Posted on 07/05/2012 9:17:06 AM PDT by James C. Bennett
Most emerging human diseases come from animals. This map, created by the International Livestock Research Institute, shows the geographical locations of events where a disease has crossed over from animals to humans.
Do you live near a hotspot?
The entire study, which is published by the ILRI and its partners, found that just 13 zoonoses—the name given to diseases which are capable of being transferred between species—are responsible for 2.4 billion cases of human illness and 2.2 million deaths per year.
While they used to be concentrated in Europe and the US, the majority of new events tend to be identified in developing countries. The map above shows the distribution (click for a larger version). Delia Grace, one of the researchers, explains:
"From cyst-causing tapeworms to avian flu, zoonoses present a major threat to human and animal health. Targeting the diseases in the hardest hit countries is crucial to protecting global health as well as to reducing severe levels of poverty and illness among the world's one billion poor livestock keepers. Exploding global demand for livestock products is likely to fuel the spread of a wide range of human-animal infectious diseases."
There are, however, still a number of locations where new events are occurring in the US. Do you live near one of them? [Nature, EurekAlert]
Map by ILRI, published in an ILRI report to DFID: Mapping of Poverty and Likely Zoonoses Hotspots, 2012.
Ping & bump
Zero from Mexico?
I believe it requires actual reporting of infectious disease. I don’t think Mexico’s records are too up-to-date.
I’m curious about the 5-7 events in the Seattle/Vancouver (Pacific North West) area. What were the illnesses, and when were they documented?
So, San Fransicko and Miami’s South Beach are on the list. Hmmmn.
Then comes the obvious question: Did they merge Key West with Miami for mapping purposes?
An excellent observation.
In which case, the map is more of an indicator of reporting efficiency than disease transmission.
The entirety of Africa, Mexico, central America, and a majority of south America would likely be covered with a big red dot if diseases were reported accurately.
No Hantavirus? No plague? say what?
So, San Fransicko and Miami’s South Beach are on the list
Which begs the question, which way did the disease jump? Animal to human, or human to animal?
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