After Covid-19 and monkeypox, more animal disease threats to come, warn experts
- Zoonoses are more common due to deforestation, mass livestock cultivation, climate change and other human-induced upheavals of the animal world
- About 60 per cent of all known human infections are zoonotic, as are 75 per cent of all new and emerging infectious diseases, the UN says
With the spread of monkeypox across the world coming hot on the heels of Covid-19, there are fears that increasing outbreaks of diseases that jump from animals to humans could spark another pandemic.
While such diseases – called zoonoses – have been around for millennia, they have become more common in recent decades due to deforestation, mass livestock cultivation, climate change and other human-induced upheavals of the animal world, experts say.
Other diseases to leap from animals to humans include HIV, Ebola, Zika, Sars, Mers, bird flu and the bubonic plague.
The World Health Organization said on Thursday that it is still investigating the origins of Covid, but the “strongest evidence is still around zoonotic transmission”.
And with more than 1,000 monkeypox cases recorded globally over the last month, the UN agency has warned there is a “real” risk the disease could become established in dozens of countries.
The WHO’s emergencies director Michael Ryan said last week that “it’s not just in monkeypox” – the way that humans and animals interact has become “unstable”.