Adebayo, Aminat Olaitan

Adebisi, Yusuff Adebayo

Oladunjoye, Iyiola Olatunji

Tajudeen, Yusuf Amuda

PubMed

Enlighten

Public Health in Practice 2 (2021) 100095Contents lists available at ScienceDirectPublic Health in Practicejournal homepage: www.journals.elsevier.com/public-health-in-practiceLetter to the EditorThe need to adopt planetary health approach in understanding the potential influence of climatechange and biodiversity loss on zoonotic diseases outbreaksA R T I C L E I N F OKeywordsPlanetary healthClimate changeBiodiversity lossZoonosesCOVID-19https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhip.2021.100095Received 19 January 2021; Accepted 4 February 2Available online 8 February 20212666-5352/© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elslicense (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).Zoonoses, which are diseases that are transmitted naturally fromanimals to humans, are one of the leading public health threats [1].Globally, the World Health Organization estimated about 1 billion casesof illness and millions of death per annum from zoonoses, thus a publichealth concern to the human population [1]. Apparently, only a fewexisting scientific publications on zoonoses show that climate change andbiodiversity loss have a part to play in the incidence and distributions ofzoonotic diseases in the human population. Impact of climate change andbiodiversity loss on zoonotic diseases which is evident by shifts in dis-tribution and behavioral changes of vectors and animals’ speciescontribute to the spread and emergence of zoonotic diseases [2]. Severalstudies allude to the fact that a common factor in the emergence ofzoonotic disease outbreaks is their coincidence with climate change andbiodiversity loss. Outbreaks of Chikungunya fever, West Nile fever,Hantavirus, Lyme disease, Lujo virus, and Ebola disease have been linkedwith climate change and biodiversity loss as shown in reviews by Rajanand colleagues, and Naicker respectively [2,3]. Therefore, understandingthe potential effects of climate change and biodiversity loss on the spreadof zoonotic diseases, as well as addressing the diverse threats to humanhealth and well-being in today’s world requires a ‘planetary health’approach.Emergence and re-emergence of zoonotic diseases are increasinglyhigh as a result of human exploitation of earth’s natural resources andecosystems through anthropogenic activities that lead to land-use change(mining, deforestation, land conversion, bush burning) and agriculturalpractices to respond to the rising human population’s increasing needsfor animal-derived foods and energy—are the main drivers of climatechange and biodiversity loss, thus posing a risk to the human population[4]. Consequently, the 15th edition of the 2020 Global Risks Reportplaced environmental risks like climate change and loss of biodiversity asthe top recognized and impactful risk globally [5], and not the risk ofzoonotic diseases caused by human pathogens. Evidently, the GlobalRisks Report is right as the origins of zoonotic diseases like Ebola virusoutbreak between the years, 2014–2016 in West Africa stem from envi-ronmental degradation particularly, deforestation, which probablyforced bats—the vector of the disease, out of their usual habitat into new021evier Ltd on behalf of The Royalones [6]. Similarly, outbreaks of viral zoonoses like Nipah and Hendrahave been linked with forest destruction which negatively affects theroosting site for fruit bat species known to be the reservoir of this viruses[3]. Increased temperature from climate change has been associated withthe spread of Chikungunya virus during its outbreak in Italy [2].The aetiological agent of the COVID-19 pandemic, SARS-CoV-2, islikely to have originated in wild horseshoe bats—which might havemigrated to the wet market in Wuhan, China, probably due to loss ofhabitat and then transmitted to human through pangolin—a widelyhunted animal known to be the intermediary host, it is, therefore, azoonotic outbreak due to its close similarity with bat coronaviruses(SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, respectively) in terms of structure andpathogenicity [7]. Biodiversity loss can lead to migration of these wildspecies into human population, close contact between humans and thesewild species can lead to the emergence of new diseases. Also, hunting ofthese animals for food and butchering of their carcasses can lead to therapid spread of zoonotic diseases to humans through contact with theirinfectious droplets [2].As stated