Virus on Earth and Earthworm

There is no good or bad living creature in nature, all are the same and each has its own role in the natural environment. In a man-made environment living creatures are always sorted, beneficial creatures are cultivated or domesticated, while those which harm are eradicated. Domestication of plants and animals plays an important role in human history.

Domestication is totally different from natural selection. This artificial selection activity if not well controlled, will disrupt the natural balance (homeostasis) and slowly but surely turn out to be chaotic, or even fatal. The coronavirus pandemic this year is an example of the environment out of control by humans after the virus went beyond its carrying capacity in its natural host, presumably bats and then attacking humans.

Just remember that together with some scientists in North America once I conducted sanitation applied research in the early millennium regarding enteric (gastrointestinal tract) viruses along with other abdominal diseases namely fecal coliform bacteria, Salmonella spp. bacteria, and helminth ova (parasite of stomach worms). The four diseases are common in dirty areas and can naturally be controlled by earthworms. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download;jsessionid=8B25DCC845A1D907E7AD47D24AF1A405?doi=10.1.1.506.662&rep=rep1&type=pdf

In this research decomposer or saprovore, a detritus or dead particulate organic material-eating animal, the earthworm is symbiotic with beneficial soil microbes during the formation of soil, which can control the enteric virus naturally. Virus is a dead object containing debris in the genetic material of DNA or RNA, an infectious agent that can only breed in the body of living creatures ranging from bacteria to humans. Because it is not a living creature then viruses cannot be killed.

Amazingly the oldest animal in the earth that has nearly the same age during the cooling down of earth, an earthworm can control the population of the enteric virus by decomposing them.

One of the group of earthworms is the compost worm. This living creature is already on earth, evolved since millions of years ago. This compost worm produces antimicrobial which is called Fetidin to adapt in the “dirty” place that many living creatures cannot survive. Until now there has been no scientific report that earthworms become sick. They are disease resistant, they die by being killed, drought, or eaten by predators.

The cleansing or sterilization of COVID-19 outside the human body is one way that controlled distribution stops infecting and killing humans. Keep in mind this action also kills many other microbes that are beneficial for humans. This needs to be observed and anticipated, as well as how the food security and human immune system can be decreasing or less resistant to the disinfectant trials.

I was dreaming that the virus particularly coronavirus is like the virus in tulip flowers or tobacco plants, which can make the plant stronger and the color of the flower more vibrant. In fiction you may remember the young Batman received “power” after experiencing with a colony of bats in bad condition. Sure, someday the coronavirus can make us stronger (in immunity and economy) and reset our peace of mind to be more efficient in taking care of our community, environment, and living soil in the one and only world we have.

The photo above is courtesy of Thilo Schmuelgen/Reuters. Coronavirus carnival in Dusseldorf at the end of February 2020, just before COVID-19 outbreak in Germany.

-Bintoro Gunadi