Description: International Coalition for Animal Protection
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COVID-19 has caused more than four million recorded deaths. As we navigate through the wreckage the pandemic continues to leave in its wake, scientists are already warning that COVID-19 will not be the last zoonotic disease to emerge and world leaders are asking: How do we prevent the next pandemic?
WHO Investigators believe that SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) originated in bats as a reservoir animal, passing through an intermediate host animal, to Patient Zero in southern China. COVID-19 is just one example of the 75% of emerging infectious diseases that originate from animal–human transmission—others include HIV-AIDS (which is passed from chimpanzees), Ebola virus disease (which is passed through bats or monkeys), and H1N1/Avian Flu (which is passed from birds).
In certain conditions, highly dangerous viruses and other pathogens may spill over between species, either through direct contact between animals acting as virus reservoirs and humans, or via intermediate host animals (like livestock) who were subject to the initial spillover. Once the disease spills over from the animal to a human (usually through contact with blood or body tissue), human-to-human transmission becomes possible and far easier (e.g. through air droplets, contaminated surfaces). Further, huma