Editorial

Bridging the Gap: Exploring the Connection between Animal

and Human Health
Aditya Kumar Sharma 1, * , Neha Dhasmana 2 and Gunjan Arora 3, *

1 Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612, USA
2 School of Medicine, New York University, New York, NY 10016, USA; [email protected]
3 Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine,
New Haven, CT 06520, USA
* Correspondence: [email protected] (A.K.S.); [email protected] (G.A.)

Zoonotic diseases, also referred to as zoonoses, are diseases that are transmitted from
animals to humans. The primary agents responsible for zoonotic diseases include diverse
pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites. There are various ways that these
zoonotic diseases can spread, including direct contact with infected animals, which can
occur through contact with the animal’s blood, saliva, urine, feces, or other bodily fluids;
the consumption of animal products that are not adequately cooked or handled; vector-
borne transmission to humans by vectors that have previously fed on infected animals; and
exposure to a contaminated environment, such as soil or water.
Zoonotic diseases are classified according to their etiology, transmission cycle, reservoir
hosts, pathogenesis, and primary human symptoms. Furthermore, some zoonotic infections
require vectors for transmission [1,2]. As per one estimate, out of 1415 species of infectious
agent that are considered pathogenic to humans, 61% were zoonotic and 12% were classified
as emerging pathogens, and 75% of those emerging pathogens were zoonotic [3]. Zoonotic
diseases that have affected humans include ebola, COVID-19, Lyme disease, anthrax,
bovine tuberculosis, zoonotic malaria, yellow fever, swine flu, avian influenza, rabies and
monkeypox (Mpox). Ebola is a rare but deadly disease that can cause hemorrhagic fever
and is transmitted to humans through infected fruit bats and primates [4]. Anthrax is a
zoonotic disease that can spread to humans through contact with infected animals or animal
Citation: Sharma, A.K.; Dhasmana, products, including livestock and wild animals [5–10]. Similarly, bovine tuberculosis can
N.; Arora, G. Bridging the Gap: infect many animal species as well as humans. Additionally, the causative pathogen for
Exploring the Connection between bovine tuberculosis (M. bovis) is part of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, including
Animal and Human Health. Zoonotic M. tb, a human tuberculosis pathogen [11]. SARS-CoV-2 virus, which is suspected to have
Dis. 2023, 3, 176–178. https:// originated in bats and might have spread to humans via an intermediate host, causes
doi.org/10.3390/zoonoticdis3020014 COVID-19 disease [12,13]. COVID-19 has recently substantially impacted human health,
Received: 25 April 2023 with more than 750 million confirmed cases and nearly 7 million fatalities worldwide
Revised: 22 May 2023 reported to date [14]. In addition, the economic costs of the pandemic have been substantial,
Accepted: 24 May 2023 including job losses, business closures, and increased spending on healthcare and stimulus
Published: 28 May 2023 measures [15,16]. Other zoonotic diseases have also significantly impacted human health.
Smallpox has killed more than 300 million people in the 20th century alone, a prime
example of a zoonotic disease impacting human health [17].
Lyme disease, an emerging healthcare threat in North America and Europe, is caused
Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. by a spirochete of Borrelia species [18–21]. It is transmitted to humans by the bite of
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. infected black-legged ticks fed on infected animals, namely, deer [19]. Other tick-borne
This article is an open access article diseases in humans include relapsing fever, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, epidemic
distributed under the terms and
typhus, anaplasmosis, ehrlichiosis, Tick-borne encephalitis, Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic
conditions of the Creative Commons
fever, and Powassan virus disease [22–25]. Another emerging zoonotic disease is Mpox
Attribution (CC BY) license (https://
(monkeypox). It causes symptoms similar to but milder than smallpox. There is no available
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
treatment specifically for Mpox, but supportive care can be useful [26,27]. Overall, the
4.0/).

Zoonotic Dis. 2023, 3, 176–178. https://doi.org/10.3390/zoonoticdis3020014 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/zoonoticdis

Zoonotic Dis. 2023, 3 177

impact of zoonotic diseases on animal and human health and the economy can be significant.
Zoonotic diseases are estimated to cause 2.5 billion human illnesses and 2.7 million human
deaths annually, with annual economic losses running into billions of dollars [28,29].
There are several challenges in controlling zoonotic infections that negatively impact
human health. Since new pathogens keep emerging as zoonotic infections, many zoonotic
diseases do not have available effective countermeasures such as drugs and vaccines.
For instance, supportive care is the only treatment option for many zoonotic diseases,
including HPS (hantavirus pulmonary syndrome) and MERS [4,30]. Zoonotic diseases
involve multiple hosts and modes of transmission, for example, avian influenza can infect
wild and domestic birds as well as humans [31]. The involvement of multiple hosts makes
the transmission of zoonotic disease complex. Moreover, zoonotic diseases can occur
in many regions of the world with limited surveillance and monitoring, which makes
it challenging to detect the outbreaks and implement timely control measures. Finally,
the lack of funding, personnel, and infrastructure restrict the effective implementation of
control measures. These challenges highlight the importance of investing in research and
resources for the timely prevention of emerging zoonotic diseases. The recent COVID-
19 pandemic raised the public awareness of the danger posed by zoonotic diseases and
accelerated the development of novel therapeutics, vaccines, and diagnostics tests. A
notable example includes the rapid commercialization of RNA vaccines for COVID-19
developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. This progress made in vaccine development
has paved the way for vaccine development for other emerging diseases.
To tackle these hurdles, a multifaceted approach involving increased investment in
research, the development of drugs and vaccines, enhanced surveillance systems, and
effective public health interventions is of paramount importance. Moreover, it also necessi-
tates the adoption of a One Health strategy, which acknowledges the connection between
human, animal, and environmental health and involves collaboration across sectors and
disciplines to control the spread of zoonotic diseases [32]. Additionally, similar platforms,
namely, ZOVER, need to be used with the genomic data of potential reservoir species to
monitor zoonotic diseases [33]. In this Special Issue of Zoonoses, we invite studies related to
the basic, translational, clinical, and epidemiological aspects of zoonotic diseases.

Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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