Summary
The authors use a textual analysis approach to assess sources examining coronaviruses and live animal markets in China to reevaluate the 2019 outbreak of SARS-CoV-2. This is done from the perspective of multispecies entanglement theory, and recommends the adoption of a multispecies perspective on all viruses (as opposed to studying human-animal interactions).The authors suggest that the acceleration of virus transmission is a side effect of the characteristics of the Anthropocene (i.e. the current time period whereby humans are having substantial impacts on the environment), such as deforestation, human population growth and climate change. The result is an increased number of unusual encounters between humans and non-human species, including wet markets. Experts warn that moving animals carrying pathogens into an industrialized space where they have frequent contact with humans poses a threat to the virosphere (i.e. the pool of viruses in all species’ hosts and all environments globally). The result of increased multispecies entanglements in the virosphere is the creation of a more homogenized virosphere (i.e. the same viruses are found globally in different species and environments) with a high likelihood of future multispecies pandemics. The investigation advocates for further research to understand the role which social factors play in the frequency of zoonoses and spillovers (i.e. the transmission of a virus from one species to another).
In this essay, we reevaluate the 2019 outbreak of a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) from the
perspective of multispecies entanglements. It is argued that anthropogenic alterations in the biosphere
will most likely accelerate the rate of multispecies pandemics in the Anthropocene. Using a textual
analysis approach of anthropological and historical sources on the example of coronaviruses and live
animal markets in China, we trace how the virosphere of wild animals from tropical regions comes
into contact with the virosphere of humans and farmed animals in highly industrialized landscapes.
We suggest that adopting a multispecies perspective on viruses can allow them to be understood as
living processes that interact with other species in a realm called the virosphere. The rate at which
novel infectious diseases are transmitted by bacteria and viruses has increased in recent decades.
We argue that this is caused by side effects of the Anthropocene, such as deforestation, the surge
in population growth and density, and anthropogenic climate change, which give rise to an increased
number of unusual encounters between humans, nonhuman companion species, and wild animals.
In this way, the virospheres of host organisms, which were formerly partly isolated, are allowed to
converge and freely exchange infectious diseases, leading to a more homogenized virosphere. As
anthropogenic alterations are set to continue in the future, we suggest that multispecies pandemics
will likely increase in the following decades.