BANFF, Alta. – Public attention may be focused on the H1NI virus, but scientists say they are finding other serious diseases capable of infecting both people and animals.
Soren Alexandersen of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease in Winnipeg said scientists are identifying one to three new diseases a year, most of which have potential to jump between animals and people.
Most are viruses that originated in wildlife and are often spread by human activities, such as population growth, close contact with animals and climate change, Alexandersen told the Banff Pork Seminar held Jan. 20.
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He emphasized the importance of scientists from many disciplines to share information.
“New methods have to be set up quite quickly with close collaboration between the animal health side and the human health side colleagues,” he said.
“However, if we are to set up surveillance, we need funding for a preventive approach because all of this is waiting until it happens.”
Many diseases found in recent years originated in developing nations where the technical capabilities and resources to track emerging diseases do not exist.
As many as 10 million people acquire zoonotic diseases, those that can transmit between animals and humans, each year, and up to 20,000 people die.
Out of about 1,400 human pathogens, about 60 percent are zoonotic, but only 100 to 150 could cause major disease outbreaks in humans, he said.
The spread of these diseases is happening quickly with the increased movement of animals, animal products and people, climate changes and wildlife interaction with domestic livestock and pets.
Most of the newly found diseases are RNA viruses, which means they are highly adaptable. The H1N1 virus contains genes from several viruses.
“These genome fragments can mix between two or several different viruses and you get a new mixture, which is called reassortment,” he said.
“In my opinion, it is still unclear which new virus type evolved.”
He said there is no evidence that H1N1 started with swine or people.
The crisis around H1N1 influenza started in California last April and spread to Mexico within days.
The first hog farm in the world to have this strain was diagnosed on a farm near Rocky Mountain House in west-central Alberta at the end of April. Positive findings in Canadian swine herds have since been reported in Alberta, Quebec and Manitoba.
Viruses pose threat
World health organizations have compiled a list of viruses that could pose threats to humans and animals. All are RNA viruses.
- Seneca Valley virus is a vesicular disease found in a shipment of Manitoba pigs going to the United States in 2007.
- Nipah virus affects swine and humans and has caused major problems in Malaysia.
- Hendra virus is related to Nipah virus. It affects horses and people and could infect swine.
- Ebola virus is normally associated with humans and monkeys, but Ebola-Reston was recently found in hogs in the Philippines. This form does not affect humans. Preliminary experimental trials suggest the more severe form, Ebola-Zaire, can cause severe disease in swine.
- Rift Valley fever virus can infect humans, as well as domesticated and wild ruminants. This infection is normally associated with Africa but appears to be moving toward the Middle East and parts of Asia and could spread to North America.
