Oh No! Not Again!!

Dear Readers,

I don’t mean to douse the weekend vibes with a wet blanket, but playing the proverbial ostrich who buries his head in the sand in the face of danger, would be rather foolish. We didn’t need to sound the alarm bells on the rising global spread of the Avian Influenza or the H5N1 Bird Flu till now… but latest news headlines inform us that experts have raised a solid warning over a potential Bird Flu pandemic, which could be “100 times worse than Covid”!

Outbreaks have been reported across the world, including in India (Andhra Pradesh, Nagpur and counting…) Transmission between bird and mammal species has been observed as the new H5N1 strain carries potential mutations for mammalian adaptation of the virus, and could prove dangerous and even fatal. With humans lacking the immunity against bird flu, this could result in large‐scale transmissions.

The first thought to hit us can be best summed up as, ‘Oh no! Not Again!!’ We’ve hardly recovered and gotten our lives back on track after the disastrous coronavirus pandemic. So then, why another? Have we not yet learnt the necessary lessons that Nature took upon Herself to teach humanity?

Nature manifests wisdom across all phenomenon. As long as the overall ecological balance is maintained, the natural forces continue to operate in harmony and sustain the world as a safe place for all life. But to err is human, and boy do we err! While the human race hopes and prays for the evasion of another potential epidemic, let us not surrender our senses to blissful ignorance. Information is key, so keep yourself, your family and loved ones updated, and when needed, walk that intelligent path of ‘prevention is better than cure’, together.

We could find ourselves in a similar storm all over, but how we react to the storm will define our experience of it, yet again. And we will know if we have really learnt the lessons we were meant to – after all, like the saying goes, ‘Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.’

Here’s hoping that we have indeed learnt our lessons, so that the Universe and Nature may smile upon us and help avert another impending epidemic.

Have a good weekend!

– Anahita