FK-KMK UGM. After the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV) dan Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) epidemic, the risk of another epidemic emerging is definitely there. For the response of this condition, Master of Tropical Medicine and Biomedical Sciences organized a hybrid webinar titled “Guest Lecture: Diagnosing the Risk of the New Epidemics and the Conditions of Their Spread Under Anthropogenic Pressure” on Thursday (10/11) at U2.5 AN Room, Tahur Building 2nd Floor FK-KMK UGM and zoom meeting.

Dr. Aneta Afelt from Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Montpellier, France, the speaker of this event explained that there are some steps in virus spreading, such as adsorption stage, penetration stage, synthesis stage, maturation stage, and lysis stage. “These steps will spread fast if anthropogenic hazard happens,” she said.

She also said that under conditions of intensive economic development, dynamic population growth and global exchange of goods, the circulation of pathogens is accelerated. “One of the factors that fosters the development of the epidemic is a drastic shortening of the transport time of goods and people who, as symptomatic and asymptomatic carriers, are nowadays identified as one of the best pathogen vectors (transmitters). This process is currently taking place with SARS-CoV-2,” she added.

As a closing, Aneta Afelt said that The development of analytical techniques to detect the presence of pathogens only identifies their existence in the environment, without the possibility of preventing transmission. (Nirwana/Reporter)