhan, we can’t just kind of treat as a Chinese problem. It isn’t, it is an international problem until proven otherwise,” Dr. Connell said.

As such, he said moving forward, there will have to be a clear blueprint outlining what should be triggered when a new virus evolves. (JRT)