World Zoonoses Day is observed on July 6th each year to raise awareness about zoonotic diseases and their impact on human and animal health. The term “zoonoses” refers to diseases that can be spread from animals to people and vice versa. This day is important because zoonotic diseases are a serious global health issue with wide-ranging effects.
According to the World Health Organisation zoonotic pathogens can transmit to humans by direct contact, with food, water, or the environment. They can also be bacterial, viral, parasitic, or involve other agents. Due to our strong contact with animals in agriculture, as companions, and in the natural environment, they constitute a significant public health issue globally. Zoonoses can also interfere with the trade and production of animal products used for food and other purposes.
Zoonoses make up a significant portion of all newly discovered infectious diseases as well as many already-known ones. Some illnesses, like HIV, start as zoonotic strains before evolving into human-only varieties. Through any point of interaction with domestic, farm, or wild animals, these viruses can transfer to people. Due to the vast number of novel or undiscovered diseases known to occur in some wild animal populations, markets selling the meat or byproducts of wild animals are especially high risk.
The risk of infections resistant to the existing antimicrobial medications may be higher for agricultural workers in regions where farm animals are frequently given antibiotics. Animals like rats, foxes, or raccoons can carry diseases that might infect people who live close to wilderness regions or in semi-urban areas with a high concentration of wild animals. Because of the increased human-wild animal contact caused by urbanization and habitat degradation, zoonotic illnesses are more likely to spread.
Salmonellosis and the Ebola virus are two zoonoses that can lead to recurrent disease outbreaks. Others, like the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19, have the potential to spread worldwide and start pandemics. Its history takes us back to when French Chemist and Microbiologist Louis Pasteur successfully developed the first vaccination against the Rabies virus on July 6, 1885. Rabies virus is a Zoonotic disease and is known to spread through species. Be it vector-borne or food-borne, Zoonotic diseases are known to spread rapidly among animals and humans.
Prevention and Control
For each pathogen, there are different zoonotic disease prevention strategies, but a number of ways have been proven to be successful in lowering risk in both the community and on an individual level.
The risk of zoonotic disease outbreaks transmitted through foods like meat, eggs, dairy products, or even some vegetables is reduced by safe and suitable standards for animal care in the agricultural industry.
Aside from protecting surface water in the natural environment, standards for trash disposal and clean drinking water are equally crucial and effective. When zoonotic infections do develop, community transmission can be slowed by educational programs that encourage handwashing after contact with animals and other behavioral changes.
The management and prevention of zoonoses are made more difficult by antimicrobial resistance. Since antibiotics are frequently administered to animals bred for food, there is a greater chance that zoonotic infections will develop drug-resistant strains that can quickly infect both animal and human populations.
Tick and mosquito bites are two ways that zoonotic infections can spread. Zoonoses make up a significant portion of all newly discovered infectious diseases and many already-known ones. Some illnesses, like HIV, start off as zoonotic strains before evolving into human-only varieties.
Salmonellosis and the Ebola virus illness are two examples of zoonoses that can frequently produce disease outbreaks. Others, like the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19, have the potential to spread globally, according to the World Health Organisation. On World Zoonoses Day people are urged to increase their disease awareness.
(Author is BVSC Student at Andhra Pradesh College)
