The History of Infectious Diseases: How Domestication Spread Disease

The History of Infectious Diseases
Researched by: Antonio Bernard

Medical Anthropologist
The History
of Infectious
Diseases

Diseases and their Animals
According to the United States Agency for
International Development, 60% of all human
infectious diseases recognized so far and
“nearly 75 percent of all new, emerging, or re-
emerging diseases affecting humans at the
beginning of the 21st century are zoonotic” —
meaning they originate in animals.
--World Health Organization, Regional Ofﬁce for South-East Asia. “A brief guide to emerging infectious diseases and
zoonoses.” 2014 ,pg.1 https://apps.who.int/iris/rest/bitstreams/909329/retrieve

EARLY LIFE FREE FROM DISEASE & INFECTIONS
“Disease was not present in the earliest times
of the earth's history, so far as animals & plants
are concerned.”
“Disease... did not exist with the most ancient
bacteria” In the earliest periods physical injuries
& wounds were free from infections
“Present evidences [suggest] that a wide
distribution of the bacterial types of disease & the
resulting pathology is a relatively recent
phenomenon.”
R. L. Moodie; The Antiquity of Disease; The University of Chicago Science
Series, Chicago, USA; 1923; pp. 13, 22 & 23

ADVANCED HEALTH
OF EARLY MAN
Research on fossil remains of early human
life observed that:
“There is no trace in the adults of any destructive
constitutional disease [&] but little disease of the
alveolar processes. It appears therefore, that on
the whole, early man was remarkably free from
disease that would leave any evidence on his
bones or teeth.”
Ales Hrdlicka; Anthropology & Medicine; American Journal of
Physical Anthropology, No. 10 (1926) ; p. 6.

1. The Age of Animal
Domestication

Medical Anthropology

Human Demographics,
Migration and Behavior

“In his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Guns, Germs
and Steel, Professor Diamond tried to explain why the
diseases of the landing Europeans wiped out up to
95% of the native Americans, and not the other way
around. Why didn’t native American plagues kill the
Europeans? Well, because there were no plagues.”
-“Pandemics: History & Prevention.” by Michael Greger M.D. FACLM March 27th, 2020
https://nutritionfacts.org/video/pandemics-history-prevention/

“Why didn’t the reverse
happen? Why didn’t
Native American
diseases wipe out the
landing Europeans?
Because there
essentially weren’t any
epidemic diseases.”

“Medical historians have long
conjectured that the reason there
were so many plagues in Eurasia
was that “crowd” diseases
required large, densely-populated
cities, unlike the presumed small
tribal bands of the Americas—but
that presumption turned out to be
wrong. New World cities like
Tenochtitlan were among the
most populous in the world.”

“In his chapter, “Lethal Gift of Livestock,” he explains how before the
Europeans arrived, we had buffalo, but no domesticated buffalo; so, no
measles. American camels were wiped out in the Pleistocene ice age;
so, no smallpox. No pigs, and so no pertussis.”
-“Pandemics: History & Prevention.” by Michael Greger M.D. FACLM March 27th, 2020 https://
nutritionfacts.org/video/pandemics-history-prevention/

“No chicken, so no typhoid. So, while people were dying by the millions
of killer scourges in Europe and Asia, none were dying with diseases in
the so-called new world because there weren’t essentially foreign animals
to domesticate. There wasn’t this spillover of animal disease.”
-“Pandemics: History & Prevention.” by Michael Greger M.D. FACLM March 27th, 2020 https://
nutritionfacts.org/video/pandemics-history-prevention/

“North America had originally been occupied by
only about one million Indians. That low number
was useful in justifying the white conquest of what
could be viewed as an almost empty continent.”
-GUNS, GERMS AND STEEL THE FATES OF HUMAN SOCIETIES Jared Diamond , page 211-212

“However, archaeological excavations, and scrutiny
of descriptions left by the very ﬁrst European
explorers on our coasts, now suggest an initial
number of around 20 million Indians. For the New
World as a whole, the Indian population decline in
the century or two following Columbus's arrival is
estimated to have been as large as 95 percent.”

