The Need to Prioritize Prevention of Viral Spillover in the Anthropopandemicene: A Message to Global Health Researchers and Policymakers

Abstract

Increased anthropogenic activities including changes in land use and unrelenting ecosystem services related to animal husbandry, wildlife trade, and deforestation are driving the emergence of viral zoonosis. This is primarily due to human–animal interaction which is facilitating the spillover of viral zoonotic pathogens from animals (domestic and wildlife) to humans that could result in epidemics or pandemics. Scientific reports so far have revealed that viral epidemics and pandemics in recent years such as H1N1 Swine Influenza, H5N1 Avian Influenza, Ebola, Zika, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), and the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 were all zoonotic, and their emergence has been linked with spillover events arising from human–animal interaction. This increased interaction and the increased spillover event could facilitate future pandemic risk, and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, “IPBES”, has declared this “the era of pandemics”. Furthermore, since future pandemics would be triggered by anthropogenic activities, we have called this “anthropopandemicene”, i.e., an era of pandemics driven by anthropogenic activities. To minimize the risk of future pandemics, it is important to prioritize the prevention of viral spillover events. Here, we outline five priority areas for global health researchers and policymakers. These areas include improvement of biosecurity at livestock farms, imposing a moratorium or strictly banning wildlife trade that poses a public health risk, conservation of biodiversity by halting deforestation, investing in community-based research for infectious disease control, and strengthening community healthcare systems in precarious ecosystems and infectious diseases hotspots. Finally, we acknowledge the efforts of other renowned global and legally binding frameworks such as IHR, the Paris Agreement, and CITES with regard to addressing the public health risk of infectious diseases, and we provide recommendations for their improvement.