Social representations of animal diseases: anthropological approaches to pathogens crossing species barriers

Frédéric Keck,Arnaud Morvan,Sandrine Ruhlmann,Nicolas Lainé

doi:10.1051/parasite/2021032

Abstract

Debates about emerging infectious diseases often oppose natural conceptions of zoonotic reservoirs with cultural practices bringing humans into contact with animals. This article compares the representations of cross-species pathogens at ontological levels below the opposition between nature and culture. It describes the perceptions of distinctions between interiority and physicality, between wild and domestic, and between sick and dead in three different contexts where human societies manage animal diseases: Australia, Laos and Mongolia. Our article also argues that zoonotic pathogens are one of the entities mobilized by local knowledge to attenuate troubles in ordinary relations with animals, and shows that the conservation of cultural heritage is a tool of mitigation for infectious diseases emerging in animal reservoirs.

Highlights

It is estimated that 70% of new pathogens in humans are zoonotic, i.e., transmitted from animals to humans [8, 22]
Our article argues that zoonotic pathogens are one of the entities mobilized by local knowledge to attenuate troubles in ordinary relations with animals, and shows that the conservation of cultural heritage is a tool of mitigation for infectious diseases emerging in animal reservoirs
Rather than start from global health measures to search how they can be applied in different locations, which supposes an opposition between interventions on nature and cultural obstacles [9], we have started with animal diseases that cross species barriers differently in various ontologies: totemism on Australia, analogism in Laos, and animism in Mongolia

Summary

Introduction

It is estimated that 70% of new pathogens in humans are zoonotic, i.e., transmitted from animals to humans [8, 22]. The current COVID-19 pandemic, probably caused by a coronavirus endemic in bats, shows the high cost of public health measures for emerging pathogens and the need for their early detection in animal reservoirs [61, 62]. A “One Health approach” connects the surveillance of diseases in humans, animals, and their environment to understand how infectious diseases emerge and are transmitted from one species to the other, as well as within each species. Parasitologists, epidemiologists and ecologists have turned toward social anthropologists to understand the social and cultural factors allowing pathogens to cross the barriers between species and involve local populations in the management of animal diseases before they spread to humans [15].

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Conclusion