5.6 Stories

5.6.1 Jenner’s smallpox vaccine

In 1800, Edward Jenner developed the first vaccine against smallpox via infection of a zoonotic bovine virus that caused cowpox.

Jenner had noticed that milkmaids in particular were immune to smallpox. Jenner then extracted the infectious preparation of cowpox and used it to inoculate people against smallpox.

Following this, smallpox was declared officially eradicated by the WHO in 1981.

5.6.2 SARS

Sever Acute Respiratory Syndrome (i.e., SARS) was a coronavirus disease that took the world by storm in 2003 and 2004, killing more than 800 people in the process.

SARS caused about $80 billion in damages around the world - researchers who were working on the virus were surprised to find that SARS went from bats to civet cats before infecting humans in the wet markets of southern China.

5.6.3 MERS

SARS appeared to have “disappeared” until around 2012, when a deadly SARS-like virus was found in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Jordan. Out of the 12 individuals who were infected with the virus, 6 of them died. Back then, the SARS-like illness was known as Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (i.e., SARI).

In 2012, the illness was then re-named to Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (i.e., MERS) - MERS killed many people, many of whom became infected via direct or indirect contact with infected camels (i.e., consuming raw camel milk or eating underdone meat).

MERS has also shown “critical capacity” to transmit from one person to another. Since 2012, MERS has been reported in about 27 countries, the largest of which was in South Korea in 2015 (186 cases and 36 deaths).

5.6.4 Nipah virus

This virus is related to the Hendra virus, and its reservoir resides with the fruit bat. These bats are attracted to fruit trees in pig farms, after which the virus is then transmitted to pigs.

Pigs then act as a multiplier host and spread the virus to each other. The virus is then spread from pig to human.

5.6.4.1 In Malaysia…

It all started in 1999 in a pig farm in Ipoh. The virus then ended up south in Negeri Sembilan - in the end, 1.1 million pigs were culled, and over 100 human deaths were recorded.

5.6.4.2 In Singapore…

When the Nipah virus was first identified in Singapore, the nation stopped importing pigs and horses (except those from Bulan island). There were 11 recorded cases and one fatality (an abattoir worker).

5.6.4.3 In India…

There were three outbreaks since 2001 - the latest in 2018 with deaths in Kerala. The outbreak of the virus was linked to rapid urbanization in India.

In past cases, disease transmission happened via consumption of date sap that had became contaminated with bat urine or saliva.