Prevention of zoonotic spillover : from relying on response to reducing the risk at source

Show simple item record

dc.contributor.author Markotter, Wanda
dc.contributor.author Mettenleiter, Thomas C.
dc.contributor.author Adisasmito, Wiku B.
dc.contributor.author Almuhairi, Salama
dc.contributor.author Behravesh, Casey Barton
dc.contributor.author Bilivogui, Pepe
dc.contributor.author Bukachi, Salome A.
dc.contributor.author Casas, Natalia
dc.contributor.author Becerra, Natalia Cediel
dc.contributor.author Charron, Dominique F.
dc.contributor.author Chaudhary, Abhishek
dc.contributor.author Zanella, Janice R. Ciacci
dc.contributor.author Cunningham, Andrew A.
dc.contributor.author Dar, Osman
dc.contributor.author Debnath, Nitish
dc.contributor.author Dungu, Baptiste
dc.contributor.author Farag, Elmoubasher
dc.contributor.author Gao, George F.
dc.contributor.author Hayman, David T.S.
dc.contributor.author Khaitsa, Margaret
dc.contributor.author Koopmans, Marion P.G.
dc.contributor.author Machalaba, Catherine
dc.contributor.author Mackenzie, John S.
dc.contributor.author Morand, Serge
dc.contributor.author Smolenskiy, Vyacheslav
dc.contributor.author Zhou, Lei
dc.date.accessioned 2024-07-23T12:54:09Z
dc.date.available 2024-07-23T12:54:09Z
dc.date.issued 2023-10-05
dc.description.abstract BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT : The devastating impact of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) on human health globally has prompted extensive discussions on how to better prepare for and safeguard against the next pandemic. Zoonotic spillover of pathogens from animals to humans is recognized as the predominant cause of emerging infectious diseases and as the primary cause of recent pandemics. This spillover risk is increased by a range of factors (called drivers) that impact the nature, frequency, and intensity of contact between humans and wild animals. Many of these drivers are related to human impact, for example, deforestation and changes in land use and agricultural practices. While it is clear that the triad of prevention-preparedness-response (P-P-R) is highly relevant, there is much discussion on which of these 3 strategic activities in the field of emerging infectious disease should be prioritized and how to optimally target resources. For this, it is important to understand the scope of the respective activity and the consequences of prioritization. Already, the World Bank Pandemic Fund and forthcoming global Pandemic instrument negotiated by the World Health Organization (WHO) appear primarily focused on the early detection, and reaction to the appearance of human illnesses, often with explicit focus only on action to be taken once pathogen spillover and spread have occurred. Strategies to reduce the probability of spillover events are under-prioritized and underutilized, as highlighted by recent infectious disease crises such as Ebola and Mpox epidemics, and have been lost in overall preparedness discussions and recovery financing. This “more of the same” focus suggests that it is politically more expedient to allocate financial resources to deal with a problem once it has arisen, rather than taking the steps necessary to reduce the risk of it occurring in the first place. It is often claimed that allocating resources to prevent something from happening is politically difficult as the value of prevention is largely “invisible” (prevention paradox) or it will take a long time to show effects. However, there are now several communications highlighting the economic benefits of prevention of spillover. If taken, actions to prevent spillover are estimated at $10 to 31 billion per year globally, as a cumulative investment from preventive actions achievable by specific industries. However, addressing the drivers of pathogen spillover through a One Health approach has significant subsequent economic co-benefits; for example, reducing deforestation is estimated to create $4 billion per year in social benefits from reduced greenhouse gas emissions. COVID-19 has demonstrated the immense burden of a pandemic, including significant mortality resulting in economic recession, with the global economy contracting by 4.4 percent in 2020. The expected economic losses from this pandemic are estimated at nearly $14 trillion up to 2024. These losses parallel those incurred by other infectious disease emergencies, including the 2003 SARS pandemic with an estimated economic loss of $52 billion; the Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa in 2014 to 2016 with a GDP loss of $2.8 to 32.6 billion and the comprehensive economic and social burden estimated to be $53.19 billion; and the 2015 to 2016 Zika virus disease outbreak with an estimated loss in the United States, Caribbean, and Latin America of $20 billion. If invested in, prevention strategies would reduce the likelihood of another pandemic substantially and likely generate sufficient return on investment over time while also having the potential to generate substantial co-benefits. Prevention is already valued in other sectors: policymakers and industries have led on prevention in other areas, such as expenditure on counter-terrorism, driving laws and insurance incentives to reduce the frequency of traffic accidents, on the nuclear deterrent, and in some cases on flood prevention and other water management measures, exemplifying a political willingness to spend vast sums of money to preempt a harmful event in certain areas or circumstances, but not on pandemic prevention. en_US
dc.description.department Medical Virology en_US
dc.description.librarian am2024 en_US
dc.description.sdg SDG-03:Good heatlh and well-being en_US
dc.description.uri https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/ en_US
dc.identifier.citation Markotter, W., Mettenleiter, T.C., Adisasmito, W.B., Almuhairi, S., Barton Behravesh, C., et al. (2023) Prevention of zoonotic spillover: From relying on response to reducing the risk at source. PLoS Pathogens 19(10): e1011504. https://DOI.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1011504. en_US
dc.identifier.issn 1553-7366 (print)
dc.identifier.issn 1553-7374 (online)
dc.identifier.other 10.1371/journal.ppat.1011504
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/2263/97180
dc.language.iso en en_US
dc.publisher Public Library of Science en_US
dc.rights The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0. en_US
dc.subject Zoonotic spillover en_US
dc.subject Pathogens en_US
dc.subject Animals to humans en_US
dc.subject Emerging infectious diseases en_US
dc.subject SDG-03: Good health and well-being en_US
dc.subject COVID-19 pandemic en_US
dc.subject Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) en_US
dc.subject Prevention-preparedness-response (P-P-R) en_US
dc.title Prevention of zoonotic spillover : from relying on response to reducing the risk at source en_US
dc.type Article en_US


Files in this item

This item appears in the following Collection(s)

Show simple item record