Loss of smell during COVID 19, evolution shows ‘lesser evil side’ of novel coronavirus

One of the earliest or the first pre-symptoms of novel coronavirus or those who have entered the early phase of COVID 19 is loss of smell.  The people are reported to virtually lose their smelling ability or in other words, the faculty of olfaction go numbed. 

Among most mammals, man is the only animal who uses the sense of smell poorly and rarely because the faculty of olfaction is poorly evolved in man. 

Man has developed several advanced systems and technologies to recognise his danger, natural calamity, Tsunami or any other disasters. In true biological sense, man doesn’t need his nose to detect his prey nor need the same to recognize the approaching predator.  Nor man follow chemical or pheromone based communication at iner-societal level or to attract his sex mate.  Virtually the nose is just a cartilaginous projection to inhale and exhale air and the same can be achieved even without nose; just with a pair of simple opening.   Only later, man started to use his nose more to smell perfumes and fragrances and make him perfumed to mask his homicide odour of eccrine and apocrine secretions.   

Therefore the evolutionary significance of nose for man to live as ‘true’ animal in a jungle is almost negligible or irrelevant.  Therefore man can afford to lose his sense of smell totally or partially from the evolutionary perspective although not from the individual or societal perspective.   Therefore novel coronavirus affecting the nasal epithelium resulting in transient loss of smell should be also used to write the ‘true’ curriculum vitae of novel coronavirus.  Such symptom not only should be used for the diagnosis but also to understand some of the evolutionary aspects of the virus.

Imagine a virus like novel coronavirus if affects the sense of smell in a herd of deer or wild buffaloes or lion or leopard or hyena, means a lot, because such situation would make them easy prey to both their natural predators and or un-natural predators, example lion may also fall prey to a pack of hyena if the lion is all alone and failed to detect the pack of hyena in advance. 

Animals don’t live as community nor follow community norms like us even during breeding season.  Male and female animals won’t get a chance to look at each other in a school or college or in work place or in bazaar like man.  The male animal when comes to rut during breeding season, used to paint its territory with the pheromone to send a chemical communication to elicit appropriate responses in female animal to bring her to oestrous phase.  Once again such communication is strictly based on nasopharyngeal route, although the subsequent bio-chemical actions are triggered by the department of endocrinology. 

In all most all animals except man, if the pathogen ever target the smell means, we can strongly assume that the virus has come with a blunt axe to gift a painful death to the host.  As important as eyes and ears, sense of smell is also important for all most all animals, except man.  

   

Novel coronavirus affecting the sense of smell in man should be seen carefully from the evolutionary perspective.  The virus targets the faculty called nose and sense of smell in man that is used the least by man for his direct or indirect survival.  It means the virus has not come to kill man but to explore him well, affect him the least and primarily the sense of smell which not at all required for man to live.

Is there any true pathogen ever give such allowances to man by affecting the faculty that is least useful and used by man?  Does that not suggest the virus either may be least harmful or man is not its host? 

But our capricious scientific wisdom sandwiched by inborn fear and abundant ignorance made us to describe and define the virus as villain, worse than Iago in Macbeth.   Nothing wrong in describing the virus as villain or most notorious but the real problem is making the entire country to behave like Sherlock Homes; must be after the virus wherever it goes, inside a village or hut or at state border, in bazaar, why even in our apartment. 

Quarantine people or put them in containment zones for a few days and then conclude that the virus in the given community has been eliminated. 

Obscurantism, reductionism, authoritarian approach and using fear to substantiate science are only weakening our fight against the virus. 

We treat everyone who carries the virus without symptom as Culex or Anopheles mosquito or Tsetse fly, instead of killing them, we are kind enough to put them inside a net or tent called quarantine or containment zone to save others in our community.     

Every pathogen contributes two dissimilar or isobilateral phases of pathology. 

The first being direct damage implicated by the pathogen and the second being the hyper or hypo response of our system, example – cytokine storm in COVID 19.  In the case of COVID 19, so far the indicators show, the systemic reasons contribute a lot to the pathology and mortality than the virus as the principle cause.  Otherwise about 80% of the population can’t go normal with the virus.  But the tragedy of today is that our government wants to scare and immobilize about 80% of the population for the sake of 20% and the point to be noted is that only a very small fraction of the 20% alone may die.  

No pathogen should be judged based on whether it is ‘novel’ or ‘archaic’ or its genetic mapping or how communicative the virus is in the given population. 

We also should not use the scale of infectivity because even dust and dirt if enters into our luges or internal system would induce certain reactions.  We must employ several aspects of evolution to possibly arrive at why the virus has evolved.  Once the secret of evolution is decoded, we have won ¾ of the battle and what is left doesn’t worth the war. 

But before even we understand anything in detail, Modi imposed lockdown, to show how destructive he is, starting from demonetization to horribly implemented GST to nationwide lockdown are his favourite models along with the emotional rhetoric and lyrics………….he is doing everything to save Indians and India.

In fact the lockdown has sunk India under acute unemployment, debt, poverty, loss of hope, destruction of economy but the virus is celebrating its success by reaching every nook and corner of our country. 

Modi has gone tired but not the virus.  Perhaps Modi would not have realized the fact that novel coronavirus is not his political rival so he can easy defeat though Hindutwa agenda and other emotional rhetoric.