Health links are key to preventing future pandemics.

Health links are key to preventing future pandemics.The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that zoonotic diseases – infections that pass from animals to humans – can present tremendous threats to global health. More than 70% of emerging and reemerging pathogens originate from animals. 

That probably includes the SARS CoV-2 virus, which scientists widely believe originated in bats. There are still questions about specifically where the SARS-CoV-2 virus emerged. But experts across the globe agree that communities can take steps to reduce the risk of future spillovers. 

A key is for veterinarians, doctors and scientists to work together, recognizing how closely connected human health is with that of animals and of the habitats that we share – an approach known as One Health. 

 To prevent new pandemics, scientists need to identify specific locations where viruses are most likely to make the jump from animals to humans. In turn, this requires understanding how human behaviors – from deforestation to fossil fuel combustion to conflict to cultural activities – contribute to spillover risks.

Reverse zoonosis: Can you make your pet sick?

Reverse zoonosis: Can you make your pet sick? Swine and bird flu are two of the most recent and startling examples of animals passing diseases to humans.

Other unpleasant pet-to-human medical problems include ringworm, roundworm, and hookworm, as well as beaver fever, toxoplasmosis, and rabies.

 Although these animal-to-human transmissions are relatively well described, pathogenic traffic in the opposite direction is much less well understood.

 Reverse zoonosis is not just an interesting concept; it is an important global issue. Animals bred for food are transported far and wide, interacting with wild species that they would never naturally have encountered.

With a rapid growth in animal production and an increase in the movement of both animals and people, a human pathogen within an animal could potentially move thousands of miles in just 24 hours.

 For instance, during the H1N1 influenza pandemic of 2009, the virus was able to travel the breadth of the planet and from pigs to humans in a matter of months.