Corona crisis you can find more Information Online at d w dot com and on t. W. Social media channels. To mix have haunted humanity for centuries malaria smallpox the plague and now the Novel Coronavirus all of them have changed the world we live in but have we changed the way we do things. To the sars outbreak 17 years ago the world the worlds countries promised that they would act differently in the future but chromos that they would take the threat of Virus Program its much more serious. What the latest pervert shows is that we have no lessons of the dangers or of the tragedy it is a genuine human catastrophe. Despite all the lessons from history the suffering and loss from Infectious Diseases caught up again in a last minute rush to contain an alp break with a cure for which success is uncertain as it ever was. A benefits all welcome what we learn our lesson this time something our leaders need to have a good long think about its also something alaska harvard professor about it about it 1st a little History Lesson for pandemics have shaped history they of course bring with them death an economic devastation but they can also be a catalyst for change progress and innovation for example the plague the most fatal pandemic in Human History it killed a 3rd of europes population in the 14th century. As a result labor was scarce and costly which resulted in innovations like water wheels and mills as well as other machinery more houses were built from stone which kept out disease carrying rats and fleas in the 19th century there was a 5th pandemic of cholera its spread throughout asia and africa and hit germany as well killing nearly 9000 people in the city of hamburg the Economic Loss 400000000 goldmarks but during this time the german scientist robert carr helped establish how bacteria cause disease his findings ultimately lead to the development of germ theory in adequate sanitation was improved to. Then came the socalled spanish flu of 1918 the worlds worst pandemic to date as many as 50000000 people died after the disease spread from animals to Young Farmers drafted for war in the United States many cities such as lewis shut down to contain the outbreak but philadelphia allowed a huge parade to go ahead which sparked mass infections it into a twice as many deaths the worst hit u. S. City the spanish flu ended up causing more deaths than the 1st world war but it led to improved hygiene and advances in. Which brings us to today and covert 9 tain tens of thousands of so far died and global isolation measures have led to a shutdown of the World Economy millions of people have lost their jobs businesses have folded no one knows what the economic recovery will look like but theres relief for the environment with factories closing air pollution has plunged many workers have moved online sparking a digital revolution from Public Services to health care the pandemic is remaking the world in real time the question is what comes next david jones is a Harvard College professor from the faculty of medicine professor tell us how you make this disease actually is 1st of all. I dont think we know that yet in terms of both how infectious it is and how deadly it is its clearly infectious enough to have spread quickly around the world but its probably not as infectious as a disease like measles its deadly enough to have caused major problems were now is approaching 300000 deaths worldwide especially in the United States thats more than the usual annual influenza epidemics but not as bad as the pandemics in 1957 or 968 and certainly not as bad as influenza in 1018 it killed over 50000000 people take us back to smallpox what was the secret to eradicating that disease the secret to smallpox eradication was 2 things 1st smallpox doesnt have an animal virus animal reservoir so once we get rid of it from humans its should be gone forever and also we had a very effective vaccine which allowed us to control the disease but it wasnt easy we had the facts seen in 798 but the last human case of smallpox wasnt until 178180 years later well and it required massive cooperation between the World Health Organization the United States the soviet union and many other countries to successfully eradicate that disease and that was cooperation that youre talking about during what the cold war i mean i mean whats whats the difference between how things were done back of then and now because when not in a cold war anymore. They were willing to get together to eradicate smallpox which i think shows how terrified human societies were of that disease we know what we need to do now we know what will be required to contain cove it we just have to figure out how we can get the cooperation and the consensus about the best way to proceed and that i find it pretty hard to get some sort of consensus on a societal basis i mean just amongst my friends of what makes one what about how society has reacted throughout the ages what is telling day societies have been dealing with pandemics for as long as we have lived in cities and we have learned a lot from that history for instance we have learned that many epidemics can be controlled through isolation and quarantine thats a very old technique and has worked very well in certain situations the other disease that we seem to have eradicated is sars after killing 774 people in 20022003 there hasnt been a case of sars since 2004 and that was done entirely with surveillance and isolation without a vaccine so we know what to do if we set our minds to it but were required to eradicate coated it would be wonderful if we develop a vaccine