Parasitic Wedge and COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease)

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Table of Contents

Brief Background Information
Prejudices and Xenophobia
Host-Parasite Co-Evolution
New Words
Cultural Practices
Discussions
Conclusion
References

Diseases affect people’s abilities to pursue their goals diligently or trigger additional challenges in their lives. Past scholars have presented powerful arguments to explain how species evolve by developing new qualities and values as a way of increasing immunity. The emergence of deadly microorganisms and parasites force human beings to alter their social, economic, or psychological behaviors. This trend emerges due to the ecological hazards and uncertainties associated with the diseases they might cause. The current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has encouraged many people to reconsider the relevance of the parasite-driven wedge as an effective model for explaining human behaviors and biodiversity. The purpose of this paper is to describe how disease will trigger a parasitic wedge.

Brief Background Information

COVID-2019 is a new infection viral disease that has disoriented human life within the past three months. Russell et al. (2020) indicate that the cause of this condition is the severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2. The first case of this disease was reported in December 2019 in Wuhan, China (Devakumar et al., 2020). Some of the symptoms associated with COVID-19 include breathing difficulties, cough, nasal congestion, headache, and fever (Rzymski & Nowicki, 2020). Scholars utilize the parasite-driven wedge framework to describe how parapatric speciation usually takes place after the emergence of an infection disease or microorganism (Fincher & Thornhill, 2008). This occurrence means that a given species will be forced to evolve without divergent allopatric division. Some of the common anti-parasite adaptive processes include social preference and mating, philopatry, and nonlocal conspecifics avoidance (Fincher & Thornhill, 2008). When the stress associated with the targeted parasite increases, the intensity, strength, and frequency of the wedge is more pronounced in diving species (Sng et al., 2018). This background information is relevant for learning more about the COVID-19 pandemic and its possible implications on the wider human population.

Prejudices and Xenophobia

The scenes, experiences, and outcomes associated with COVID-19 are encouraging more people to change their perceptions and interactions with their counterparts from other countries. Since the number of infections and deaths related to this viral disease continue to increase significantly, chances are high that more cases of xenophobia and prejudice will be reported (Yong, 2020). For instance, some citizens in the Western countries have been unhappy with the Chinese for allowing this disease to spread and disrupt the global economy (Devakumar et al., 2020). They also believe that the medical condition has claimed the lives of their relatives and friends simply because someone failed to take the relevant measures and precautions. Wu et al. argue that cases of xenophobia and prejudices will become a reality if a cure or a vaccine is not developed to manage this condition within the next few months (2015). The current notion or view is that the disease began in China before spreading to other countries across the globe. This development reveals that negative thoughts and bigotry will prevail against citizens or immigrants from the country.

Host-Parasite Co-Evolution

The nature of COVID-19 reveals that a co-evolutionary process might take process whereby the hosts and the causal virus might exert reciprocal pressures. This development will result in immediate adaptation whereby human beings may become resistant to this microorganism or be able to heal naturally from any emerging symptoms (Thornhill & Fincher, 2014). They can also develop herd immunity and eventually coexist efficiently. The nature of this virus means that it is co-evolving since it has not been recorded before (Fincher & Thornhill, 2008). Scientists can study the possible allele frequency changes within the human population and understand how to develop appropriate vaccines to deal with COVID-19.

New Words

Implications for Language

The events recorded in different parts of the world within the last three months reveal that people will be willing to coin new words that revolve around this condition. The disease has disrupted human travel, career opportunities and activities, goals, and social practices (Babbin, 2020). These unprecedented changes will encourage human beings to develop or present new worlds that never existed before. This development will be informed by the issues associated with disease and go further to change the nature of modern languages. Every country or race will produce new words and make it part of their idioms.

Cultural Practices

Human beings pursue values, ideas, practices, and norms that form the foundation of their respective cultures. However, such attributes will evolve or change depending on emerging issues, calamities, pestilences, or pandemics. COVID-19 emerges as a good example of a disease that has the potential to influence new cultural practices (Rzymski & Nowicki, 2020). For example, some people might begin to take hand washing and social distancing practices as essential norms that redefine their culture. Similarly, some people from various regions might start seeing themselves cleaner or better in the world than their counterparts in Wuhan, China (Babbin, 2020). This kind of ideology might emerge due to the fact that the citizens and authorities from this region allowed COVID-19 to spread and claim the lives of many people across the globe. Some individuals might portray themselves as holier since they do not eat uncooked meat or prey on wild animals. These developments will have significant implications on the future of different cultural groups and their practices.

