James L. N. Wood^1,*, Melissa Leach², Linda Waldman², Hayley MacGregor^2, Anthony R. Fooks³, Kate E. Jones^4,†, Olivier Restif¹, Dina Dechmann⁵, David T. S. Hayman^1,3,4,6, Kate S. Baker^1,4, Alison J. Peel^1,4, Alexandra O. Kamins^1,4, Jakob Fahr^5,7, Yaa Ntiamoa Baidu^8,12, Richard Suu-Ire^9,12, Robert F. Breiman¹⁰, Jonathan H. Epstein¹¹, Hume E. Field¹³ and Andrew A. Cunningham⁴

¹Disease Dynamics Unit, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 OES, UK
²STEPS Centre, Institute for Development Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9RE, UK
³Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency, New Haw, Weybridge, Surrey KT15 3NB, UK
⁴Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regent’s Park, London NW1 4RY, UK
⁵Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Vogelwarte Radolfzell, Schlossallee 2, 78315 Radolfzell, Germany
⁶Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
⁷Division of Evolutionary Biology, Zoological Institute, University of Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany
⁸Centre for African Wetlands, University of Ghana, PO Box LG 67, Legon, Accra, Ghana
⁹Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission, Accra, Ghana
¹⁰US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention–Kenya Office, Nairobi, Kenya
¹¹EcoHealth Alliance, New York, NY, USA
¹²Department of Animal Biology and Conservation Science, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana
¹³Queensland Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases, Biosecurity Queensland, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries & Forestry, Health and Food Science Precinct, Block 10, 39 Kessels Road, Coopers Plains, Queensland 4108, PO Box 156, Archerfield, Australia

 

ABSTRACT

Many serious emerging zoonotic infections have recently arisen from bats, including Ebola, Marburg, SARS-coronavirus, Hendra, Nipah, and a number of rabies and rabies-related viruses, consistent with the overall observation that wildlife are an important source of emerging zoonoses for the human population. Mechanisms underlying the recognized association between ecosystem health and human health remain poorly understood and responding appropriately to the ecological, social and economic conditions that facilitate disease emergence and transmission represents a substantial societal challenge. In the context of disease emergence from wildlife, wildlife and habitat should be conserved, which in turn will preserve vital ecosystem structure and function, which has broader implications for human wellbeing and environmental sustainability, while simultaneously minimizing the spillover of pathogens from wild animals into human beings. In this review, we propose a novel framework for the holistic and interdisciplinary investigation of zoonotic disease emergence and its drivers, using the spillover of bat pathogens as a case study. This study has been developed to gain a detailed interdisciplinary understanding, and it combines cutting-edge perspectives from both natural and social sciences, linked to policy impacts on public health, land use and conservation.

Keywords: bat; zoonosis; emergence; collaborative framework
 

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