African perspectives : modern complexities of emerging, re-emerging, and endemic zoonoses

Abstract

Recent events have shown that public health, animal health and national economies have been threatened, globally, by the increased occurrence of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases (ErEIDs) [1]. Specifically, land use change cum agricultural practices, surging human demographic, pathogen evolution (antimicrobial resistance), failure of public health systems, global travel and more global interconnectedness in spatial and temporal dimensions have driven these threats [2]. Other aggravating factors include: ecological changes, incursion into previously uninhabited areas, changes in human behavior, environmental degradation, international trade, technology and industry, antimicrobial misuse, and deficiencies in public health infrastructure and decision-making [1-3]. Major ErEIDs − including zoonoses − have been reported in the last two decades including: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, Hendra, Nipah, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5N1, H5N8 and H7N9 subtypes, West Nile fever, Pandemic H1N1 Influenza, Ebola virus disease (EVD) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). Many of these diseases have been documented in Africa.