Scientists look for Animal Zero to prevent the next pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic, now rampant around the world, began with a simple animal virus. Such viruses can jump from animals to humans and are called zoonotic viruses. They explain 75% Of all the emerging diseases that people are working on today, protecting public health is one of the most important areas of research.

Epidemiologist Christine Kruder Johnson knows that viruses carried by wildlife in seemingly far corners of the world can threaten human health worldwide. She is the Deputy Director of the One Health Institute at the University of California, Davis, studying how animal viruses “spill” into human populations. “One health”Is a framework for thinking about how human, animal health and our shared environment are all related.

Johnson is new Research This, along with human-adapted wildlife that invades habitats such as bats and rodents, along with the majority of the viruses that have caused domesticated animals to afflict humans after being derived from previously studied animals. Was found to be the cause. These results are evidence that the effects of humans on animals can have serious consequences for our own well-being.

The study was funded through the USAID Emerging Pandemic Threat Predict program. Since 2009, the program has collected more than 140,000 biological samples from animals and has identified more than 1,200 viruses, including more than 140 new coronaviruses. Over the next few months, we will look through the samples to see if new coronaviruses have jumped from animals to humans sooner than we suspect, as they are often overlooked before an outbreak occurs.

brink We talked to Johnson about Johnson’s crisis of COVID-19 today and what can be done to prevent such a pandemic in the future.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

What is a zoonotic virus? What makes them particularly dangerous?

Some are not dangerous. Many are circulating and they are endemic worldwide. They burden people with animal contact, especially livestock breeders.

But the new coronavirus has jumped from animals to humans And I was able to spread from person to person. All humans are susceptible because it comes from animals.

How do scientists study or monitor these viruses in wildlife?

Very carefully. I’m very honored to work with my colleagues from African, Asian and Latin American countries as part of the Predict project, so I can speak here heartily. In most cases, they are wildlife veterinarians, and they are among the best ambassadors for how to work safely, effectively, and especially ethically with wildlife. Care must be taken not to increase the risk of illness.

As part of the Predict project, everyone agreed that there was basically no ecological footprint. We capture animals, take animal samples and return them immediately. Take a cotton swab. Blood samples are also collected to look for other viruses. But swabs are the best way to do it against coronavirus. And we will do so in a completely biosafe manner. These are our pictures on PPE in a white Tyvek suit with mask and shield. In this way, sampling was performed to ensure that the healthcare professional was not at risk. It can also give animals things. Therefore, we need to make sure that balance is not so confused.

How does this zoonotic disease spread to people?

Share habitats that you did not previously share. In doing so, we basically have the opportunity for animals to interact with animals by living near human communities. Many of these viruses can be shared through stool, urine, or contact with other methods if these animals share a landscape.

It is very important to consider how our actions are changing their numbers. When these animals are disrupted in their habitat, they have good evidence of disease ecology that they need to avoid an actually increased epidemic in their own population. Currently, as the pandemic progresses, people are being evacuated to the right place and are required to wait. It is clear to everyone that as we move around, these communicable diseases are more likely to begin. The same disease dynamics occur in wildlife. When wildlife must be hunted or habitats destroyed and moved, the dynamics of the disease actually increase, increasing the likelihood of epidemics in both animal and human populations.

In the market environment, wildlife species, bats, carnivores, and ungulates are very different. [hoofed mammals]. These different types of animals are all together and alive, so they can share the virus. This tendency for viruses to jump species is a very rare and difficult ability, but naturally mutating viruses offer the opportunity to have these other species nearby. They share respiratory droplets or have contamination from urine or feces. In these close environments, where animals are dense, it is increasingly likely that one of these mutations will begin. And, of course, there are often humans in the same situation. In many cases, their numbers are so large that the way a virus jumps over a host is such a perfect epidemiological situation.

How can you minimize the risk of a pandemic as you see today?

There is a lot to do to regulate wildlife trade and wildlife trade. But I think we can provide more information on how to live more safely with wildlife.

We need to think of wildlife health as a sort of this last frontier. Of course, we have invested heavily in human health, but that is, of course, necessary. And they made a significant investment in domestic animal health for domesticated species and food safety. Those are our pets. However, wildlife health was certainly a last resort from the government, with relatively few people working in the field and often low investment. We have learned a lot, but there is much more to learn.

How does the health of animals and their environment relate to human health?

There was a bit of a paradigm shift in the health profession where we began to realize that animal and human health were fully linked. We are concerned with ensuring that animal and human disease monitoring is more closely linked, reporting findings to each other, and ensuring that all of us are well informed. , Started many good policies. But a little behind is the idea that our health, and certainly the health of animals, especially wildlife, also depends heavily on environmental health and ecosystem integrity.

There are many areas that have public health and environmental protection and are merging into one conversation to understand the risk of illness. this is One health The approach really makes sense and shows that animal health and human health are closely and closely interconnected. And we also need to consider whether environmental health is at the heart of both. Public health is really a matter of environmental health.