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On May 5th of 2020, I received an email from BMC (Biomed Central) under the topic of Infectious Diseases of Poverty with the following statement:
Dear Colleague,
Infectious Diseases of Poverty is pleased to invite submissions for a new Thematic Series entitled Transmission patterns and control of COVID-19 epidemic.
Infectious Diseases of Poverty is an open access, peer-reviewed journal publishing topic areas and methods that address essential public health questions relating to infectious diseases of poverty. These include various aspects of the biology of pathogens and vectors, diagnosis and detection, treatment and case management, epidemiology and modeling, zoonotic hosts and animal reservoirs, control strategies and implementation, new technologies and application. Transdisciplinary or multisectoral effects on health systems, ecohealth, environmental management, and innovative technology are also considered.
BioMed Central Ltd.
The Campus, 4 Crinan Street,
London, N1 9XW,
United Kingdom
Granted that the obvious request deals with biological parameters of "vectors", but this does not stop the churning of internal wheels viewing the statement "Infectious Diseases of Poverty" in different fragmentations of consideration from the vantage points of different subjects. For example, a person with a sociological interest might rearrange the topic as one which views poverty and homelessness as a pandemic. A political science perspective might well think that those who think like Trump are infected with a particular disease that has taken on pandemic proportions... not only in the U.S. but other countries as well. Then again one may be inclined to consider that these diseases barely scratch the surface of multiple other diseases which inhabit the human psyche, physiology and social spheres— most of which lay in a dormant state awaiting certain conditions which make them rife for expression and exploitation like the disease known as Nazism, or the more virulent forms of a now antiquated model(s) of Communism which have made it difficult for any truly valuable formulas to be applied.
From basic pharmacology we are taught that all substances are potential poisons... depending on dosage. This includes water, that remains helpful to many processes of life so long as its quantity and mixture with other elements retains a certain percentage. Hence, the common idea that one may experience discomfort or even death from being over-exposed to a supposed "good thing" when it is permitted to enter into one's life in a small and measured manner. Over-indulgence may lead to a disease called habituation, though reflexes incorporated into our physiology are said to be a good and natural thing because all people apparently exhibit certain reflexes and this routinization of occurrence has lead some to declare an estimation that they may use as a means of assertion to control, motivate or manipulate themselves and/or others along a given line of thinking.
One such line of thinking in response to over-indulgence is the philosophy of a "Middle Way", otherwise noted as a conservation or moderation. Hence, one might thus consider that the occurrence of a disease, be it as a virus, ideology or physical activity being engaged in, is the result of some over-indulgence. Like the over-indulgence in the usage of falsified democracies, or capitalism, or religion. Indeed, one might easily perceive Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Rap and other genres of music as expressed pandemics which create their own representative forms of expressed debilitation. By calling certain biological forms a disease and thus insisting that these alone define disease, we humans set ourselves up for being unable to realize how very many kinds and types may well exist, as well as the different formulas of expression they may exhibit. Like different diseases exhibiting different symptoms, so too can different forms of different over-indulgence.
While focusing on the coronavirus is fortuitous for those working in the area of virology, because they can exploit it in an attempt to project themselves at the forefront of discussions from which funding for their interests may ensue; the fact that humanity resorts to using conservative methods of thinking about all subjects may itself be a disease affecting the human brain in as much as does senility, syphilis, dementia and other diseases which create their own debilitations that we may or may not define in psychiatric or psychological terms.
Because the Earth and the solar system, if not the entire galaxy and Universe are headed along a course of incremental deterioration, this deterioration may be looked upon as a necrotic condition that affects larger and larger vectors or sections of the human sphere. Instead of viewing the ongoing deterioration of Earth and solar system as an environment which promotes, provokes and otherwise prods the existence of benign conditions into becoming diseases; we define the Earth and the Solar system as our "home" that we must ideologically defend with multiple types of religious, scientific and political beliefs. Thus, we establish a pandemic culture of accepting the overlooked deterioration conditions as a good thing and not as a well from which diseased conditions are nurtured and allowed to migrate.
Because the present essay permits the inclusion of multiple ideas being viewed as diseases, let us not fail to consider that humanity may itself be a disease that has been permitted to grow, and that those who engage in acts defined as prejudice, discrimination, hate, etc., against a given gender, race, religion, creed, etc., are those who have actually achieved some unrecognized realization that they are being confronted by a disease, but egotistically overlook that they too are part of the larger disease called humanity. Indeed, for all we know, everything humanity has ever done, thought or felt may be an expression of the disease. Love, kindness, wisdom, intelligence, stupidity, hatefulness, consideration, generosity, etc... are all expressions of the same disease known as humanity. That is, if humanity is a disease or the last vestige of hope for ridding the planet and solar system of that which invites the production of diseases antagonistic to humanity.
