Scientists: Next pandemic is already coming unless humans change how we interact with animals

Thomas Gillespie (Disease Ecologist, Emory University): 'When I think about what's the primary risk factor for the next pandemic, it's influenza that's linked to pig and chicken production'.

KARIN BRULLIARD: As the world scrambles to cope with an unprecedented public health and economic crisis, many disease researchers say the Covid-19 pandemic must be taken as a deadly warning… But the problem is not the animals, according to scientists who study the zoonotic diseases that pass between animals and humans. It’s us… That means thinking of animals as partners whose health and habitats should be protected to stave off the next global outbreak…

The new coronavirus, which has traversed the globe to infect more than one million people, began like so many pandemics and outbreaks before: inside an animal. The virus’s original host was almost certainly a bat, as was the case with Ebola, SARS, MERS and lesser-known viruses such as Nipah and Marburg. HIV migrated to humans more than a century ago from a chimpanzee. Influenza A has jumped from wild birds to pigs to people. Rodents spread Lassa fever in West Africa…

Some 70% of emerging infectious diseases in humans are of zoonotic origin, scientists say, and nearly 1.7 million undiscovered viruses may exist in wildlife. Many researchers are searching for the ones that could cause the next animal-to-human spillover. The likeliest hot spots have three things in common, said Peter Daszak, a disease ecologist who is president of EcoHealth Alliance: Lots of people, diverse plants and animals, and rapid environmental changes… The international trade in exotic pets such as reptiles and fish is also a concern, because the animals are rarely tested for pathogens that could sicken humans…

So are large “factory” farms packed with animals, said Thomas Gillespie, a disease ecologist at Emory University… “When I think about what’s the primary risk factor, it’s influenza that’s linked to pig and chicken production,” he said… China, which briefly stopped the trade in civets after the SARS outbreak, announced in February a ban on the transport and sale of wild animals, but only until the coronavirus epidemic is eliminated…

But many researchers say the coronavirus pandemic underscores the need for a more holistic “one health” approach, which views human, animal and environmental health as interconnected.”There needs to be a cultural shift from a community level up about how we treat animals, our understanding of the dangers and biosecurity risks that we’re exposing ourselves to,” said Kate Jones, chair of ecology and biodiversity at University College London. “That means leaving ecosystems intact, not destroying them. It means thinking in a more long-term way.”  SOURCE…

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