“The main killers were Old World germs to which
Indians had never been exposed, and against which
they therefore had neither immune nor genetic
resistance. Smallpox, measles, inﬂuenza, and typhus
competed for top rank among the killers. ”

“ As if these had not been enough, diphtheria,
malaria, mumps, pertussis, plague, tuberculosis,
and yellow fever came up close behind. In
countless cases, whites were actually there to
witness the destruction occurring when the
germs arrived. ”

The rate of emergence for emerging infectious diseases has increased
dramatically over the last century, and research findings have implicated wildlife as
an importance source of novel pathogens. However, the role played by domestic
animals as amplifiers of pathogens emerging from the wild could also be
significant, influencing the human infectious disease transmission cycle.

MEASLES VIRUS
Domestication of Cow & Sheep’s
Rinderpest Virus
Measles VirusCows & Sheeps

“...Measles virus is most closely related to
the virus causing rinderpest. That nasty
epidemic disease affects cattle and many
wild cudchewing mammals, but not humans.
Measles in turn doesn't afﬂict cattle.”

“The close similarity of the measles virus to
the rinderpest virus suggests that the latter
transferred from cattle to humans and then
evolved into the measles virus by changing its
properties to adapt to us. ”

“That transfer is not at all surprising, considering
that many peasant farmers live and sleep close to
cows and their feces, urine, breath, sores, and
blood. Our intimacy with cattle has been going on
for ...years since we domesticated them—ample time
for the rinderpest virus to discover us nearby.”

SMALL POXS
Domestication of Camels
Camel Poxs
Small PoxsCamels

Camelpox virus (CMPV) and variola virus (VAR) are orthopoxviruses (OPVs) that
share several biological features and cause high mortality and morbidity in their
single host species. ...The relationship of CMPV to other OPVs was analysed by
comparisons of DNA and predicted protein sequences, repeats within the ITRs
and arrangement of ORFs within the terminal regions. ... Each comparison
gave the same conclusion: CMPV [camelpox virus] is the closest
known virus to variola virus, the cause of smallpox.

WHOOPING COUGH
Domestication of Pigs
Bordetella Pertussis
Whooping
Cough
Pigs

Pigs are a natural host to Bordetella bronchiseptica and under experimental
conditions can also be infected with B. pertussis and Bordetella parapertussis
[29, 30]. Infected piglets display a wide range of respiratory symptoms, including
fever, nasal discharge, nonparoxysmal coughing, and breathing diﬃculties
resulting in severe bronchopneumonia, which in some cases was combined with
a ﬁbrinous pleuritis. B. pertussis can be found within airways adhering to the
epithelial lining or phagocytosed by macrophages and neutrophils.

Nicole Guiso, in Molecular Medical Microbiology (Second Edition), 2015
Bordetella pertussis is the agent of whooping cough, a highly contagious respiratory
disease, dramatic for infants and also for elderly and pregnant women.

Valerie Waters, Scott A. Halperin, in Mandell, Douglas, and Bennett's
Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases (Eighth Edition), 2015
Bordetella pertussis is the pathogen that causes whooping cough or pertussis.4 It
is one of 10 known Bordetella species, namely, B. pertussis, B. parapertussis, B.
bronchiseptica, ovine-adapted B. parapertussis, B. avium, B. hinzii, B. holmesii,
B. trematum, B. petrii, and B. ansorpii. B. pertussis and B. parapertussis are the
most common Bordetella species causing respiratory illnesses in humans.

Valerie Waters, Scott A. Halperin, in Mandell, Douglas, and Bennett's
Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases (Eighth Edition), 2015
Although B. pertussis strictly aﬀects humans and has no known animal reservoir,8
many of the other Bordetella species are recognized primarily for the diseases they
cause in animals. B. bronchiseptica causes kennel cough in dogs and cats, and human
infections occur primarily in immunocompromised patients, often after exposure to
animals.9-11 Ovine-adapted B. parapertussis causes respiratory tract infections in
sheep.12 B. avium is a pathogen of poultry13 but has been isolated from the ear culture of
a patient with chronic otitis media.14 Similarly, B. hinzii also colonizes the respiratory
tract of poultry and has been isolated from the sputum of cystic ﬁbrosis patients.15

INFLUENZA FLU
Domestication of Ducks
Avian Influenza
(Bird Flu) H5N1
Influenza flu
Ducks

