Topic: 2024-Spread of Animal Viruses
Country: China
Delegate Name: Anderson Dadey
Topic A: The Spread of animal viruses
China has a great depth of understanding of the issue of animal viruses also known as Zoonoses. This is because of the amount of Zoonoses that come from the meat markets of major cities in China. Studies have shown that more than 125 potential high risk viruses have been identified to be carried by these animals in these meat markets. China has been blamed for the spread of COVID-19 by many Western media outlets falsely claiming that they withheld information on the spread of COVID-19 and some such as “War on the Rocks” which claims that China should be held legally responsible for the Covid-19 pandemic.
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines Zoonoses as “an infectious disease that has jumped from a non-human animal to humans”. These could be Bacterial or viral infections and include infections such as Ebola, Salminala, and COVID-19. The WHO has outlined ways to prevent and control the spread of these infections. Setting out clear and safe guidelines for animal care in agricultural settings to prevent the spread of infections through contaminated food. Standards for drinking water to prevent contaminations to the water supply that could cause an epidemic in the regions that use that water supply. Teaching people preventative measures such as hand washing before and after contact with potentially affected animals and washing food before eating. The WHO says that one of our best defenses against the spread of animal viruses in vaccines is because they can prevent the virus from spreading to more people.
China believes that the best way to protect against Zoonoses is to first, Educate people on proper personal hygiene such as washing hands and avoiding sick or diseased animals without proper knowledge of care taking of these animals. And second is that after a disease has started to infect a large percentage of the population of a city or town to start research into a vaccine or other form of medicine and to try and find if there is something that can reduce the effect of the virus on infected people. China has already started to increase regulations on the consumption of wild animals and has drafted laws that even outlaw the farming and consumption of wild animal products.
Works Cited
Center for Disease Control. “About Zoonotic Diseases.” cdc.gov, 29 FEBRUARY 2024, https://www.cdc.gov/one-health/about/about-zoonotic-diseases.html. Accessed 27 November 2024.
Consulate-General of the People’s Republic of China in Sydney. “The Truth on the So-called “China covering-up the COVID-19 and therefore delaying other country’s response” –Reality Check of US Allegations Against China on COVID-19 (III).” sydney.china-consulate.gov.cn, 11 May 2020, http://sydney.china-consulate.gov.cn/eng/zlgdt/202208/t20220825_10752759.htm. Accessed 27 November 2024.
Francisco de Souza, Hugo. “Chinese farmed fur animals found to harbor dozens of novel viruses.” news-medical.net, 9 September 2024, https://www.news-medical.net/news/20240909/Chinese-farmed-fur-animals-found-to-harbor-dozens-of-novel-viruses.aspx#:~:text=The%20present%20study%20identified%20Chinese,zoonotic%20transmission%20potential%20to%20humans. Accessed 27 November 2024.
Kraska, James. “China Is Legally Responsible for COVID-19 Damage and Claims Could Be in the Trillions.” War on the Rocks, 23 March 2020, https://warontherocks.com/2020/03/china-is-legally-responsible-for-covid-19-damage-and-claims-could-be-in-the-trillions/. Accessed 27 November 2024.
National Library of Medicine. “Veterinary infectious diseases control in China.” pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, 27 March 2019, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7128199/. Accessed 27 November 2024.
Standaert, Michael. “HOW EFFECTIVE ARE CHINA’S ATTEMPTS TO REDUCE THE RISK OF WILDLIFE SPREADING DISEASE TO HUMANS?” encia.com, 5 November 2020, https://ensia.com/features/farmed-wildlife-zoonotic-disease-china/. Accessed 27 November 2024.
University of Illinois. “Preventing Zoonotic Diseases | Research Animal Care and Safety.” Animal Care, 3 June 2021, https://animalcare.illinois.edu/standards/preventing-zoonotic-diseases. Accessed 27 November 2024.
World Health Organization. “Zoonoses.” World Health Organization Newsroom, 29 July 2020, https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/zoonoses. Accessed 27 November 2024.
