Zoonosis (plural zoonoses or zoonotic diseases) are the diseases which are caused by bacteria, virus and other parasites making transmission in human via animals.
There are several routes of transmission by which this epidemic threat happens:
1. Direct contact
2. Indirect contact
3. Vector-borne
4. Food-borne
Spread Of Zoonotic Disease:
The spread of virus, bacteria and other zoonotic parasites is much more than what we discover. This is because only some causal organisms actually lead to clinical symptoms. Hence, diagnosis and global transmission among the human population may be without a diagnosis because there is no clinical sign and symptoms.
Novel Coronavirus:
The most recent case is that of the Coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan city, China. The zoonotic disease has respiratory illness as a common symptom, and the virus responsible for this is novel Coronavirus 2019-nCoV. The epidemiological link of this virus is to human seafood wholesale market.
This is a new type of coronavirus, and the genetic sequence analysis shows 70% resemblance of this virus to SARS-CoV (Serve Acute Respiratory Syndrome). And this has been named ‘2019-nCoV‘ by WHO.
It is an RNA virus having an inherent feature of high mutation. Although the mutation rate in the virus is still less than other coronaviruses. If such a mutation happens, it may lead to efficient transmission, and possibly, the virus will become more virulent.
The fatality rate due to 2019-nCoV keeps on increasing as it is now spreading to other parts of the world. The presence of nCoV is also reported in Thailand, Japan, Korea, USA, Vietnam and Singapore so far. The Indian government is also taking an initiative to prevent this virus from reaching our country.
Some Factors Responsible For Zoonotic Disease:
1. International travel and commerce
2. Sea-food (and raw- food)
3. Climate change
4. Microbial adaptation
Preventive Measure:
1. Self-sanitation and awareness
2. Timely dumping-off of garbage
3. Avoid eating raw food (animal)
4. Vaccination
5. Therapeutic products
Some Other Zoonotic Diseases:
SARS is a zoonosis caused by SARS-CoV, first emerged in China in 2002.
MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) is another lethal zoonotic disease whose infection is spread through contact with a camel.
HIV-AIDs is also a zoonotic disease initially, which, after mutation, becomes more efficient and spreads by direct contact between humans.
Conclusion:
The Chinese health authorities have done a great job by investigating the causal organism, it’s possible spread and examining people who suffer more from it, etc. This is not just a concern for China, this is a global concern. If the geographical trajectory of the spread of this virus increases the harm will also increase.
So, there is a need to organise educational campaigns to create awareness among people about the virus, and we have to take all preventive measure. There are many other important questions related to this virus, which are still unanswered like the time it requires to infect humans, the rate of dissemination and the discovery of promising drugs, monoclonal and polyclonal antibody product and therapeutics toward its immunological drugs.