“The global nature of inﬂuenza and the aqueous
environment needed for virus spread are depicted by
the world viewed from space and its aqueous environs
(blue globe). Gulls and wild ducks are the natural host
of all known inﬂuenza A viruses.”
Microbial Threats to Health: Emergence, Detection, and Response by Mark S. Smolinski, Margaret A. Hamburg, and Joshua
Lederberg, Editors, Committee on Emerging Microbial Threats to Health in the 21st Century , page iX

“ During evolution these viruses adapted to
migratory birds that travel long distances and spread
virus by transmission to mammals (lines of migration and
interspecies spread). Pigs act as intermediate hosts with
receptors for avian and mammalian inﬂuenza viruses and
occasionally transmit the viruses to humans.”
Lederberg, Editors, Committee on Emerging Microbial Threats to Health in the 21st Century , page iX

TYPHOID
Domestication of Chickens
Typhoid Fever &
Typhoid Mary
Salmonella
typhi. (S. typhi)
Chickens

Salmonella

salmonella “bacterium that is widespread in the intestines

of birds, reptiles and mammals” “can spread to humans via

a variety of diﬀerent foods of animal origin” “fever, diarrhea

and abdominal cramps” “can invade the bloodstream and

cause life-threatening infections.”
--Gristle From Factory Farms to Food Safety (Thinking Twice About the Meat We Eat) Co-edited by Moby with Miyun Park, page 108

LEPROSY
Domestication of Buffaloes
Leprosy
Mycobacterium
lepre bubalorum
Water Buffalo

“Measles is thought to have come
from the virus that causes distemper in
dogs, leprosy from water buffalo, the
common cold from horses, and so on.”
-McMichael AJ. Human frontiers, environments and disease:
past patterns, uncertain futures. Cambridge, United Kingdom:
Cambridge University Press, 2001., page 102

LISTERIOSIS
EATING OF CONTAMINATED FOODS
Listeriosis
Listeria
monocytogenes
Contaminated
Foods

Listeriosis is a serious bacterial infection and is most commonly
caused by eating contaminated food such as unpasteurized dairy
products or ready-to-eat foods that have not been hygienically
packaged. Changing food habits and new technologies such as
refrigeration and vacuum packing of dairy, meat and ﬁsh products
are contributing factors in the emergence of listeriosis.

Listeria monocytogenes mainly occurs in soil, forage, water, mud,
livestock food and silage. Animal reservoirs include infected domestic
and wild mammals, fowl and humans. Animals can carry the bacterium
without appearing ill and can contaminate foods of animal origin such
as meat and dairy products. Unlike most other foodborne pathogens,
Listeria can multiply in refrigerated foods that are contaminated.

HCoV-229E
THIS COMMON COLD CAME FROM CAMELS
Common ColdHCoV-229E
Camel

There are four globally endemic human coronaviruses which, together with
the better known rhinoviruses, are responsible for causing common colds.
Usually, infections with these viruses are harmless to humans. DZIF Professor
Christian Drosten, Institute of Virology at the University Hospital of Bonn, and
his research team have now found the source of "HCoV-229E," one of the
four common cold coronaviruses -- it also originates from camels, just
like the dreaded MERS virus.

“Coronaviruses are the second-most
common cause of the common
cold.133 So far, we’ve discovered four
human cold coronaviruses, so that
makes seven coronaviruses in all
that can cause human disease. We
suspect we got SARS from civets,
MERS from camels, and COVID-19,
perhaps, from pangolins.”

“Where did we get the common
cold coronaviruses? The origin of
two of the four mild coronaviruses
remains a mystery, but one—
HCoV-229E—has been traced back
to camels134 and the other—HCoV-
OC43—to cattle or pigs.135”

Diseases and their Animals
• Pigs - Swine flue
• Apes - HIV/AIDS
• Bats - Coronaviruses
• Birds - Avian Flu
• Fish - Mercury
poisoning
• Mosquitoes -
Chikungunya

“Where do new infectious
diseases come from? All
human viral infections are
believed to originate in
animals.”

