Ahliyah Williams
Dr. Hinks
Fri July 7
Help Received: Ahliyah Williams References
The Infectious Disease That Has Everyone Talking: Zoonotic.
Zoonotic. The first thing that may come to mind may be animals simply because of the word “Zoo”. A zoonotic infection actually does have something to do with animals. In fact it’s an infection caused by bacteria and parasites that are spread through contact with animals. Emerging infectious diseases such as Zika, Ebola, and Nipah are three different examples of highly transmissible diseases. All three of them are carried by animals that are highly populated and live very close to humans in different places of the world. Countries such as Africa, Venezuela, and India have experienced tremendous “spillovers”, meaning they have come in contact with animals that are infecting these countries globally, but there is little knowledge about the diseases by the people living there.
A zoonotic or zoonosis disease originated from greek word “zoon” meaning animal. People coming from many different cultures and places have been in contact with animals for years, but the diseases that are emerging from these animals are very deadly and easily picked up. In South America, Venezuela a small, but deadly insect carries a large infectious disease, the mosquito. The mosquito is only about 1.5 inches in length, but a large, continuously growing population of them can affect thousands of people. According to Nicole Acevedo, there has been 2,057 cases of the Zika virus in Venezuela (Feb. 21, 2019). Picking up the Zika virus could be as easy as taking a walk outside just for a few minutes. The next emerging infectious disease was the Ebola epidemic. An infectious disease that gives a person a high fever was totally unexpected for the people of West Africa, particularly in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea. People are eating “bushmeat”. Bushmeat is meat that comes from a variety of different wild animals. Monkey and fruit bats are the chicken of Africa. Being that its so easily accessible because there are wild animals everywhere in Africa, makes it a cheap and easy meal for the people in Africa. The fruit bats are the most recognized hosts for Ebola infection. According to an article called Human-Bat Interactions in Rural West Africa, “In Ghana, bats are carrying many diseases such as lyssa, corona, and filoviruses”. Human-bat interactions in Ghana are at a high rate. According to the article, of people tested for viruses in Ghana “46.6% visited bat caves regularly”. Lastly the Nipah virus, known as being transmitted by fruit-bat sap, people particularly in India are affected by it because of the consumption of a traditional delicacy called, “toddy”. Toddy is collected over time from the sap of palm trees. In that process, scientists have caught bats urinating in the sap when sneaking to eat it. As stated previously, bats hold many viruses that are also able to be transmitted through their urine.
People in foreign countries are more susceptible to this disease because they are more involved with wild animals and farm more. Whereas in the United States of America there are few in the population who are killing their own animals for meat. Food is generally processed through factories and the Food and Drug Administration. When compared there are less cases of these infectious diseases in America generally because of more sanitation rules when it comes to animals as food to be consumed. Also the animals that carrying these diseases are not usually consumed by people in America rather than other foreign countries. But, Americans are not completely protected from zoonotic diseases. Zika from mosquitoes is one of the most prevalent in the states out of the previously three disease stated. According to the CDC, “in 2015 and 2016 the Zika virus made a large outbreak in the Americas”. Even though many foreigners are totally ignorant to these diseases and uneducated about them, many researchers have found out a lot about them and are able to come up with some ways to solve it. Genetically-modified mosquitoes are even being made to slow down and kill off the large population of Zika-carrying mosquitos.
In conclusion zoonotic infectious disease are located in many places throughout the world. They are more abundant in particular places because of cultures and traditions such as the consumption of certain delicacies and insects that have easy access to their targets. All of the diseases carried by these wild animals are transmissible through human contact such as salvia, blood, urine, feces and many other ways. Wild animals such as bats and monkeys are carrying these viruses, but also house-hold pets like dogs and cats that may carry rabies. Zoonotic infections are transmitted from animals, or even an insect, to humans in places all over the world, including America. Luckily, researchers are becoming more educated about these infectious diseases and coming up with different ways to at least slow down the spread of them.
References
(2018). Ike Swetliz. For the first time, researchers will release genetically engineered mosquitoes in Africa. STAT.
Zika Virus. CDC.
Zoonotic Diseases. CDC.
Bushmeat. CDC.
How Big Can Mosquitoes Get? Mosquito Magnet
(2019). Nicole Acevedo. Life-threatening, insect-borne diseases spike in Venezuela, report says. NEWS
(2003). Zdenek Hubalek. Emerging Human Infectious Diseases: Anthroponoses, Zoonoses, and Sapronoses. NCBI
Pricilla Anti. Human- Bat Interactions in Rural West Africa. DISPATCHES.