How Diseases Help Telling the Story of Changes in the Environment

Introduction

Social and environmental characteristics are linked to the pattern of human disease. One thing we are certain of is that no matter how much we evolve technologically and scientifically in the biomedical field, we will still not completely eliminate human disease. Perhaps, unlike the historical major health problems that almost decimated the population, with current awareness, we will be able to better deal with the next pandemics and epidemics by using and improving the signals provided by epidemiological and health surveillance systems and prepare ourselves in the best possible way to the next “new “unknown.

It is known that the human lice evolved along with its human host from the species that parasitized chimpanzees. And its horizontal contagion is favored when man leaves a more solitary lifestyle, coexistence begins in the form of community and caves [1,2]. Still marked by these new human habits, the advent of agriculture was not only marked by demographic increase but also may have altered the ecological transmission of pre-existing human pathogens, increasing the success of vectors of pre-existing pathogens and resulting in new interactions between humans and wildlife. Still for convenience and protection, in an agricultural society the habit of domesticating and living with other animals such as dogs arises, coinciding with records of zoonoses [3].

Following this line, it is possible to draw a parallel between respiratory diseases such as the Spanish flu and the period of the Industrial Revolution. We noticed a strong relationship between the form of transmission (respiratory) and the social characteristics of that period that favored contagion, such as large clusters of families and workers sharing the same enclosed space. In addition, the poor working conditions and few hours of sleep impacted the immune system’s ability to fight the disease in the body [4].

The discussion exposed so far highlights the main vulnerable points that, in some way, due to social and cultural characteristics, open doors to the development of diseases that best develop under the conditions of the period in question. This relationship becomes clearer in a retrospective analysis than in a current one in which we are still understanding the course and biological characteristics of the disease. In other words, it is necessary to have both knowledge of the characteristics of the environment and the disease if one wants to analyze it from this perspective. In this context, we have recently seen that a new disease could cause an unprecedented global outbreak comparable to the 1918 influenza pandemic in terms of socioeconomic and political impacts on our global society, the COVID-19 pandemic, caused by SARS-CoV-2 [5,6]. We are still in the phase of understanding the characteristics of the pathogen that causes COVID-19 and its pathophysiology to understand how the environment was related to its establishment. However, we already have good tips pointing out that globalization and its consequent ease of crossing world borders favored the initial spread of COVID-19 and that this is a factor that we will have to deal with from now on. Furthermore, the worse prognosis in older people, those with cardiovascular diseases, diabetics and smokers coincides with the demographic increase in the profile of these people, a result of various characteristics of the environment and habits of society [7-10]. Scientists point out the predictability of the emergence of this pandemic with spoilers including its characteristics such as non-human origin and supported their hypothesis based on the increased rate of appearance of new Emerging Infectious Diseases (EIDs), with the majority of them having wildlife as their origin [11] and including H5N1 [12], MERS-CoV [13], Zika [14] and Ebola [15] in recent decades. More specifically, experts have been raising warnings for years about the potential for contagious bird flu or coronavirus repercussions [16] to become the next pandemic, because they are often found in animals domestic and wild. Another alarming point was the fact that they also could infect humans. SARS-CoV-2 is the perfect example of zoonosis spreading from wildlife that then established itself in human populations [17]. Smallpox, bubonic plague and cholera are marked by their introduction to the Americas and Africa and the extinction of indigenous populations, but initially also had animal origins. Furthermore, Yellow Fever, HIV/AIDS, dengue fever, and Zika all emerged from non-human primates [18]. Although we have already encountered these forms of disease, what is different now is the level of modern connection of commerce, advances in transportation systems with exponential population growth and the highest rates of urbanization in history [19]. Furthermore, it is believed that the volume of these events is also increasing due to global environmental changes [20].

Recently, even before the coronavirus but still in force, we have experienced a profile of chronic non-communicable diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, obesity and cancer. This type of pathology of modernity, again, coincides with modern habits in terms of its form of development [21]. In these cases, they are not transmissible horizontally, that is, from one person to another through air, blood, etc., but they are highly related to unhealthy lifestyle habits such as a sedentary lifestyle, unhealthy diet, stress, smoking and alcoholism, among others. There is a genetic predisposition factor that can be inherited vertically, however, it is already known that this gene predisposition is not paramount in the importance of the development of the disease phenotype [22]. With a deeper and more focused look at the favorable conditions that would sustain the high incidence rates of cancer in the population, we find explanations from molecular evolution, in which the origin of self-replicating molecules 4 billion years ago formed the basis of life, but also the root of diseases. The evolution of multicellularity allowed complex body plans with trillions of cells, involving innovations associated with the cells’ ability to regulate their cell cycles, modulate their growth and form intricate communication networks, fundamental for cells to renew themselves and adapt to organic demand, but it also laid the groundwork for cancer [23,24].

Obviously, the appalling statistics of persistently high cancer cases over the years are a reflection of greater capacity and access to diagnosis, however, there is still a lot to improve about the treatment and prevention of this disease [25]. The main challenge here is to understand the tumorigenic process, which is quite complex and multifactorial. In addition, there is a universe of diversity of patterns between types of cancer, location, and within the same group and sub-group of cancer, thus making a universal anti-tumor approach difficult [26]. The current point we are at depends on the combination of the environment, biomolecular evolution and prevalent diseases and is the result of a natural and irreversible flow. What remains for us is to understand as much as possible about these components to manage their damage until other standards are established and the targets of the challenges are different. However, tools for studying this relationship may be more powerful to provide information that is so valuable for reducing harm.

Acknowledgement

None.

Conflict of Interest

None.

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