Human diseases
Epidemics and the spread of human infectious diseases from factory farming and industrial animal agriculture
Epidemics and the spread of human infectious diseases from factory farming and industrial animal agriculture
The spanish flu (avian flu)
SARS (~pigs)
Mad Cow
75% of new diseases come from animals (most from farmed animals)
Measles (~cows)
Chicken pox
West Nile Virus (chickens can carry the disease, then mosquitoes give it to humans)
Influenza
Many others
D. Roland-Holst, M. Epprecht, and J. Otte, “Industrial Livestock Production and Global Health Risks,” Pro-Poor Livestock Policy Initiative (PPLPI) Research Report (FAO), 2007, http://agris.fao.org/agris-search/search.do?recordID=XF2006446595.
"For instance, Power (2005) reports that more than three quarters of commercial broiler and table egg farms in Fraser Valley, Canada, had indicated in a survey that they did not provide disinfection footbaths nor required a change of clothes / coveralls by employees on entering their barns."
Modernizing Meat Production Will Help Us Avoid Pandemics - https://www.wired.com/story/opinion-modernizing-meat-production-will-help-us-avoid-pandemics/
“Farm Animals | Healthy Pets, Healthy People | CDC,” February 19, 2020, https://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/pets/farm-animals.html.
“Backyard Poultry | Healthy Pets, Healthy People | CDC,” March 6, 2020, https://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/pets/farm-animals/backyard-poultry.html.
Gavin J. D. Smith et al., “Origins and Evolutionary Genomics of the 2009 Swine-Origin H1N1 Influenza A Epidemic,” Nature 459, no. 7250 (June 2009): 1122–25, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature08182. |
"In March and early April 2009, a new swine-origin influenza A (H1N1) virus (S-OIV) emerged in Mexico and the United States1. During the first few weeks of surveillance, the virus spread worldwide to 30 countries (as of May 11) by human-to-human transmission, causing the World Health Organization to raise its pandemic alert to level 5 of 6. This virus has the potential to develop into the first influenza pandemic of the twenty-first century"
Other links
The Coronavirus’ Impact on Chinese Society and Supply Chains
Connecting the Coronavirus to Agriculture - "MERS, the other deadly coronavirus, emerged straight out of an industrializing camel sector in the Middle East. It’s a path to virulence largely left out of broader scientific discussion about these viruses."
Coronavirus and the karmic interconnectedness of humans, animals - "In the U.S., almost ten billion animals are exploited and slaughtered every year. Most live short miserable lives in overcrowded factory farms, which are a breeding ground for disease, including emerging pathogens and virulent strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. "
The Two Dark Sides of COVID-19 - "Scientists tell us that keeping different animals in close, prolonged proximity with one another and with people creates an unhealthy environment that is the probable source of the mutation that enabled COVID-19 to infect humans"