Human activity and ecosystems under stress have favored new conditions for the emergence and spread of human and animal pathologiesIn fact, 60% of emerging infectious diseases are of animal origin.
These are figures from the World Health Organization (WHO), which, in addition to warning of the increased risk of the spread of new human and animal diseases, states that 30 new human pathogens have been discovered in the last three decades. Of these, 75% are of animal origin.
200 types of zoonoses
Zoonosis is defined by the WHO as a disease or infection that is transmitted naturally from animals to humans. There are more than 200 known types of zoonosis.
And pathogens can spread to humans “through any point of contact” with domestic, agricultural or wild animals.
These are the markets where meat or by-products of wild animals are sold. “particularly dangerous” due to the large number of new or unidentified pathogens known to exist in some wild animal populations.
According to the WHO, agricultural workers in areas where antibiotics are widely used for farm animals are at higher risk. And people who live in places adjacent to wild areas or in semi-urban areas are also at higher risk, due to the presence of rats, foxes or raccoons.
Non-foodborne zoonoses
The transmission mechanisms are very varied. Depending on these, they are grouped into non-foodborne and foodborne zoonoses.
The first, explains the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, are diseases transmitted from animals to man whose contagion is not strictly or essentially animal-to-man food. Among them are rabies, psittacosis (through contact with sick birds), or those transmitted by mosquitoes such as dengue, leishamaniasis, or ticks, such as Lyme’s desease.
The Ministry of Health has recently increased its vigilance over mosquitoes, but has also included ticks, which can transmit not only Lyme disease but up to twenty others. Mónica García’s department is particularly concerned about an emerging disease, Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever.
The food ones
In foodborne zoonoses, the transmission route is “essentially or fundamentally nutritional”: that is, it is associated with food consumption, describes Agriculture.
And it refers to diseases transmitted by bacteria such as salmonellosis, listeriosis, among others, but also by parasites such as trichinosis or anisakiosis.
The Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN) reminds that Spain, as a member of the EU, participates in a common system of protective measures against certain diseases that are transmitted from animals to humans. through food.
Measures based on the surveillance and notification of zoonoses and zoonotic agents and on programmes to combat, control and eradicate these in animals.
According to AESAN, in general, “is notorious” the decrease in the incidence rates of zoonoses related to animals for slaughter thanks to control and control programmes, but also to the improvement of the infrastructure of livestock farms, health education and inspections that take place in slaughterhouses.
One health
The WHO stresses that diseases transmitted from animals to humans are a “major public health problem” worldwide. They can cause disruptions in the production and trade of animal products intended for food and other uses.
Remember also that the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need to establish a global framework to improve surveillance and a system “more holistic and comprehensive”.
This is why it is committed to the “One Health” approach, which aims to balance and optimize the health of people, animals and ecosystems and thus prevent the transmission of diseases and the emergence of new ones.
They argue that by addressing the links between human, animal and environmental health, this approach is conceived as “a transformative approach aimed at improving global health.”
(With information from EFE)
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