Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Jun 19;10(6):e1004129.
doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1004129. eCollection 2014 Jun.

Crossing the interspecies barrier: opening the door to zoonotic pathogens

Affiliations

Crossing the interspecies barrier: opening the door to zoonotic pathogens

Christian Gortazar et al. PLoS Pathog. .

Erratum in

  • PLoS Pathog. 2014 Jul;10(7):e1004296. Aguirre, Alonso A [corrected to Aguirre, A Alonso]
No abstract available

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Framework for the classification of drivers of human exposure to animal pathogens (interspecies barrier).
See text for more details.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Examples of sets of drivers and ecological processes implicated in the emergence of zoonotic pathogens in humans.
(A) Emergence of Sin Nombre virus in the Four Corners area of the United States in 1993 was attributed to population growth of the rodent reservoir (Peromyscus maniculatus) following increases in food resources (mast) associated with El Niño-Southern Oscillation events . (B) Emergence of Borrelia burgdorferi in the eastern US in 1974 was attributed to population growth and range expansion of white-tailed-deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and black-legged-tick (Ixodes scapularis) vector populations following increase in suitable habitat due to reforestation and management encouraging high deer densities . (C) Emergence of Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) in 1976 was attributed to increases in interspecies contact between humans and primates following increases in bushmeat hunting and encroachment into undisturbed habitats . (D) Emergence of enteric pathogenic Escherichia coli at the human-animal interface was attributed to increased direct and indirect human-animal contact following changes in the food chain and in water quality, often due to the intensification of livestock production .

References

    1. Fauci AS (2001) Infectious diseases: considerations for the 21st century. Clin Infect Dis 2001 32: 675–685. - PubMed
    1. Murray CJ, Vos T, Lozano R, Naghavi M, Flaxman AD, et al. (2012) Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) for 291 diseases and injuries in 21 regions, 1990-2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. Lancet 380: 2197–2223. - PubMed
    1. Woolhouse M, Scott F, Hudson Z, Howey R, Chase-Topping M (2012) Human viruses: discovery and emergence. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 367: 2864–2871. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Taylor LH, Latham SM, Woolhouse ME (2001) Risk factors for human disease emergence. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 356: 983–989. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Reperant LA, Cornaglia G, Osterhaus ADME (2013) The importance of understanding the human-animal interface. From early hominins to global citizens. Curr Top Microbiol Immunol 365: 49–81. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types