Humans could see the end of existence if one of the viruses we do not know spreads like Ebola.
More than 11 thousand people died in a horrible way because of the Ebola virus. The patients suffered from fever, muscle pain, sore throat and headache, but soon after they began to vomit, to suffer from diarrhea and developed hives on the skin until their internal organs began to be affected, culminating in a constant bleeding inside and out of the body, until they lost their lives.
Millions of people could have contracted the disease and become one of the worst plagues in attacking humanity, but thanks to the efforts of the experts who contained the virus and worked to save the survivors, the alert was diminished. However, these types of outbreaks of unknown viruses can happen at any time, jeopardizing the integrity of the entire world.
Just as the Ebola virus could have been transmitted to humans through an animal, any unknown virus can do so at any time without anyone noticing, until it starts generating symptoms in a person. Like Ebola, such a virus can spread almost immediately to a large group of people, thus generating a pandemic that would put the lives of thousands of people at risk.
That is why the Global Virome Project (GVP) was born, a collaborative project between hundreds of scientists that seeks to find viruses that can destroy humanity or threaten their integrity to eradicate them or make prevention plans before they become threats.
During a whole decade, beginning in 2018, the Global Virome Project will carry out analyzes and various efforts to identify any microorganism that can infect humans, which will also serve to identify what is the behavior of these organisms, how they develop, what are their characteristics in common, how it is transmitted from one animal to another and what can be done to prevent contagion.
"GVP will revolutionize the way we think about emerging infectious diseases, including biomedical countermeasures and food safety."
According to the EcoHealth Alliance and the North American Agency for International Development (USAID) there are approximately 1.67 million unknown species, of which more than half could threaten human health. These bodies inhabit different birds and mammals, so it requires a thorough analysis of different specimens to know their characteristics and start a prevention plan.
It is important to highlight that, although this project is planned to last at least 10 years, it is only the beginning in an effort that will have to be carried out permanently, since the organisms evolve constantly and some become stronger before the defenses planned by the humans.
On the other hand, it is necessary that this effort be left out of the hands of governments, since there is a risk that these viruses could become biological weapons and be used without considering the risk of generating such an attack. If a weapon of this type is made, there is the possibility of a greater number of infected people and a pandemic that can kill millions of people in a few moments; It is the apocalyptic scenario that could become a reality.
According to the newspaper El País, the project could also offer "unexpected findings", such as some organisms that are causing tumors or even psychiatric problems that have not been understood so far.
Currently there are viruses that could kill all people in the world in less than 10 years if a pandemic can not be controlled, for that reason, the GVP is a project that could save humanity. It focuses on the unknown to pay attention to a phantom threat that at any moment would end with us.