Our global travel and trade habits are also fuelling the spread of contagious, potentially fatal animal-borne diseases.Zoonotic diseases – transmitted from animals to humans – are on the rise, leading scientists to warn the Covid pandemic will only be a “taste of what is to come”, unless huge, global changes are made.Covid, monkeypox, bird and swine flus, Hendra, encephalitis, anthrax, ebola, lyssavirus, Q fever, dengue fever and rabies are all zoonoses, with emerging zoonotic diseases and strains being detected all the time. Research scientist at the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory (VIDRL) at Melbourne’s Doherty Institute, Dr Danielle Anderson, said it was hard to predict how many new contagious animal diseases would emerge in the next 10 years, or where the outbreaks would occur. The growth of infectious diseases was being driven by many things, including pathogen evolution, human and animal population growth, land use and climate change, as well as increasing human-animal-environment interactions, international travel and trade, Dr Anderson said.But advancements in science, research and technology were helping to quickly identify emerging zoonotic diseases and deal with them, she said. “Increased awareness of zoonotic diseases, especially throughout the pandemic have put a spotlight onto these issues. New technology also allows us to detect pathogens more easily,” Dr Anderson said. “A lot of the emerging zoonotic viruses are RNA viruses such as coronaviruses, influenza viruses and many insect-borne viruses. We know many of these viruses are present in bats and rodents, and new viruses are detected all the time. Again, this is due to increased surveillance and new detection methods,” she said.“The threat to human health by zoonotic disease is not a new one. The 1918 flu pandemic killed millions – yet ultimately we were able to overcome this. But the frequency of outbreaks will increase, and this can be linked to climate change. For example if climate changes lead to changes animal habitats and geographic locations, we have more chances to interact with animals, thereby increasing the likelihood of zoonotic transmissions.”Zoonotic disease expert at Sydney University Professor Eddie Holmes in a recent Science journal article described the Covid pandemic as “an unrelenting demonstration of the devastating impact of zoonotic disease, whereby viruses jump from animals to infect humans”, adding it was “essential that this once-in-a-generation experience is used to determine the factors that drive zoonotic disease emergence and identify where gaps in our knowledge lie”. “By understanding why and how zoonotic diseases emerge in humans, as well as the barriers to this process, it is possible to be better prepared to prevent pandemics like COVID-19 from happening again or at least respond more effectively,” he said.The key issue was not that zoonotic diseases existed, but that there were more of them, Prof Holmes said.Unless huge changes were made, with efforts to combat global warming at the forefront, “COVID-19 will only be an unsatisfying taste of what is to come”, he warned.“Coronaviruses are commonly found in mammals that often exist at very high population densities, particularly bats and rodents, or that have strong connections with humans, such as pigs and dogs, and are appearing in humans with an increasing frequency,” Prof Holmes said.“That humans live in a viral world with an increasingly porous human–animal interface makes future zoonotic outbreaks a reality that must be prepared for.”Zoonotic diseases can be transmitted in various ways, including through the air, by eating contaminated meat or produce, through close contact with an infected animal, contact with soil or water contaminated by infected, animals, by touching an area or surface that an infected animal touched and through insect bites like mosquitoes or ticks.NED-7072-Growing-viral-disease-threatthreat
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