"ZOONOSIS" an ignored medical condition

Man’s relation with animal is age old. This association can be traced back to the beginning of civilization. This friendship is built on the foundation of trust, care and love. But when integral bonds are sacrificed for selfish motives, consequences of betrayal can brings out dangerous results. Mother nature has provided all its creatures a habitat to live. Mutual existence without disturbing the law of nature is the only key to live peacefully. Trouble arises when one species tries to rule over the others. Human by far is the most intelligent species in the world. But this is also true, human follies has no match too. It has been found that every 6 out of 10 diseases caused in human are actually animal born. Zoonoses is the science which studies transmission of diseases from animals (mainly vertebrates) to human, vice-versa,  through direct or indirect contact. Some of the examples of Zoonotic disease are rabies, plague, bovine tuberculosis, anthrax, African sleeping sickness etc. People living in both urban and rural areas have some kind of bond with animals. We are dependent on animals for milk, meat, eggs etc. The close interdependence  between the animals and human also provided microbes a chance to propagate in human body. Lack of knowledge among the masses and pure neglection of zoonotic diseases by  National and International health agencies has put human on the verge of increase vulnerability to get infected with many zoonotic diseases. It has been seen the vast majority of zoonotic diseases are not prioritized by health system at National and International levels and are labeled as neglected until it become an outbreak. Aren’t we aware of EBOLA VIRUS OUTBREAK in west African region in recent times? It has become a Global Threat now. Ebola virus mainly affects fruit bats.Then later many animals like monkeys, chimpanzees, antelopes etc are affected by it. Now humans are its latest victim. Rapid urbanization and globalization are also a contributing factor in rapid spread of various Zoonotic diseases.  Monkeys, dogs, pigs, birds, cows and many other animals are now part of Human community living in Urban, Peri-urban and Rural areas. In low- middle income countries where human population is huge, maintaining hygienic conditions is a major challenge. Animals living with human population are also affected with this and hence diseases which attacks only a specific animal is now transmitted in humans. Aren’t we aware of Swine flu outbreak in India in year 2015? It was the major headline of every newspaper and news channel. The H1N1 virus which affects pigs, is now causing influenza in human population. This deadly virus had claimed over 2000 lives in year 2015 in India. Most worst affected states were Gujarat and Rajasthan with 428 and 415 registered number of deaths respectively. National capital Delhi also reported high number of registered cases but due to better awareness and better developed health care sector, death toll was low. It has been seen human DNA shares a lot of similarities with pig’s DNA. May be this is the reason disease transmission between the two is very common. Porcine Cysticercosis caused by Taenia solium, a tapeworm, which has indirect life cycle needs two host in order to complete it’s life cycle. One is definitive host and other is intermediate host. The Definitive host, humans, are infected with Taenia solium when ingest tissue from intermediate host, pigs, that contain larvae (Cysticercosis). On other hand the intermediate host infected when they consume eggs that are shed in human fecal matter.  The disease is common in area where pigs are allowed to roam freely. In India many peri urban parts like Lucknow and many other Northern Indian states, pigs are living with human population. But on contrary, this disease in seen commonly in Northern-eastern parts of the country.  When studied closely, spread of Porcine cysticercosis in Northern-eastern state of India was due to the pigs that were transported from Northern parts of the country. India is rich with cultural diversity with different traditions and food habits. In Northern state of the country pig meat is rarely consumed by the people. On contrast North- east part of the country consumption of pork meat is very common. When favorite meat is available on low rates, people waste no time to buy it. Transported from other states, already affected pigs are ready to transmit disease. Most worrisome part is that both seller and buyers are unaware of the fact. Don’t we need proper awareness program and strategies to tackle diseases like this? This is where various National health departments and other international agencies should play their part. Low middle income country like India is at greater risk of Zoonotic infections. Lack of strategic focus among all the concerned departments, prevention and control effort of zoonotic infections fall short of global standards. Poor awareness campaign ,lack of research based policy making, non uniform surveillance and irregular monitoring does nothing but adds more challenges. Zoonoses prevention and control needs strategic and an interdisciplinary disease management perspective and combined efforts of various fields ( veterinary, human medicine, environmentalists, public health practitioners) with genuine dedication.