From time to time I encounter those who express the same refrain used by others concerning the notion of "a mind polluted", though one can easily change this to read "a mind diseased". While a conservative might view many a progressive idea as a disease of the mind, many a progressive might well view many conservative ideas as a disease. And though most of us may come to accept the usage of the word "disease" as a useful metaphor, the situation may be that the occasions are not actually metaphorical but actual diseases we humans do not know how to comprehend. Thus we become dismissive of this idea much in the manner as a chimpanzee would if encountering a cellphone laying on the jungle floor. They might inspect it or even keep it as a trinket... especially if others show an interest in it, but otherwise toss it aside because it is not sophisticated enough to grasp its usage or application in a given context.
Like many of the wrong ideas used to treat and attempt to understand disease before such occurrences were even labeled a disease, many of the destructive or debilitating occurrences of today (obesity, alcoholism, drugs), are not being treated either as a disease or symptoms of a larger disease. One must wonder how a species can and will react to a disease occurring with one person much less many people in what we of today call a pandemic, if they had no word to even describe the circumstance. Since the notion of a disease in terms of the word "disease" being used as a label to describe it as a means of attempting to get a grip on it as one might a tool to be used serviceably did not occur until the 14th century... or at least given a record thereof in the English language, though an ancient people or person may well have had a modern similarity of thinking but their perspective was not recorded.
A condition which causes dis- ease or dis- comfort can be applied to many different circumstances, and not just the viral biological representations. If the Earth was in the state of a muck called a primordial soup or broth from which humanity evolved, then it is not too difficult to consider that humanity is the result of what may be described as a diseased circumstance, since humans of today might well avoid skinny dipping in such a soup or broth and not view it as a sacred pool. Likewise, we may note that there are present day circumstances in which water ways viewed as being sacred are now becoming increasingly polluted due to humans:
- The Ganges: holy, deadly river Pollution has turned the sacred waters into a lethal cocktail of industrial and human waste. Can the river be saved?
- Group: St. Johns River pollution threatens water supplies As Brevard County officials debate how to protect the St. Johns River from the so-called "biosolids" left over from sewage, an environmental group Friday put out a report showing those "biosolids," as well as metals and other pollution, are harming the river and, thus, the vital source of current and future water supply in east Central Florida.
- World’s Top 10 Most Polluted Rivers: The Names Will Scare You Several rivers
around the world are polluted today, due to reasons such as heavy industrialization, lack of public awareness, and weak government policies.
- Citarum river, Indonesia Mercury level 100 times the legal amount
- Mississippi river, USA A 2012 report by a campaign group, Environment Missouri said that in 2010, about 12.7 million pounds of toxic waste was dumped into the Mississippi river. This included poisonous chemicals such as nitrates, benzene, and arsenic.
- Sarno river, Italy Known to the ancient Romans as Sarnus, the Sarno river is regarded as the most polluted river in the whole of Europe. Though the river is still partially used for transport and fishing, the major portion of it has been polluted by colossal amounts of industrial and agricultural waste that is dumped in the river each year.
- Marilao river, Philippines Hazardous non-recyclable objects such as plastic bottles, rubber slippers, etc., are commonly found floating on the river. Added to this, all sorts of toxic industrial waste products are dumped into the river each day and household garbage is also discarded in stupendous quantities. This has made the river water infected, and hence dangerous.
- Yellow river, China Considered to be ‘the cradle of Chinese civilization’, and once, as the main source of drinking water, this river has been suffering from severe pollution that has practically made about a third of it, unusable. According to a report by the United Nations Environmental Program, about 4.29 billion tons was industrial waste and sewage was discharged into the river in 1996. Of late, in the city of Lanzhou, the water of the river has suddenly turned red due to the discharge of a certain unidentified contaminant from a local industry. Owing to this, the water of the river is now largely regarded as ‘unfit for human consumption’.
- Jordan River, Israel This was supposedly the river in which Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. Today, it lies in a rather sorry state. In 1964, the government of Israel constructed a dam on the river, which disturbed its ecosystem. Now, its water is contaminated by a massive amount of untreated sewage, thus not only destroying the river itself, but also releasing a foul smell. Agricultural discharge into the river is also one of the main causes of concern.
- Yamuna river, India Rivers in India are not just the water bodies but worshiped as God and Goddess and being revered as sacred. Despite such an esteem status, rivers are being polluted due to open sewage drains, lack of sufficient sewage treatment plants, soil erosion, and by dumping plastic garbage in river water, etc.
- Buriganga River, Bangladesh Buriganga river, which flows by Dhaka, is now one of the most polluted rivers in Bangladesh because of rampant dumping of industrial and human waste. “Much of the Buriganga is now gone, having fallen to ever insatiable land grabbers and industries dumping untreated effluents into the river,” said Ainun Nishat, a leading environmental expert. “The water of the Buriganga is now so polluted that all fish have died, and increasing filth and human waste have turned it like a black gel. Even rowing across the river is now difficult for it smells so badly,” he told reporters.
Since many of the diseased water ways occur in human habitations where poverty exists, are we to suggest that human poverty creates conditions for disease or disease is a symptom of human improverization? Then again, are both conditions merely symptoms of the diseases inherent with the types of religions and/or governments and/or corporations which exist?
