No social distancing in borderless Amazonia
January 12, 2021CNRS
What would have happened if Covid-19 had appeared in the Amazon rainforest 1,000 years ago? For an archaeologist, this is a question worth considering. Indeed, like its counterparts in Africa and Asia, the humid jungle of Amazonia is a potential hotbed of unknown viruses that only need a chance to hatch before spreading around the globe. All ecosystems that have been transformed by human activity are susceptible to the development of new diseases. The incredible diversity of life forms in tropical zones further increases the risk of unexpected zoonoses (infections of animal origin) suddenly emerging from South America’s vast forest regions. The agents conveying such poisoned gifts are just as varied, ranging from voracious vampire bats silently biting their prey at night to vertebrate game species coveted for their tasty meat, or even a sweet little animal adopted as a pet, like a monkey or a parrot, which could be carrying a deadly microbe.