Animal Agriculture Could Cause The Next Public Health Crisis

[Newest Reality]

Covid-19 is a zoonotic virus, meaning it spread to humans from an animals. Scientists aren’t sure which animal spread it to us, though they think snakes or bats might have spread it to us via pangolins. But it’s not just exotic, wild animals that spread diseases. Newe research shows the next global public health crisis could come to us through industrial animal agriculture.

The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday, shows that contemporary farming methods—including the overuse of antibiotics, high numbers of animals crammed into small spaces, and a lack of genetic diversity—make it more likely that pathogens will spread to people from farm animals and create an epidemic for humans.

“Our work shows that environmental change and increased contact with farm animals has caused bacterial infections to cross over to humans, too,” Sam Sheppard, a professor at the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath and author of the study, said in a statement.

In particular, the scientists analyzed the evolution of the bacteria Campylobacter jejuni, which is commonly found in farm animals’ crap and according to the World Health Organization is the leading bacterial cause of human gastroenteritis, aka the stomach flu. The researchers studied the genetic evolution of the bacteria and found that strains specific to cattle emerged in the 20th century—around the same time that humans started farming cattle in huge numbers.

https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2020/05/animal-agriculture-could-cause-the-next-public-health-crisis/

[Karadeniz]

1. I won't cry if slaughterhouses belly up.