We are inclined to say that many bodies of water are polluted and even diseased, but do not typically say they are symptoms of a larger disease which may be called humanity. And yet, why is humanity a disease in some circumstances but a healing potion and aphrodisiac in other circumstances? Like a substance that can become a poison due to an over-abundance, the many wasteful and waste-causing activities of humans are more easily recognized when the population of humanity has become over-abundant. Then again, why has the Earth over-indulged in permitting humanity to grow? Why does the Earth engage in an exercise which permits humanity to develop into a disease creating condition? Must we wait for environmental conditions to react to the disease and thus create conditions which reduce the size of the pollution causing elements, be it by killing off millions or destroying destructive industrial practices through various weather-related acts? No less, is this why some planetary systems become destroyed by the Universe... because they have reached a point of being a diseased state which creates conditions by which the Universe rids itself of diseased planets or planetary systems, but we think otherwise because our notions of disease, pollution, and pandemics is too conserved and geocentrically related?
Yet, this present philosophical exercise is itself a limitation in that it assumes humanity has some value in the "greater scheme of things". We assume humanity has value and purpose and is not just another accident of nature which occurs due to certain conditions which, if changed, would thus make way for the evolution of some other life form, be they considered sentient or otherwise. While some of us consider that humanity is a primitive life form and that from humanity will come some future superior creature, we don't actually know what the word "superior" means outside the context of human considerations. An ability to exist in a given Environmental condition may define superiority, unless we prefer to think of the ability in relation to adaptability to more than a single environmental context. Like an animal that can eat an array of different foods as opposed to a life form that must have a single food type for its existence. Then again, an ability to eat a variety of foods may result in an unrecognized condition of self-destruction if the availability of multiple types of food are created by processes in which small amounts of poisonous substances are place therein and cause medical issues that do not arise in those who consume a single or fewer foodstuffs.
If all diseases eventually exhaust themselves due to a lack of hosts providing a breeding ground and not just lay dormant like some hidden predator, is our human efforts to attack the diseases head-on, a fool's errand? If conditions exist wherein a disease can emerge, will not another disease eventually come to the fore if the conditions are not eliminated as well as the disease? Or do we humans prefer the "maintenance" approach because it provides job, religion, political and educational security? Hence, we humans don't actually seek to rid ourselves of all diseases, but place them into 'vectors' where they can be controlled and used as controlling mechanisms to assist some in their own survival interests over others? Since this appears to be the case, there is no real effort being made to get rid of poverty or homelessness since they are used by various institutions as a means to further their own interests, be it by way of getting tax deductions, providing relief that becomes an established service whose operations are supported and funded by the government, corporations and religions.
By calling poverty and homelessness a disease and yet not actually treating them as symptoms of a larger disease involving the philosophical ideation of different institutions, we humans show ourselves to be hypocrites... which may itself being either a disease or a symptom of the seemingly very many diseases humanity exhibits. And yet, if we claim that all of existence is a disease, what then? What if the Universe can be viewed as a disease but in actuality is a symptom of a much larger disease human consciousness can not think clearly about? Additionally, is our so-called modern day physics theories a host of diseases or symptoms of a disease? And though we think we have reached some semblance of a truth, this idea is part of the disease, like the deterioration of thought processing which occurs with a diseased mind?
So were is the actual disease if the coronovirus is not actually a disease but a symptom of a disease we humans have difficulty in intellectually grasping because we rely on conservative methods of conceptualization within the parameters of recurring patterns which, when looked at holistically, exhibit a conservation themselves? In other words, when we take an account of all the recurring patterns humans are using in the different subject areas, we find that there is a limited quantity of patterns like there is a limited quantity of elements in the periodic chart? Where is the so-called unlimited Universe of numbers and imagination? Is the coronovirus a disease or a symptom of a disease that has become more virulent and prevalent than other symptoms (called diseases) due to conditions created by humans? Did the coronovirus always exist in a dormant state and was bred into a more mature form because we humans have placed up barriers to other symptoms (called diseases)? Whereas we address one disease with certain activities (drugs, hygiene, etc.), this only provides a means by which another supposedly dormant disease (symptom) can begin to stretch out its limbs and begin to breathe more deeply? Is humanity its own worst enemy that is aided and abetted by the present design of governments, religions, corporations and other institutions... not to mention biological sciences, journalism, socialized entertainment, etc.?
"What if"... (and there are many of these one might indulge in), the next pandemic is more specific in killing off all medical workers, or virologists, or a given race, religion or culture? Will we point fingers at some human population or group or individual, when the actual culprit may be existing in DNA itself... since it exhibits a (three/3-to-1) pattern that does not itself appear to be evolving. We humans have become used to thinking that diseases or even symptoms do not have a consciousness... but what if they evolve to have one? What if evolution creates a type of sentience particularly constructed to assist viruses and/or bacteria to exert themselves like a thinking person who strives to maximize its survival chances? Philosophical complacency may well be a symptom of a disease or a disease itself that might well undermine humanity's efforts to maximize its assumed continued dominant position.
Date of Origination: Saturday, 9th May 2020... 1:58 AM
Date of Initial Posting: Saturday, 9th May, 2020... 5:50 AM