Zoonoses and Zoonotic Disease

Today at bloggby science and politics, I wanted to do a brief overview of zoonoses. This term has come to be more widely known in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it is still not in most people’s everyday vocabulary.

The most basic definition of a zoonose is a germ that spreads between humans and animals, and a zoonotic disease is a disease caused by a zoonose. Many diseases are zoonotic - not just coronaviruses, but also ebola, lyme disease, and many more.

Why should we care about zoonoses? Besides the fact that they can cause some pretty severe diseases, climate change may also make them more of a concern. As more of the world experiences warmer temperatures, animals linked to zoonoses may be able to expand their range. Habitat destruction and loss resulting from climate change could have a similar effect (more info here, here, and here).

Ultimately, zoonotic disease is just one of many examples of why we need to be conscious of how the world around us is truly impacted by everything we do.