Covid-19 And The Malayan Pangolin

This story is written by my friend, Mr Huan, one of the two scientists who developed RetroMAD1.

Shared with permission from his FB page: https://www.facebook.com/huan.ung.9/posts/10158459066876518

COVID-19 and the Malayan Pangolin

Disclaimer: Based on facts but still speculative at this point. But it’s not utter rubbish either. When my kids were young, they’d ask me to tell them stories at bedtime so I would invent impromptu ones on the spot and then carry on where I left off the following night. Take this as a story but from a scientific perspective.

Early 2019. Mr and Mrs Pang Goh Lin were happy residents of the tropical rainforests in Pahang state, Malaysia. They had a carefree life and had no worries about where their next meal would be from. They weren’t too bothered about enemies too as they were protected by a scaly suit of armor. They had no Netflix subscription as they never knew the agony of lockdown. But one day, Mr Bat had a bit of diarrhea 

 and released a load near where Mr Pang was eating. Problem was, Mr Pang never ever could wash his hands and feet after accidentally trampling over the poo. Mr Pang had sharp claws as all Malayan Pangolins did. Mr Bat tolerated well various viruses as a gene acted as an anti-inflammatory response to such infections. Unfortunately, Mr Pang didn’t have this gene and got infected and began to feel weaker as the days went by.

Mid 2019. Being severely dehydrated and with breathing difficulty, Mr Pang took a risk and went to a river for a drink where humans frequented. He was captured, kept in a cage and was sold off to middleman by the village folk who needed the cash. Mr Pang was then put on a fishing boat that transferred him and some of his equally unfortunate relatives on a long voyage to a vessel that took all sorts of items such as shark’s fins and various wildlife to China.

Late 2019. Held in a cramped cage in Wuhan after a long overland journey, Mr Pang was so stressed that the virus from Mr Bat’s poo was playing havoc with his body. His cage was stacked on top of those of various other animals. Now ,like Mr Bat some months before, Mr Pang began to have diarrhea as well. Since the shop owner was too busy to wash his hands frequently, some of the virus got on his hands while selling a fish that was under the cage where Mr Pang was kept. Money was exchanged when the shopkeeper gave his customer some change. Soon after, that same customer fell ill after preparing the family meal without washing her hands throughly enough.

The rest is history. Mr Bat’s virus is now among the most famous names we know. Science people call it SARS-CoV2. Trump calls it the Chinese virus. Disease people call the disease COVID-19 as it’s short for Coronavirus Infectious Disease 2019.

All this wouldn’t have happened if Mr Pang were not sold to China.

PostScript… Mr Pang survived and is still happy and well in an undisclosed location in Wuhan as a family pet. He’s managed to shed off the virus completely and is in the best of health. He sends you greetings but he sorely misses Mrs Pang. His message is….

Please leave us alone. The next time you humans get a disease from us, it will be a hundred times worse.

Please share to educate!

Source: https://myanimalcare.org/2020/03/29/covid-19-and-the-malayan..

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