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Spread of Parasites – How should we prevent them? |
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Recently, an epidemic has been again spreading throughout the Korean peninsula. Is it something lethal to humans? No. However, it surly is a problem influential enough to catch our attention. This parasitic organism is called 'Pine Wilt Disease', and as the name shows, irritates pine trees' growth. There isn't any practical cure for wilt, and thus the pine trees die gradually after initially catching the disease. Then, how was these parasitic organisms spread all around the peninsula? The answer lies in the heating system. Although wood heating is not in prevalent usage any more, many traditional houses still utilize pine trees as fine fuel to power the heating system. As woodcutting has become obsolete as common daily routine in many families, most of the fueling wood comes from professional woodcutters. These woodcutters, in process of delivering the pine tree, accidentally miss the trees that contain wilt. Then, the parasites catch another trees in the wild. Authorities are trying to prevent wilt outbreak, but the high price of completely blocking wilt – which amounts to 80 dollars per tree – makes it quite unattainable. In my opinion, the real problem rising from wilts is that trees need to be eradicated if they are diagnosed as pine wilt disease. To prevent further spread, all the trees are sent to heat-powered generators and incinerated. Considering that pine trees constitute significant portion of Korean woodland, less pine woods could lead to a wider environmental catastrophe. As many of you know, there may be increased flood and less nutrient soil due to less tree in the wilderness. In order to fix this ongoing problem, only single solution seems viable: woodcutters and users should pay more attention on the conditions of the wood they use, and if they spot suspicious wood, the authorities should be able to track the past movements of the wood. They must block the parasites from spreading more, as they do with human epidemics.  |
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7 Comments
Well shared. Thank you for informing us.
Posted 14-02-2016 03:28
Nice sharing..I was unknown of wilt disease in pine which transmit by parasites.. you brought into light of it which is appreciable one.
Posted 14-02-2016 02:23
Nice one Mr. ChaeYun Cho! It was really good to know that such information about pathogens are being brought to the attention of the majority. Job well done for that!
However, just a very minimal correction. The parasitic organism (pathogen) is Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, not 'Pine Wilt Disease'. Plant Wilt Disease is the condition manifested by the infestation of the pathogen I mentioned.
Posted 14-02-2016 02:17
Hey ChaeYun, this is an interesting topic! I think its a good comparison the one you do in the end to a humanitarian epidemic. As I have seen before, natural resources disasters are more human disasters in the environment and we have no other action to do but make sure we put the attention it deserves.
Are there any other measures taking place around the issue?
Posted 13-02-2016 19:04
'Pine Wilt Disease' is deadly & will be very expensive for pine reliant Korea. USD 80 per tree is high but must be funded considering the seriousness of the situation.
Posted 13-02-2016 18:39
It's good that this issue has been raised to your attention. :D Like what Arushi Madan said, It's better than to be sorry later. I would like to know if there is a counter measure being done, specially as it is important to cut down the infected trees. Are there tree planting activities organized to replace those that have been cut down? :)
Posted 13-02-2016 18:25
Well shared. It's important to be attentive than sorry later.
Posted 13-02-2016 16:19