“Most and probably all of the distinctive
infectious diseases of civilization transferred
to human populations from animal herds.
Contacts were closest with the domesticated
species, so it is not surprising to find that
many of our common infectious diseases
have recognizable affinities with one or
another disease afflicting domesticated
animals.”
-Plagues and Peoples by William H. McNeill, page 83-84

“ Measles, for example, is probably
related to rinderpest and/or canine
distemper; smallpox is certainly
connected closely with cowpox and
with a cluster of other animal
infections; inﬂuenza is shared by
humans and hogs.”
-Plagues and Peoples by William H. McNeill, page 83-84

“Smallpox likely came from camelpox.
We domesticated pigs and got
whooping cough, and domesticated
ducks and got inﬂuenza. Before then,
no one likely ever got the ﬂu.”
-Gristle From Factory Farms to Food Safety (Thinking Twice
About the Meat We Eat) Co-edited by Moby with Miyun Park,
page 104

“Leprosy likely came from water buffalo;
the cold virus may have come from cattle.
Until domestication, the common cold
was only, presumably, common to them.”
--Gristle From Factory Farms to Food Safety (Thinking Twice
About the Meat We Eat) Co-edited by Moby with Miyun Park,
page 104

A 2009 article in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine states:
“Given the animal agriculture sector’s considerable role in
environmental degradation, zoonotic disease emergence, and chronic
disease promotion, reducing livestock production and promoting
healthy plant-based diets should be a global health priority.”
— “Health Professionals’ Roles in Animal Agriculture, Climate Change, and Human Health” , Aysha Z. Akhtar,
MD, MPH, Michael Greger, MD, Hope Ferdowsian, MD, Erica Frank, MD

MEAT EATINGDiseases
"The liability to take disease is increased tenfold
by meat eating." {CCh 229.3}
“The animals are diseased, and by partaking of their ﬂesh, we
plant the seeds of disease in our own tissue and blood. Then
when exposed to the changes in a malarious atmosphere, these
are more sensibly felt; also when we are exposed to prevailing
epidemics and contagious diseases, the system is not in a
condition to resist the disease." {CCh 229.4}

MEAT EATINGDiseases
"From the light God has given me, the prevalence of cancer
and tumors is largely due to gross living on dead ﬂesh." {CCh 229.5}
“The effects of a ﬂesh diet may not be immediately realized; but this is no
evidence that it is not harmful. Few can be made to believe that it is the meat
they have eaten which has poisoned their blood and caused their suffering.
Many die of diseases wholly due to meat eating, while the real cause is not
suspected by themselves or by others." {CCh 229.7}

--Global trends in emerging infectious diseases ,Kate E. Jones, Nikkita G. Patel, Marc A. Levy, Adam Storeygard, Deborah Balk,
John L. Gittleman & Peter Daszak ,Nature volume 451, pages 990–993(2008) https://www.nature.com/articles/nature06536
Vector- Borne Zoonotic Contamination
75%
Emerging Infectious
Diseases
22.8% 2.2%

Global trends in emerging infectious diseases
Nature. 2008 Feb 21;451(7181):990-993.
EID events (deﬁned as the temporal origin of an EID, represented by the original case
or cluster of cases that represents a disease emerging in the human population—see
Methods) are plotted with respect to a, pathogen type, b, transmission type, c, drug
resistance and d, transmission mode (see keys for details).

According to the executive editor of Meat Processing magazine, “Nearly every
food consumers buy in supermarkets and order in restaurants
can be eaten with certainty for its safety— except for meat and
poultry products.”
-Food Revolution, The: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Our World
John Robbins; Dean Ornish M. D.

Steve Bjerklie, Executive Editor of Meat Processing magazine, lamented, "Meat is a
lush medium for pathogenic bacteria and germs; it can harbor
parasites, toxic chemicals, and metal contaminants. And now it can
bring death by brain-rot.”