Discussions

From the above sections, it is evident that the case of COVID-19 matches the attributes of a parasite-driven wedge. A theory of biodiversity will become a reality since human beings might evolve to become resistant to this condition or overcome it completely. A behavioural approach may emerge whereby people embrace new practices that can make it easier for them to overcome the dangers of this new disease. Genetic immunity and co-evolutionary changes might make it possible for human beings to adapt and survive this condition (Kommenda et al., 2020). The nature of this infectious illness can force human beings to develop additional cultural practices, language changes, values, and qualities. More pronounced changes in cultural practices may also emerge in the near future.

Social and psychological behaviors characterized by increased levels of bigotry might emerge because of the nature and the development of this new disease. For example, people will begin to change the manner in which they associate, greet, or interact with others (Bromham et al., 2018). Some will have higher chances of introducing social distancing as a cultural norm that defines their gaols and economic activities. Psychological aspects might emerge whereby more people will start viewing immigrants or people of China negatively (Mullett et al., 2020). A new wave of prejudice that is capable of affecting race relations forever is eminent. These issues reveal that the parasite-stress theory is an evidence-based framework that can guide more people to understand the effectiveness of the parasitic wedge. Those who consider such aspects can find it easier to explain the nature of human diversity and language differences.

Additionally, a new trend has emerged whereby many people have become worried about those who are coughing and sneezing. The elderly has also been identified as individuals who are at a higher risk of dying because of COVID-19. New words or language forms will emerge to define the symptoms, issues, or challenges associated with this new disease. The global society can go further to change the way it relates with people from various Asian countries, including China (Devakumar et al. 2020). They can even consider the integrity of their diets and identify whether they might pose any threat to the posterity of humanity. These descriptions present some of the possible processes through which the world might witness the parasitic stress and wedge taking shape (Rzymski & Nowicki, 2020). The issues and ideas emerging from such observations can become powerful guidelines for human beings to consider evidence-based behavioural changes that can protect themselves against similar deadly microorganisms in the future.

Conclusion

The above discussion has presented the current COVID-19 pandemic to develop a strong case for the parasite-stress theory. According to this model, hosts and parasites will co-evolve in such a way that they both survive by mutating and acquiring new traits that make them resistant or capable of thriving in diverse conditions. The trends, challenges, ad issues associated with this disease have the potential to result in a parasitic stress wedge. A proper analysis and understanding of these possible outcomes can guide scientists and community members to develop new measures to minimize the dangers of COVID-19 and support human posterity.

References

Yong, E. (2020). How the pandemic will end. The Atlantic. Web.

Wu, Q., Tan, C., Wang, B., & Zhou, P. (2015). Behavioral immune system and ingroup derogation: The effects of infectious diseases on ingroup derogation attitudes.PLoS ONE, 10(3), e0122794. Web.

Sng, O., Neuberg, S. L., Varnum, M. E. W., & Kenrick, D. T. (2018). The behavioral ecology of cultural psychological variation. Psychological Review, 125(5), 714-743. Web.

Russell, G., Georgiadis, P., & Wells, P. (2020). Coronavirus latest: French epidemic reaches ‘very high plateau’. Financial Times. Web.

Fincher, C. L., & Thornhill, R. (2008). “A parasite-driven wedge: Infectious diseases may explain language and other biodiversity.” Oikos, 117, 1289-1297. Web.

Thornhill, R., & Fincher, C. L. (2014). The parasite stress-theory of values and sociality: Infectious disease, history and human values worldwide. Springer International Publishing.

Bromham, L., Hua, X., Cardillo, M., Schneemann, H., & Greenhill, S. J. (2018). Parasites and politics: Why cross-cultural studies must control for relatedness, proximity and covariation. Royal Society Open Science, 5(8). Web.

Devakumar, D., Shannon, G., Bhopal, S. S., & Abubakar, I. (2020). Racism and discrimination in COVID-19 responses.The Lancet, 395(10231), 1194. Web.

Rzymski, P., & Nowicki, M. (2020). Preventing COVID-19 prejudice in academia. Science, 367(6484), 1313. Web.

Mullett, T. L., Brown, G. D. A., Fincher, C. L., Kosinski, M., & Stillwell, D. (2020). Individual-level analyses of the impact of parasite stress on personality: Reduced openness only for older individuals. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 46(1), 79-93. Web.

Kommenda, N., Gutiérrez, P., & Adolphe, J. (2020). Coronavirus map of the US: Latest cases state by state. The Guardian. Web.

Babbin, J. (2020). China and Russia play COVID-19 pandemic disinformation games. The Washington Times. Web.

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