Emerging and re-emerging zoonotic viral diseases in Southeast Asia: One Health challenge

Abstract

The ongoing significant social, environmental, and economic changes in Southeast Asia (SEA) make the region highly vulnerable to the emergence and re-emergence of zoonotic viral diseases. In the last century, SEA has faced major viral outbreaks with great health and economic impact, including Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), arboviruses, highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1), and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV); and so far, imported cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV). Given the recent challenging experiences in addressing emerging zoonotic diseases, it is necessary to redouble efforts to effectively implement the “One Health” initiative in the region, which aims to strengthen the human-animal–plant-environment interface to better prevent, detect and respond to health threats while promoting sustainable development. This review provides an overview of important emerging and re-emerging zoonotic viral diseases in SEA, with emphasis on the main drivers behind their emergency, the epidemiological situation from January 2000 to October 2022, and the importance of One Health to promote improved intervention strategies.

Global seroprevalence of Zika virus in asymptomatic individuals: A systematic review

“…In Africa, ZIKV has been circulating since 1945 [ 2 ], primarily the African genotype. However, large-scale outbreaks have been relatively infrequent, as shown in our study, with an overall seroprevalence of 8.4%, which increased from 5.1% before May 2015 to 15.0% after May 2015.…”

“…In Southeast Asia, ZIKV has been circulating since at least the 1950s. Surprisingly, ZIKV outbreaks in this region have remained moderate in intensity, with notable outbreaks occurring in Thailand in 2016–2018 (n = 2,300), and in India in 2018 (n = 283 cases) [ 2 , 76 ]. In our study, the estimated seroprevalence was determined to be 25.9% (Thailand 25.9%, Indonesia 9.1% in children), with evidence of prior circulation before May 2015.…”

“…Correspondingly, studies showed higher seroprevalence in Fiji (13.7%), French Polynesia (40.7%), Papua New Guinea (64.9%), and Solomon Islands (28.1%). Conversely, sporadic cases or small outbreaks, probably caused by the Asian sublineage [ 3 ], were identified in countries where seroprevalence studies were conducted, such as Lao PDR (7.0%), Malaysia (7.1%), The Philippines (17.9%), and Vietnam (1.0%) [ 2 , 80 ]. Consequently, Malaysia, Laos and Vietnam may have lower levels of immunity, making them highly vulnerability to future epidemics.…”

Development and implementation of a strategy for early diagnosis and management of scrub typhus: an emerging public health threat

“…Human activities, such as clearing of forest, aggressive agricultural practices, urbanization, continued poor sanitization, and close proximity of people to livestock, along with climate change, are accelerating human interaction with natural hosts of such diseases. The ‘One Health' approach, which advocates the transdisciplinary collaborative relationship between humans, animals, and environment health partners to address the emergence and re-emergence of the zoonotic disease, is unquestionably the best possible strategy for overall control of scrub typhus ( 40 , 41 ). The current proposed program described in this protocol, however, is yet to adopt the ‘One Health' approach.…”

One Health approach and zoonotic diseases in Indonesia: Urgency of implementation and challenges

“…Zoonotic diseases are infectious diseases that can be transmitted between animals and humans through direct contact with infected animals, ingestion of contaminated food or water, or exposure to vectors such as fleas, mosquitoes, snails, and others [ 32 , 33 ]. Zoonotic diseases that until now have not been appropriately handled in Indonesia include dengue virus infections, malaria, rabies, chikungunya, leptospirosis, bubonic plague, brucellosis, and others [ 34 - 36 ].…”