1. The Age of Animal
Domestication -“Lethal Gift
of Livestock”

2. The Industrial Age
(diseases of civilization)

3. The Age of emerging
plagues. -“the emergence (or
re-emergence) of zoonotic
diseases”

Medical Anthropologist

The Human Microbiome
“The human body contains trillions of
microorganisms — outnumbering human cells
by 10 to 1. Because of their small size, however,
microorganisms make up only about 1 to 3
percent of the body's mass (in a 200-pound
adult, that's 2 to 6 pounds of bacteria), but play
a vital role in human health.”
-NIH Human Microbiome Project defines normal bacterial makeup of the body
Genome sequencing creates first reference data for microbes living with healthy adults.
https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-human-microbiome-project-defines-
normal-bacterial-makeup-body

“Microbes live on us and within us and inhabit
virtually every available ecological niche of the external
environment, and they will expand into new-niches that
occur as we continue to alter the environment and extend
our contact with the microbial world. Most of the
microbes that live on or inside humans or exist in the
environment do not cause disease in humans.”
Lederberg, Editors, Committee on Emerging Microbial Threats to Health in the 21st Century , page 53-56

“These microbes may appear to be
unimportant. However, they are often crucial to
the human ecosystem. Moreover, microbes that
have heretofore not affected humans directly
may still represent a potent threat. .”

“Microbes that are pathogenic to the animals and plants on
which We depend for survival, for example, are an indirect
threat to human health. Other microbes live in apparent
harmony with animals but can be pathogenic for humans,
as evidenced by the number of emerging zoonotic diseases
that are transmitted to humans from animals.”

During the past decades, many previously unknown human
infectious diseases have emerged from animal reservoirs, from agents
such as human immunodeﬁciency virus (HIV), Ebola virus, West Nile
virus, Nipah virus and Hanta virus. In fact, more than three quarters
of the human diseases that are new, emerging or re-emerging at the
beginning of the 21st century are caused by pathogens originating
from animals or from products of animal origin.

A wide variety of animal species, domesticated, peridomesticated
and wild, can act as reservoirs for these pathogens, which may be
viruses, bacteria, parasites or prions. Considering the wide variety
of animal species involved and the often complex natural history of
the pathogens concerned, eﬀective surveillance, prevention and
control of zoonotic diseases pose a real challenge to public health.

“Moreover, many bacteria and viruses can sense
changes in the external environment, and depending on
what they sense, their genes can enable virtually instant
changes in the regulation of certain sets of other genes,
thus allowing the microbe to adapt to the new
environment.”

“Microbes have enormous
evolutionary potential and are
continually undergoing genetic
changes that allow them to
bypass the human immune
system, infect human cells, and
spread disease. ”

“RNA viruses, and retroviruses in particular, can mutate at
very high rates, allowing them to adapt rapidly to changes
in their external environment, including the presence of
therapeutic drugs. Because microbes reproduce so quickly
—as often as every 10 minutes— even very rare mutations
build up rapidly in viral and bacterial populations.”

MeaslesRubella
Tetanus
Polio
Hib
Pneumococcal Disease
Tetanus
VACCINES & INFECTIOUS DISEASES
WAS it vaccine That eradicated
these diseases. ?
Mumps
Chicken Pox Diphtheria

“Every unbiased Student of this subject knows
that efﬁcient sanitation and hygiene have been the
most effectual means for preventing and reducing
all diseases and promoting public health during
the last half century and that...”
-Horrors of vaccination exposed and illustrated, petition to the President to abolish compulsory
vaccination in army and navy by Higgins, Chas. M.(Charles Michael),b. 1854, page 174

“... as a matter of fact, no serious reduction of
smallpox or typhoid fever has been effected in
modern times except through general sanitation
and hygiene, with or without vaccination.”
-Horrors of vaccination exposed and illustrated, petition to the President to abolish compulsory
vaccination in army and navy by Higgins, Chas. M.(Charles Michael),b. 1854, page 174

Understanding Misconceptions about Our Origins
John H. Relethford. Pg. 211
50 Great Myths of Human Evolution
MYTH #41 The recent increase in life expectancy was due initially
to antibiotics
“Life expectancy at birth has increased dramatically
in some parts of the world and we are likely to live
longer than people did even a short time ago in
history. This rapid increase in life expectancy has
been in large part due to a reduction in infectious
disease. It is often assumed that medical
advances, such as antibiotics, are responsible for
these changes.”

to antibiotics
“Actually, infectious disease rates had declined
rapidly decades before the ﬁrst antibiotics were
developed.
The initial reduction in infectious disease was instead
due to public health measures, such as clean water
and adequate sanitation.”

