Future outbreaks of infectious diseases, such as the new coronavirus from China, are likely to increase as humans and animals interact in close proximity, according to one epidemiologist.
TORONTO -- Future outbreaks of infectious diseases, such as the new coronavirus from China, are likely to increase as humans and animals interact in close proximity.
“There are a lot of different ways or pathways that these different types of pathogens can use to spread,” she said. “For instance, we can think of direct contact, like touching or petting animals or getting bitten by them, or indirect contact, so being in the same place where live animals are roaming around or where they’re living, such as farms or wet markets.”
These diseases are known as zoonoses, meaning they are naturally transmissible from vertebrate animals to humans.While the exact animal origin of the novel coronavirus from the city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the current outbreak, is still unclear, Chinese scientists have said the virus likely came from bats.
According to the World Health Organization , the first cases of novel coronavirus occurred in a group of people with pneumonia who had links to a seafood and live animal market in Wuhan where “many fish, reptiles, bats and other live and dead animals were traded.” In terms of finding a solution to the increasing emergence of zoonotic infectious diseases, Berry said prevention is more important than vaccines.
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