SARS-CoV-2 at the Human-Animal Interface: Implication for Global Public Health from an African Perspective

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has become the most far-reaching public health crisis of modern times. Several efforts are underway to unravel its root cause as well as to proffer adequate preventive or inhibitive measures. Zoonotic spillover of the causative virus from an animal reservoir to the human population is being studied as the most likely event leading to the pandemic. Consequently, it is important to consider viral evolution and the process of spread within zoonotic anthropogenic transmission cycles as a global public health impact. The diverse routes of interspecies transmission of SARS-CoV-2 offer great potential for a future reservoir of pandemic viruses evolving from the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic circulation. To mitigate possible future infectious disease outbreaks in Africa and elsewhere, there is an urgent need for adequate global surveillance, prevention, and control measures that must include a focus on known and novel emerging zoonotic pathogens through a one health approach. Human immunization efforts should be approached equally through the transfer of cutting-edge technology for vaccine manufacturing throughout the world to ensure global public health and one health.

Keywords: Africa; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; emerging infectious disease; one health; zoonosis.

Figure 1

Global distribution of animal infections with SARS-CoV-2. (reprinted with permission from WOAH [3], source: https://www.woah.org/app/uploads/2022/02/sars-cov-2-situation-report-9.pdf, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (accessed on 19 November 2021).

Figure 2

Transmission pathways between humans and animals (image created in Microsoft PowerPoint 2019).