to antibiotics
“During the nineteenth century, the death rates of
infectious disease were high, particularly during the
shift in population from rural to urban areas where
overcrowding, poor sanitation, inadequate waste
disposal, and contaminated water led to epidemics of
a number of infectious diseases.”

to antibiotics
“What then led to the beginning of the epidemiologic
transition? It was due to medical science, not in the
form of a speciﬁc type of medicine, but instead a
change in policies and engineering that resulted from
the application of a newly discovered principle of
medicine—the germ theory of infectious disease.”

to antibiotics
“Developed by Louis Pasteur and others, germ
theory showed that many diseases were caused by
microorganisms that could spread disease. Some
of these microorganisms spread through the air, some
through water, and some by direct transmission
from one person to the next.”

to antibiotics
“Knowledge of how disease spreads led to a number
of changes that led to a decline in infectious disease
at the end of the nineteenth century and continuing
into the twentieth century. Changes were introduced
following the establishment of public health
departments at local, state, and federal levels. These
agencies promoted actions to reduce the spread of
infectious diseases through improvement of
infrastructure.”

to antibiotics
“Two of the major changes in infrastructure were
providing for clean water and the development of
sewer systems, both of which cut back on the
transmission of infectious microorganisms. In addition,
new methods of waste disposal were introduced, laws
and regulations were passed regarding food safety,
and educational efforts were geared toward the
importance of proper hygiene.”

to antibiotics
“As a consequence of these (and other) changes,
infectious diseases declined quickly, leading to the
changes in life expectancy and death rates. Note
again that the major reductions in infectious disease
occurred before the widespread use of vaccinations
for a variety of diseases or the initial use of antibiotics.
These marvelous medical advances have helped to
continue to reduce the threat of infectious disease.”

to antibiotics
“The reduction in deaths due to infectious disease
during the twentieth century was particularly marked in
the very young (less than 5 years of age). The decline
in infectious disease deaths among infants and young
children explains the increase in average length of
life.”

to antibiotics
“Because life expectancy at birth is a statistic based
on the age distribution of those who died in a given
year, a large number of deaths of infants and young
children will lead to a lowering of the life expectancy of
a newborn child. When fewer infants and young
children die, the average newborn has a higher
probability of living longer, and life expectancy at birth
increases.”

to antibiotics
“Vaccines are used to protect against the
development of viral diseases and antibiotics are used
to counter bacterial diseases. It is therefore tempting
to suggest that the early twentieth‐ century reduction
in infectious disease was due to the development and
use of vaccines and antibiotics.”

to antibiotics
“Although these drugs have been quite useful in
continuing our battle against infectious disease, they
were not responsible for the initial reduction of
infectious disease during the epidemiologic transition.”

to antibiotics
“Vaccines are now available for a number of
infectious diseases, but the early use of vaccines was
more limited. Edward Jenner developed the smallpox
vaccine in
the late 1790s and its international use led to the
eradication of smallpox worldwide by 1977.”

John H. Relethford. Pg. 214-215
to antibiotics
“However, the bulk of vaccines that we have today,
including vaccines for ﬂu, measles, mumps, and other
diseases were developed after the middle of the
twentieth century, after the reduction in infectious
disease deaths had already started. .”

John H. Relethford. Pg.215
to antibiotics
“What about antibiotics? The ﬁrst antibiotic to be
used on humans was penicillin, discovered in 1928
and ﬁrst used to treat an infection in1942. This
occurred long after the start of the reduction in
deaths due to infectious disease, which was well
under way by the beginning of the twentieth century.”

John H. Relethford. Pg.215
to antibiotics
“Although vaccines and antibiotics have helped us
continue to lower infectious disease, they
were not responsible for the ﬁrst
reductions in infectious disease.”

to antibiotics
“There is a danger in assuming that infectious
diseases will naturally continue to decline even in
the more economically developed nations because the
microorganisms that cause infectious disease
continue to evolve. Bacteria and viruses mutate, and
changing environmental conditions can select for new
strains of diseases.”

to antibiotics
“A number of infectious diseases that are found in
other animals can continue to adapt to human hosts.
Given how human populations are all interconnected
globally, new diseases often have the potential to
spread across wide areas, particularly in this age of
rapid
air transport around the world. Infectious disease has
not been conquered and rates can go up when
conditions change...”

