Situation analysis on the roles and risks of wildlife in the emergence of human infectious diseases

Abstract

This situation analysis presents a thorough, evidence-based examination of the relationship between wildlife and zoonosis, wildlife and emerging human pathogens and associated diseases, their origins, drivers, and risk factors. There is considerable divergence of opinion around the subject both within and outside the biodiversity conservation community and given the ontological challenges and highly different perspectives, contradictory narrative is unsurprising. Context is all-important and to clarify this in the analysis, the evidence of human diseases coming from wildlife is compared to diseases emerging from domestic animals and humans themselves, to provide context and proportions of the relative risk. The report highlights key knowledge, and provides perspective on where research, policy, interventions, and capacity building are needed to reduce risks of zoonoses and emergent animal-origin human diseases globally.

Ecology and epidemiology of Salmonella spp. isolated from the environment and the roles played by wild animals in their maintenance

“…Salmonella spp. can be shed in the feces of apparently healthy wild animals for a long time and can be isolated at virtually every step of the game-meat chain [71,72]. Wildlife can additionally be involved in human salmonellosis taking part in the ecology of these bacteria and thereby contributing to the persistence of bacteria in the environment [73].…”

Intensification des systèmes d’élevage et risques pandémiques

“…La population de poulets est ainsi passée de 4 à 26 milliards de têtes entre 1961 et 2019, tandis que la population humaine passait de 3,1 à 7,7 milliards sur la même période (FAOSTAT, 2020 ;United Nations, 2021). Bien qu'une majorité des nouvelles espèces de pathogènes émergents d'origine animale proviennent de la faune sauvage, les animaux domestiques sont, de très loin, la principale source d'infection par des pathogènes zoonotiques, c'est-à-dire transmis des animaux vertébrés non humains à l'homme (Haider et al, 2020 ;Jones et al, 2013 ;Kock et Caceres-Escobar, 2022 ;Rohr et al, 2019). Parmi les émergences récentes de maladies imputables aux productions animales, on peut citer la fièvre de la vallée du Rift (Gerdes, 2004) et la plupart des nouvelles souches d'influenza aviaire et porcine pathogènes pour l'homme (Claas et al, 1998 ;Dawood et al, 2009 ;Gao et al, 2013).…”

Human activities and zoonotic epidemics: a two-way relationship. The case of the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Transmission occurs through various ways (direct contact, indirect contact, carrier, consumption of contaminated food and water) and in multiple environments (urban centers, rural areas, trips, zoos, and open-air markets for the sale and consumption of wild animals) (Kock & Caceres-Escobar, 2022;Wegner et al, 2022) (Table 1).…”

“…Zoonoses are classified based on the causative agents (pathogens) responsible for their occurrence, the transmission cycle (orthozoonoses, cyclozoonoses, metazoonoses, saprozoonoses), and reservoir hosts anthropozoonoses, zooanthroponoses, amphixenoses, human diseases) (Kock & Caceres-Escobar, 2022;Leal Filho et al, 2022) (Table 4).…”