Risk of Recurrent Zoonotic Pandemic due to increasing Human-Animal Interface

Abstract

In recent decades, we have noticed globally increasing human-animal interface and emergence of novel viral diseases such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), avian influenza A/H7N9, H5N1, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS); Nipah virus disease; Ebola hemorrhagic fever, Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 pandemic and the current COVID-19 pandemic. Zoonotic origin of large-scale outbreak was documented in SARS in 2002. SARS started in the Guangdong province of China, and with time, it spread over 29 countries, affecting 8422 cases and causing 916 deaths. SARS-Cov was documented in Himalayan palm civets and Raccoon dogs. Rapid identification and segregation of the intermediate amplifying hosts from humans led to successful containment of this outbreak, and finally, the pandemic ended within seven months of its origin.