“Persistent poverty in the least-developed countries will
create conditions that sustain reservoirs of infectious
diseases. The good news is that infectious diseases can be
easily prevented through simple and inexpensive methods.”

“Increasing urbanization and the growth of urban slums
that lack sanitation and clean water, provide fertile ground
for infections. Many cities and townships in the developing
world expands at the expense of pristine land, thereby
disturbing natural habitats and bringing humans into more
intimate contact with unknown and possibly dangerous
microorganisms.”

“Human forays into virgin areas of the African equatorial
forests have brought us into contact with the Ebola virus,
although its real origin has not yet been identiﬁed.”

“When humans live in close contact with animals,
pathogens are sometimes able to change hosts and infect
humans. The new host—in this case, a human—is often not
as adapted to these zoonotic diseases as the original host.”

“The past outbreaks of avian inﬂuenza, severe acute
respiratory syndrome (SARS), hantavirus, Nipah virus and
the HIV epidemic were all due to pathogens that were
normally found in animals, but which subsequently found a
new, susceptible host in humans.”

“ Moreover, the misuse and overuse of antibiotics
is eroding our ability to control even common
infections. Many bacteria have become resistant to
even the most powerful antibiotics or combinations
of antibiotics; similarly, the once ﬁrst-line drugs
against malaria are now almost useless.”

“Anthropogenic factors such as agricultural expansion and
intensiﬁcation to meet the increasing demand for animal protein,
global travel, trade in domestic or exotic animals, urbanization,
and habitat destruction comprise some of the major drivers

of zoonotic disease emergence.”

—World Health Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations, and World Organization for Animal Health (WHO/FAO/ OIE). 2004.
Report of the WHO/FAO/OIE joint consultation on emerging zoonotic
diseases.

“. . . most human [zoonoses] infections are acquired from the
world’s 24 billion livestock . . . [and] exploding global demand for
livestock products means the problem is likely to get worse.”
-(REUTERS)Diseases from animals hit over two billion people a year by Kate
Kelland

In 2012, the human population reached 7 billion and the production
animal population around 24 billion (FAOSTAT, 2012). Global livestock
systems have been recently re-mapped (Robinson et al., 2011). Poultry and
pigs increasingly dominate in terms of number of animals kept (although
in terms of tropical livestock units ruminants are more important):
85% of all domestic animals alive are now pigs or poultry.

As disease transmission is dependent on numbers and contact rates,
and monogastrics are kept in higher numbers and more intensive
systems, monogastrics may become more important in disease
emergence.

“LONDON (Reuters) - A global study mapping human
diseases that come from animals like tuberculosis, AIDS, bird
ﬂu or Rift Valley fever has found that just 13 such diseases
are responsible for 2.4 billion cases of human illness and 2.2
million deaths a year.”
-(REUTERS)Diseases from animals hit over two billion people a year by
Kate Kelland

“The vast majority of infections and deaths from so-called
zoonotic diseases are in poor or middle-income countries, but
“hotspots” are also cropping up in the United States and Europe
where diseases are newly infecting humans, becoming
particularly virulent, or are developing drug resistance. And
exploding global demand for livestock products means the
problem is likely to get worse, researchers said.”
-(REUTERS)Diseases from animals hit over two billion people a yearKate Kelland
•

“While zoonoses can be transmitted to people by either wild or
domesticated animals, most human infections are acquired from
the world’s 24 billion livestock, including pigs, poultry, cattle,
goats, sheep and camels.”
-(REUTERS)Diseases from animals hit over two billion people a year by Kate
Kelland

“The study initially looked at 56 zoonoses that together
are responsible for around 2.5 billion cases of human illness
and 2.7 million human deaths per year.”
-(REUTERS)Diseases from animals hit over two billion people a year by
Kate Kelland
•

According to the executive editor of Meat Processing magazine,
“Nearly every food consumers buy in supermarkets and
order in restaurants can be eaten with certainty for its
safety— except for meat and poultry products.”

The History of Infectious Diseases: How Domestication Spread Disease

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The History of Infectious Diseases: How Domestication Spread Disease