Regardless of how the COVID-19 pandemic began, it is clear that deadly diseases can jump from animals to humans. A new report from Harvard Law School and New York University Measures to prevent new animal-borne viruses from causing a global pandemic have been found to be inadequate.
The study looked at common interactions between animals and humans in 15 countries, including the United States. Dozens of examples were found Where viruses can jump. The researchers A simple policy change This can dramatically reduce the risk of cross-contamination.
Ann Linder, the report’s lead author, said too much emphasis has been placed on containing the damage after pathogens have already started to jump from animals to humans and spread among them, as was the case with Ebola in 2014, SARS-CoV-2 in late 2019 and avian influenza.
But the pathogen is incredibly tiny — 10,000 times smaller than the head of a pin — and can be highly contagious, she said. “By the time you realize something is going on, it may have metastasized beyond what can be contained.”
“Instead, we need to change our thinking and focus on prevention policies — we can’t chase these outbreaks after the fact,” said Linder, associate director of policy and research at Harvard Law School’s Animal Law and Policy Program.
So she and her colleagues have spent the past four years searching for weak spots, or weak points, in animal-human interactions where the virus could spread.Unfortunately, they’ve found many such weak spots.
In the United States alone, the report warns of exotic pet trade, live animal markets, bat feces collection, guinea pig and ferret farming, coyote and fox urine production, roadside zoos, animal fighting, fur farming, commercial agriculture, and many other potentially dangerous environments.
“This is a global problem,” said Dr. W. Ian Lipkin, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, who was not involved in the study.
Lipkin has previously called for the closure of wet markets like the one in Wuhan, China, where COVID-19 is believed to have originated, and for stricter safety procedures to be followed at the scientific research facility, also in Wuhan, where the virus that causes COVID-19 is believed to have originated. “Blame shifting is not productive,” he said.
So-called zoonotic diseases have existed for a long time — smallpox, HIV/AIDS and last year’s monkeypox epidemic are examples — but researchers believe they are becoming more common as climate change, urban growth, global travel and other changes increase contact between humans and animals.
“The general consensus is that the more frequent these interactions are, the greater the risk of disease transmission,” said Suresh Kuchipudi, chair of the infectious diseases and microbiology department at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health.
The report points out that these problems don’t just occur in far-flung places, said Kuchipudi, who was not involved in the study but conducted it as an independent scholar. “We always assume that it must be happening somewhere else in the world,” he said. “Similar activities are happening right next to us. The risks are there regardless of geography or cultural mores.”
Industry backlash
Linder cited “poorly regulated or not regulated at all” industries as his biggest concern.
The report states that the U.S. mink industry poses risks to human health and its products are an unnecessary luxury item, making it an industry that should be more tightly regulated or eliminated.
Unsurprisingly, the mink industry does not agree with the findings that its industry is unsafe.
Charisse Hobbs, executive director of the U.S. Fur Board, a group that represents mink farmers in the U.S., said mink farmers pay close attention to both public and animal health. Minks are sold through auction houses and must be certified and follow biosecurity standards to go to market, she said in an email.
Hobbs noted that during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, American mink farmers helped, at their own expense, develop and provide a vaccine to protect mink from infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Hobbs said mink farms in the U.S. have long participated in weekly testing for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, but are now testing sporadically.
“We continue to work closely with federal, state and local agencies to take all necessary precautions to protect humans and wildlife and prevent the spread of disease,” he said. “We adhere to strict animal welfare and biosecurity standards, just like other livestock operations.”
Simple changes can make a big difference
Lipkin spoke about a research trip to Saudi Arabia to study infectious diseases. Middle East Respiratory SyndromeIt is a SARS-like virus that was first identified in 2012 and is also known as MERS.
MERS was thought to be transmitted by camels, but no one understood how people in a big city like Riyadh could have contracted the disease when there were no camels in the area.
Lipkin visited two slaughterhouses, where, as per tradition, each slaughters a camel, then a cow, then a sheep, as the sun sets. At one slaughterhouse, butchers use high-pressure hoses to clean the animals’ meat before shrink-wrapping it for sale, but at the other, this step was not followed.
Lipkin found extremely high levels of viral material in beef and lamb where hoses were not used, but no viral material where hoses were used.
Lipkin said he remains concerned about the overuse of antibiotics in the livestock industry, increasing the risk that these essential medicines won’t work when people need them.
Cheap genetic testing now makes it possible to rapidly test wild and farmed animals for pathogens that could pose a risk to humans, he said. People who work closely with animals can also have their blood tested to see if they have antibodies that would indicate they’ve previously been infected with an animal-borne virus.
Policy changes to mitigate risks
The report recommends several policy changes in 15 countries across Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Australia, including greater regulation and oversight of animal markets and their supply chains, improved public health protections across the livestock, wildlife trade and wildlife farming industries, and policies that support sustainable agricultural practices.
Kuchipudi said it was a matter of balance between food security, economy and animal and human health.
“Can we stop keeping animals altogether?” he says. “That’s not the solution, that’s not the right thing to do.”
But Kuchipudi said the risks could be mitigated if people were made aware of them, especially through reports like this one.
He also said people should take steps to reduce known risks, such as pasteurizing all milk and dairy products, treating animals carefully, avoiding petting zoos or ensuring children wash their hands thoroughly after handling animals and avoiding kissing them.
Kuchipudi recalled that many pets contracted COVID-19 from their human family members, and said such precautions were important for animals too.
“We really need to realize that by protecting animals, we are protecting our own health, and vice versa,” he said. “By protecting the environment, we are protecting human health and animal health. The two are almost inextricably linked.”
Mercy for Animals, an international non-profit animal protection organization, also supports the concept. One Health.
Mercy for Animals has launched a campaign against the use of “fallen pigs” – pigs who are too sick, weak or injured to walk on their own – in the food supply.
Putting these sick pigs into the food supply and exposing workers to them poses unnecessary risks to human health, said Francis Cruzan, the organization’s senior federal policy manager.
For example, many public officials worry that avian flu, which is circulating in chicken and dairy farms, could infect pigs, which are known vectors for influenza, and that it could morph from an animal-only virus into one that can infect humans, as happened with the 2009 swine flu pandemic, said Dr. Walter Sanchez Suarez, a veterinarian and animal welfare scientist at Mercy for Animals.
“It’s like a ticking time bomb that this (avian flu) virus is everywhere and that we have perfect conditions for a zoonotic spillover to actually occur,” he said.
Karen Weintraub can be reached at kweintraub@usatoday.com.
