Wildlife and emerging zoonoses: not a real problem
Dr. Jim van Steenbergen
The public is afraid of any emerging infectious disease: it’s contagious, it’s unpredictable and it’s deadly. The truth is, however, that for disease burden, as measured by morbidity and mortality, infectious diseases are not a true public health problem in the rich industrialized western world. If infectious diseases are not a true public health problem, emerging infectious diseases are less of a public health problem, and an even further selection, emerging zoonoses are not a real problem at all.
As we are participating in the European Wildlife Disease Association’s discussion, it is appropriate to focus on Europe. There, the real killers are lifestyle diseases and other unpleasant aspects of modern life: road traffic accidents and suicides. In comparison with cancers, cardiovascular diseases and other serious killers, infectious diseases as a whole are not a problem. If all infectious diseases are grouped together they make a good third place in mortality. A major contribution to overall infectious disease mortality is the (pneumococcus) pneumonia of the elderly.
As you might know, in The Netherlands we have faced a large zoonotic epidemic: Q fever from 2007-2009. In 2009, the “hottest” year, 2317 cases were reported. In the Netherlands annually 120.000 persons are diagnosed with pneumonia. This biggest Q fever epidemic ever recorded in history caused less than 2% of our annual pneumonia disease burden. Once you are working in infectious disease control, you argue with policy makers that infectious diseases might not be a real public health problem at present (under control by sanitation, ample safe water and food, vaccination programs) but they might become a real public health problem in the immediate future. Indeed, there is a constant threat of emerging infections. This threat is a possible imminent public health problem, not a real problem at present. Real problems should be solved first, before spending time and money on possible problems that might arise in the future.
Of course, governments in the rich industrialized world have the responsibility to prepare the health care system of their countries for early detection of threats (either from inside or outside their country), and preferably -if possible- also to prevent the (re)emergence of diseases, regardless of their origin.
If we agree that a well developed society should not only look into real problems, but also into imminent problems, emerging infections are something to deal with. The question arises where these threats might come from, and to what size the future problem might grow.
As humans are just one of the many animal species in the world, it is far from surprising that a majority of new infectious diseases originate from other animal species.
In The Netherlands it is more likely that we will face an emerging zoonotic disease from captive animals than from wild animals. We have 16.5 million inhabitants living on 33.883 km2. On this same densely populated area we have eight times as many animals in captivity: 3.890.000 cattle, 12.026.000 pigs, 1.213.000 sheep, 96.700.000 poultry. As all these animals have to be cared for, there will be much more close contact with these captive animals than with wildlife. Contact with wildlife is less, and although the numbers of rodents exceeds by far those of captive animals, for roe deer we only have 80.000 (compare the smallest husbandry sector in this country are dairy goats with 300.000 animals) Emerging zoonoses need attention from governments, in the first place those that originate from captive animals. To spend much money and time on early detection of zoonoses originating from wildlife is a luxury product, which only should be installed if real threats of real problems are tackled properly.
As we are participating in the European Wildlife Disease Association’s discussion, it is appropriate to focus on Europe. There, the real killers are lifestyle diseases and other unpleasant aspects of modern life: road traffic accidents and suicides. In comparison with cancers, cardiovascular diseases and other serious killers, infectious diseases as a whole are not a problem. If all infectious diseases are grouped together they make a good third place in mortality. A major contribution to overall infectious disease mortality is the (pneumococcus) pneumonia of the elderly.
As you might know, in The Netherlands we have faced a large zoonotic epidemic: Q fever from 2007-2009. In 2009, the “hottest” year, 2317 cases were reported. In the Netherlands annually 120.000 persons are diagnosed with pneumonia. This biggest Q fever epidemic ever recorded in history caused less than 2% of our annual pneumonia disease burden. Once you are working in infectious disease control, you argue with policy makers that infectious diseases might not be a real public health problem at present (under control by sanitation, ample safe water and food, vaccination programs) but they might become a real public health problem in the immediate future. Indeed, there is a constant threat of emerging infections. This threat is a possible imminent public health problem, not a real problem at present. Real problems should be solved first, before spending time and money on possible problems that might arise in the future.
Of course, governments in the rich industrialized world have the responsibility to prepare the health care system of their countries for early detection of threats (either from inside or outside their country), and preferably -if possible- also to prevent the (re)emergence of diseases, regardless of their origin.
If we agree that a well developed society should not only look into real problems, but also into imminent problems, emerging infections are something to deal with. The question arises where these threats might come from, and to what size the future problem might grow.
As humans are just one of the many animal species in the world, it is far from surprising that a majority of new infectious diseases originate from other animal species.
In The Netherlands it is more likely that we will face an emerging zoonotic disease from captive animals than from wild animals. We have 16.5 million inhabitants living on 33.883 km2. On this same densely populated area we have eight times as many animals in captivity: 3.890.000 cattle, 12.026.000 pigs, 1.213.000 sheep, 96.700.000 poultry. As all these animals have to be cared for, there will be much more close contact with these captive animals than with wildlife. Contact with wildlife is less, and although the numbers of rodents exceeds by far those of captive animals, for roe deer we only have 80.000 (compare the smallest husbandry sector in this country are dairy goats with 300.000 animals) Emerging zoonoses need attention from governments, in the first place those that originate from captive animals. To spend much money and time on early detection of zoonoses originating from wildlife is a luxury product, which only should be installed if real threats of real problems are tackled properly.
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