it will be wonderful if we develop effective treatments but many countries have done a terrific job with the technology we already have china and germany have significant were reduced cases australia and new zealand are on the verge of declaring the disease contained but many countries especially in the United States but many other countries in the world the disease is continuing to spread we just need to mobilize the resources and the political will to do what we already know and then we should be able to achieve success but based on what sort of success because why us of Infectious Diseases able to be wiped out totally enough is not. That there are many things that determine whether or not we can eradicate disease smallpox is a great example worry have done that and possibly sars but there are also diseases that could have been better contained where we have failed hiv is the most tragic example we knew what we needed to do in the 1980 s. To contain that disease and we were unable to do so we now have very effective treatment for hiv if we got every person on the planet who now has hiv to take medicines reliably get them the medicines we could a radical hiv but we havent done that yet and what that shows is its not simply a question of having the technology needed to eradicate a disease but also to have the systems in place to provide that care that treatment and the political will to to bring the eradication campaigns to fruition its too soon to tell what will happen with coated if theres an animal reservoir it will be very hard to eradicate but the success of some countries shows the tremendous progress can be made and we just need to bring that progress to the rest of the world. Have a University Thanks very much. And so youve got lots of questions to science correspondent Derek Williams has been busy answering all the questions youve been sending us keep doing that it keeps their busy. Well over the counter allergy medicines like claritin suppress your bodys immune reaction to kind of big 19. The active ingredient in the medicine you mention is lower rad today thats an antihistamine now antihistamines reduce allergy symptoms by blocking histamine thats a compound thats released by your immune system during an allergic reaction and it plays a central role in the etching and and the swelling that hay fever sufferers experience now because the medication interferes with an immune response which is actually kind of a hyper immune response many people who suffer from allergies are worried that it could make them more vulnerable to infection with source code to take antihistamines currently however all the National Allergy organizations i looked at are still saying that antihistamines are safe to take during the pandemic if that changes ill let you know here. Has a little mite being tested. Among the existing medications that are currently being tested as treatments for covert 19 is one with an absolutely terrible reputation the little ma it is best known as the drug that back in the 19 sixtys caused severe birth defects in the babies of pregnant women who who took it for morning sickness but its since been redeemed to some extent and has proved effective against symptoms in a in a range of medical conditions among them infections with the h one n one flu virus because the little mite has antiinflammatory effects researchers in different studies are now looking at whether it can slow or even stop lung damage and patients with severe cases of cope at 19 but that work is. Still ongoing its still too early to know whether it could eventually prove to be an effective treatment. Is the internal structure and behavior. Clearly visible an interim microscope. Not under a light microscope the virus is only around 100. 00 nanometers in diameter thats thats much smaller than the wavelengths of light that our eyes are able to perceive that means that under a light microscope the growth of virus is effectively invisible to obtain images of it we have to use electron microscopes by bombarding samples of the virus with streams of of tiny subatomic particles electron microscopes can result structures down to around a single nanometers so they can reveal stars cove 2 in pretty short detail. And that was out cogan special will just go to our website at the deli dot com where weve got a dedicated section on the pandemic in 30 languages ive been fizzling pleasure being in today see you again sort of like. After. They sound in thai sing but are a drain on Natural Resources guitars made of african and many. Forests across the region are threatened the american guitar builder is taking responsibility for. Financing and many reforestation coming from the cold africa. Next on t. W. Europe and the end of world war 2. Mates 1945 brought an end to the destruction suffering and deaths. And to mark a new beginning of european cooperation. D. W. Celebrates the 75th anniversary of the end of the 2nd floor in europe today t w. Like. My gorgeous love our food for the russian soul. How to be a steep path. To so many different walks of life. Some are pumpin and oddly trying to. Were going to come straight. To you to see even when theres no more delicious the mushroom. From here. To their final resting place the russians d. W. Documentary. Hello and welcome to this new edition of eco africa be environment magazine brought to you by channel selves in nigeria dai chevelle in germany and t. V. In uganda. The niger Conservation Foundation in lagos i just largest city copresenting with me today is my colleague sunda how to use sunder how you doing hello good to see