Regardless of how the COVID-19 pandemic began, it’s clear that deadly diseases can spread from animals to humans — and New report from Harvard Law School and New York University The study finds we’re not doing enough to prevent another animal-borne virus from becoming the next global pandemic.
The study examined common forms of animal-human interaction in 15 countries, including the United States. Dozens of examples found Where viruses can jump, researchers argue That Simple Policy Change The risk of such disease crossover can be dramatically reduced.
Ann Linder, lead author of the report, said that to date much of the focus has been on limiting the damage that pathogens cause after they spill over from animals to humans, as happened with Ebola in 2014, SARS-CoV-2 in late 2019 and bird flu.
But germs are incredibly small — 10,000 times smaller than the head of a pin, he said — and can be highly contagious. “By the time you realize something is going on, the outbreak has progressed past the point where it can be stopped.”
Instead, said Linder, associate director of policy and research at the Animal Law and Policy Program at Harvard Law School, “We really need to shift our mindset and our focus to preventive policy. We can’t prevent these outbreaks after the fact.”
That’s why he and his colleagues have spent the past four years looking for vulnerable spots, areas of animal-human contact where viruses could potentially jump from one to another. Unfortunately, they found plenty of those spots.
In the United States alone, the report points to the exotic pet trade, live animal markets, bat guano harvesting, guinea pig and ferret rearing, coyote and fox urine production, roadside zoos, animal fighting, fur farming, commercial farming, and many other potentially dangerous venues.
“This is a global problem,” said Dr. W. Ian Lipkin, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, who was not involved in the research.
Lipkin has long called for the closure of wet markets like the one in Wuhan, China, where COVID-19 may have originated, and for scientists to follow more stringent safety procedures in research labs, like the one in Wuhan, where some believe the virus that causes COVID-19 may have begun. “Finger-pointing is not productive,” he said.
So-called zoonotic diseases have always existed — smallpox, HIV/AIDS and last year’s monkeypox outbreak are additional examples — but researchers believe they are becoming more common as contact between humans and animals increases with climate change, urban expansion, global travel and other changes.
“The general understanding is that the more frequently such contacts occur, the greater the risk of disease transmission,” said Suresh Kuchipudi, chairman of infectious diseases and microbiology at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Public Health.
The report highlights that these problems don’t just occur in far-flung countries, said Kuchipudi, who was not involved in the study but reviewed it as an independent scholar. “We always think this must be happening in some other part of the world,” he said. “Similar activities happen in our backyard as well. Whatever the geographic and cultural practice, the risk exists.”
Resistance from industry
Linder said his biggest concern is with industries that are “poorly regulated or not regulated at all.”
The report calls for the U.S. mink industry to be better regulated or eliminated because it poses a threat to human health and its products are an unnecessary luxury.
It is no surprise that the mink industry disagrees with the conclusion that its industry is unsafe.
Mink farmers are careful custodians of both public and animal health, said Challis Hobbs, executive director of Fur Commission USA, the organization that represents U.S. mink farmers. Mink are sold through auction houses and must be certified and adhere to biosafety standards to go to market, he said via email.
Hobbs said that during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, American mink farmers, at their own expense, helped develop and distribute a vaccine to protect mink from the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
In the U.S., mink farms long participated in weekly testing for the SARS-CoV-2 virus and are now tested sporadically, Hobbs said.
“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 diseases,” he said. “We adhere to the same rigorous animal welfare and biosecurity standards as other livestock industries.”
Simple changes can make a big difference
Lipkin described a research trip to Saudi Arabia to study the transmission of the virus. Middle East Respiratory SyndromeKnown as MERS, it is a similar virus to the SARS that was first identified in 2012.
MERS was thought to be transmitted through camels, but no one understood how people were getting infected with the disease in large cities like Riyadh, even though there were no camels in the area.
Lipkin visited two slaughterhouses. According to tradition, at sunset, each slaughterhouse slaughtered camels, then cows, and then sheep. At one slaughterhouse, butchers used high-pressure hoses to clean the animals’ meat before shrink-wrapping it for sale; at the other, they did not take this step.
Lipkin found that beef and lamb had very high levels of viral material in areas where tubes were not used, and no viral material in areas where tubes were used.
Lipkin said he’s concerned about the overuse of antibiotics in animal agriculture, which increases the risk that these essential drugs won’t work when people need them.
Inexpensive genetic analysis can now be used to quickly test wild or farmed animals to see what germs they carry that could pose a risk to humans, he said. People who work closely with animals could also have their blood tested to see if they have antibodies that indicate they have previously been infected with an animal-borne virus.
Policy changes to reduce risk
The report proposes certain policy changes across all 15 countries, spanning Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Australia. These include better regulation and monitoring of animal markets and their supply chains; better public health protections in the livestock industry, wildlife trade and wildlife farming industries; and policies to support sustainable agricultural practices.
Kuchipudi said it is a matter of balance between food security, economy and the health of animals and people.
“Can we stop all operations involving animals?” No, he said. “That is not a solution and not a fair one.”
But Kuchipudi said the dangers can be minimised, especially if people are made aware of them through reports such as this one.
He also said that the known risks should be reduced through pasteurising all milk and milk products, processing animals carefully, and either avoiding petting zoos or ensuring that children wash their hands thoroughly after touching animals and do not kiss them.
Kuchipudi said such precautions are important for animals too. He reminded that many pets have contracted Covid-19 from their human families.
“We really need to understand that by protecting our animals, we protect our own health. And vice versa,” he said. “By protecting our environment, we are also protecting human health and animal health. They are almost inseparable.”
A group called Mercy for Animals, an international non-profit animal protection organization, also supports the concept, which is called ‘The Animals for Animals’. One Health,
Mercy For Animals has launched a campaign against the use of “fallen pigs” – pigs so sick, weak or injured they are unable to move on their own – in the food supply.
“Introducing such sick pigs into the food supply and exposing workers to them poses unnecessary risks to human health,” said Francis Chrzan, the organization’s senior federal policy manager.
For example, many public officials are concerned that pigs will catch bird flu that spreads in poultry flocks and dairy farms. Pigs are known to be mixing carriers for influenza, which could cause it to change from being just an animal virus to infecting people as well, as happened in the 2009 swine flu pandemic, said Dr. Walter Sanchez-Suarez, a veterinarian and animal welfare scientist at Mercy for Animals.
“It’s very concerning to know that this (bird flu) virus is everywhere and they’re providing ideal conditions for this zoonotic spillover event to occur,” he said.
Karen Weintraub can be reached at kweintraub@usatoday.com.
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