‘Zoonotic diseases are an area of concern’

NEW DELHI: Zoonotic diseases are an area of concern, Union Health Secretary Sudhansh Pant said on Tuesday, stressing that 75 per cent of the newly-emerging infectious diseases that have affected people over the last three decades are zoonotic in nature.

The limited knowledge and skill to identify zoonotic diseases, coupled with the limited diagnostic facilities at all levels has resulted in the neglect of the infectious diseases due to zoonotic pathogens, Pant said, addressing the National Conclave on “Augmented Zoonotic Diseases Surveillance at Human-Wildlife Interface” and the National Conclave for an endorsement of the “National Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Snakebite Envenoming” organised by the Centre for One Health, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) here.

“Zoonotic disease is one of the areas of concern, which is affecting humans as well as animal health. Seventy-five per cent of newly-emerging infectious diseases that have affected people over the last three decades are zoonotic in nature,” Pant said.

He said a better understanding of the specific drivers and mechanisms of zoonotic diseases is crucial to preparing for future disease outbreaks.

Underlining the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, he said “it is important to address diseases from both the human and animal perspectives as the most emerging infectious

diseases are a result of a

changing human-animal interface and their shared environment.

This interconnectedness highlighted the need for

a ‘One Health’ approach,

which helps in leveraging the complementarity and strengths

that are inherent in each

sector and devising integrated, robust and agile response systems”.