Animal-to-human disease transmission 'unnaturally fast'

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Tue, 21 Feb 2006 07:58:15 -0800

[Zepps_News] Animal-to-human disease transmission

'unnaturally fast'

 

 

 

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/birdflu/story/0,,1714072,00.html?gusrc=rss

 

Animal-to-human disease transmission 'unnaturally fast'

 

Press Association

Monday February 20, 2006

 

Three-quarters of the 38 species of harmful organisms and viruses

identified in the past 25 years are thought to have " jumped " from

animals to humans, according to US and Scottish scientists.

 

The researchers said should the potentially lethal H5N1 strain of bird

flu mutate into a virus that can spread between humans, it would

simply be part of an alarming ongoing trend.

 

Scientists now know of more than 1,400 kinds of bacteria, viruses,

protozoa, fungi and worms that can affect human health.

 

Professor Mark Woolhouse, from the University of Edinburgh, said the

rising number of infections passing from animals to humans could be

due to human activity such as global travel and trade and the

expansion of cities into natural habits such as rainforests.

 

He told the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

annual meeting in St Louis that the apparent rise in the number of

pathogens - agents such as bacteria that transmit disease - was " too

fast " simply to be caused by natural processes such as evolution.

 

Professor Woolhouse said: " New pathogens are being reported at a rate

of one or two a year. Humans have always been attacked by novel

pathogens, but it does seem to be happening very fast and we have to

ask questions about that. We need to know where they are coming from,

why it is happening, and what we can do about it. " (Maybe look in

those biolabs?)

 

His research, published in the journal Trends in Ecology and

Evolution, highlights the dangers of " zoonotic " infections that pass

from animals to humans.

 

He said a vast range of animals carried organisms that could infect

humans. They included everything from cows to chickens, rats, bats and

palm civets, which spread the Sars virus. Other examples of zoonotic

diseases included tuberculosis, smallpox, measles and Aids.

 

Almost 60% of the known species of human pathogen are zoonotic. But Dr

Nina Marano, from the National Centre for Infectious Diseases in

Atlanta, Georgia, said 75% of newly emerging diseases originated in

animals.

 

Prof Woolhouse said vets and doctors needed to collaborate to identify

potentially zoonotic diseases and to devise treatments.

 

He said: " Veterinary students have to learn about the public health

implications of the diseases they study. The medics really do need to

get their act together. If you read any book about emerging diseases,

it starts with the first human case. "

 

--

" Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government

talking about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court

order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about

chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order

before we do so "

-George W. Bush, April 20, 2004

 

Not dead, in jail, or a slave? Thank a liberal!

Pay your taxes so the rich don't have to.

 

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