Costs of animal disease outbreaks would increase sharply with urbanization and a growing demand for animal products, warned the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization on Monday.
"We are expecting the costs to human, animal and plant health of these pathogens, and their overall economic costs, to rise substantially over the next decades," Juan Lubroth, FAO's Chief Veterinary Officer said in a statement.
Deadly Animal Diseases Poised to Cross-over to Humans
Warning bells are ringing against the rising threat from new diseases passing from animals to humans, say scientists.
Advertisement
With more than half of the world's population now living in cities, urban areas are sprawling closer to intensive farming operations, while at the same time, the consumption of animal products is on the rise.
More than 21 billion animals were raised for food in 2008, a figure that FAO believes by 2020 will grow by more than half, as demand for animal products rises in East Asia and other parts of the world.
![Scientists Learn How Probiotics can Prevent Disease]( "Scientists Learn How Probiotics can Prevent Disease")
Scientists have now discovered how probiotics successfully work in fighting against a number of animal diseases and they can use this in preventing and even treating human diseases.
"The threats are very real. Deadly and economically devastating livestock epidemics have existed throughout history but there is no doubt that more pathogens are emerging - and spreading," Lubroth said.
The 2001 outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the United Kingdom cost between 25 billion and 30 billion dollars (between 19 billion and 23 billion euros), while the 2002-2003 outbreak of SARS cost China, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore between 30 and 50 billion dollars, FAO said.
"Governments could save billions of dollars by stepping up the prevention and control of high impact animal diseases, some of which pose a direct threat to human health," FAO said.
Along with the World Health Organisation, FAO has launched and is seeking funding for a five-year initiative aimed at detecting and fighting animal disease outbreaks with particular emphasis in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.
Source: AFP
Scientists Learn How Probiotics can Prevent Disease
Scientists have now discovered how probiotics successfully work in fighting against a number of animal diseases and they can use this in preventing and even treating human diseases.
Advertisement
"The threats are very real. Deadly and economically devastating livestock epidemics have existed throughout history but there is no doubt that more pathogens are emerging - and spreading," Lubroth said.
The 2001 outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the United Kingdom cost between 25 billion and 30 billion dollars (between 19 billion and 23 billion euros), while the 2002-2003 outbreak of SARS cost China, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore between 30 and 50 billion dollars, FAO said.
"Governments could save billions of dollars by stepping up the prevention and control of high impact animal diseases, some of which pose a direct threat to human health," FAO said.
Along with the World Health Organisation, FAO has launched and is seeking funding for a five-year initiative aimed at detecting and fighting animal disease outbreaks with particular emphasis in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.
Source: AFP
Portable Diagnostic System for Bird Flu, Foot and Mouth Disease to Be Launched
Smiths Detection has announced of launching portable detection system to carry out on-site diagnosis of animal diseases such as foot-and-mouth and avian flu.
Advertisement
Advertisement
|
Advertisement
Recommended Readings
Latest Environmental Health
Plastic pollution: Indus river carries the second highest amount of plastic debris to the sea.
Enhancing the One Health-based surveillance system, Union Minister Bharati Pravin Pawar highlights the continuous peril of pandemics.
Researchers have conducted extensive studies on primate genomes, providing crucial findings on evolution, human disease, and biodiversity conservation.
Study highlights that humanity has surpassed seven out of the nine designated "safe limits" indispensable for upholding life on Earth.
The Ambius small green wall, which contains a variety of indoor plants, was shown to be quite successful at removing hazardous, cancer-causing pollutants.