earlier, climate change and biodiversity loss have been re-ported to disrupt the pattern of human behavior and that of insect vec-tors. Effect on host behavior affects host immunity with more influenceon increasing the zoonotic disease outbreaks [2]. In addition, permafrostsoils which are hidden sources of pathogens are melting due to increasedearth temperature from climate change, and this could lead to theoccurrence of emerging and re-emerging diseases in the human popula-tion [8]. Increased respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, mental healththreats, heat stress and geographical distribution of infectious diseasesare some potential effects of climate change on human health [4].The rising evidence of public health outcomes being intricately con-nected to climate change and other environmental factors as a result ofanthropogenic activities calls for the prioritization of a Planetary Healthapproach [9]. We recommend that this approach should guide futuredirections of research, and also solicit for adequate funding to supportthis. It is also recommended that interdisciplinary collaboration amongstenvironmental scientists, entomologists, microbiologists, veterinariansand public health professionals is adopted, and supported.Society for Public Health. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-NDLetter to the Editor Public Health in Practice 2 (2021) 100095FundingNone.Conflict of interestsNone.References[1] WHO, Zoonotic disease: emerging public health threats in the Region. https://www.emro.who.int/about-who/rc61/zoonotic-diseases.html, 2020. (Accessed 7 January2021).[2] P.R. Naicker, The impact of climate change and associated factors on the zoonoticdiseases, Arch. Clin. Microbiol. 11 (2011) 1–6, https://doi.org/10.3823/226.[3] R.R. Patil, C.S. Kumar, M. Bagvandas, Biodiversity loss: public health risk of diseasespread and epidemics, Ann. Trop. Med. Publ. Health 10 (6) (2017 Nov 1) 1432. https://www.atmph,org/text.asp?2017/10/6/1432/222642.[4] S. Whitmee, A. Haines, C. Beyrer, F. Boltz, A.G. Capon, B.F. de Souza Dias, et al.,Safeguarding human health in the Anthropocene epoch: report of the RockefellerFoundation–Lancet Commission on planetary health, Lancet 386 (10007) (2015 Nov14) 1973–2028.[5] The global risks report 2020. https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-global-risks-report-2020. (Accessed 4 January 2021).[6] J. Olivero, J.E. Fa, R. Real, A.L. Marquez, M.A. Farfan, J.M. Vargas, et al., Recent lossof closed forests is associated with Ebola virus disease outbreaks, Sci. Rep. 7 (1)(2017 Oct 30) 1–9.2[7] F. Mona, T. Ali, G. Shokuoh, Comparison of the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) patho-genesis with SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV infections, J. Future Virol (2020), https://doi.org/10.2217/fvi-2020-0050.[8] Scientific American, As the earth warms, diseases that may lie within permafrostbecome a bigger worry. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/as-earth-warms-the-diseases-that-may-lie-within-permafrost-become-a-bigger-worry/, 2016.(Accessed 7 January 2021).[9] I.O. Oladunjoye, A.O. Adebayo, O.O. Odumosu, Y.A. Adebisi, The african continentneeds to prioritise planetary health, Publ. Health Pract. (2020 Dec), 100071, 17.Yusuf Amuda Tajudeena, Iyiola Olatunji Oladunjoyea,b,*, AminatOlaitan Adebayoc,d, Yusuff Adebayo Adebisie,fa Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Ilorin,Ilorin, Nigeriab Group Executive (Health, Agriculture, & Life Sciences), RouleauxFoundation, Lagos, Nigeriac Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development, Faculty ofAgriculture, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeriad Planetary Health Alliance Campus Ambassador, Boston, MA, USAe Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeriaf Director for Research, Global Health Focus, London, United Kingdom* Corresponding author. Department of Microbiology, Faculty of LifeSciences, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria.E-mail address: iyiolaoladunjoye@gmail.com (I.O. Oladunjoye).

The need to adopt planetary health approach in understanding the potential influence of climate change and biodiversity loss on zoonotic diseases outbreaks

PubMed Central

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.puhip.2021.100095

The need to adopt planetary health approach in understanding the potential influence of climate change and biodiversity loss on zoonotic diseases outbreaks

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Enlighten

PubMed Central