DEFINITION, HISTORY AND

SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACTS
OF ZOONOTIC DISEASES
 Introduction
• Health is a stage of complete physical, mental and
social well-being and not merely an absence of
disease or infirmity

• Four-fifths of all described infections of man are

shared in nature by other vertebrate animals

• Dynamic of human population, change of life

style, ecological encroachment for agricultural
activities
 Zoonoses

• The word 'zoonoses'

– was coined by a German
physician Rudolf
Virchow in 1885
 Zoonoses

From the Greek:

Zoon: Animal
Noson: Disease

Diseases and infections which are naturally

transmitted between vertebrate animals
and humans
- WHO 1959
 Veterinary Public Health
■ In 1975, VPH was defined by a Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on
Veterinary Public Health as “a component of public health activities devoted
to the application of professional veterinary skills, knowledge and resources
to the protection and improvement of human health”
Revised definition:
“The sum of all contributions to the physical, mental and social well-being
of humans through an understanding and application of veterinary
science”

Zoonoses
'those diseases and infections which are naturally
transmitted between vertebrate animals and man
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 Sylvatic zoonoses
■ Zoonotic diseases that having reservoirs among the wild or
feral animals, free living and captive animals, and
transmission of those diseases to the human population are
referred to as sylvatic zoonoses

■ Examples: Rabies, Kyasanur forest disease

 Reverse zoonoses
■ Infectious diseases of people which are occasionally
transferred to animals and transferred back to
people are referred to as reverse zoonoses.

■ Example: Tuberculosis
 Xenozoonoses
■ Infections that are transmitted by xenotransplantation are called
xenozoonotic diseases.

■ Xenotransplantation - Transplantation, implantation, infusion or ex

vivo perfusion into a human recipient, by either live cells, tissues or
organs from non-human animal donors; or human body fluids, cells,
tissues or organs that have had ex vivo contact with live, non-human
anima cell, tissues or organs.

■ Examples: From porcine – Brucella suis, Listeria monocytogenes,

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Microsporum nanum, Japanese
encephalitis virus, rabies virus, swine influenza virus, retrovirus etc.
 SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACT OF ZOONOTIC
DISEASES
Factors influencing the socio-economic status of human population are

■ Economic status
■ Life style
■ Education
■ Occupation
■ Political system
 The negative effects of zoonoses
■ Loss of man-hours and man-days
■ Loss of labour productivity
■ Monetary loss
■ Adverse effect on morale of personnel
■ Unfavourable publicity
■ Medicolegal implications
■ Reduced travel and tourism to the affected areas
■ Reduced livestock and food production
■ Death and destruction of affected animals
■ Restriction on and reduction in international trade of
animals
■ Loss of country’s economy