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A new study from the University of Sydney, Australia, conducted in collaboration with scientists from the UK, India and Ethiopia, sought to find out which cities in the world are most at risk of generating new pandemics, and the results reveal that The Most are located in South and Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, the Times Live continues.
More specifically, according to the survey, the cities of Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, all located in South Africa, are among the global cities at high risk of generating the next pandemic, according to a new study.
The survey looks at cities with a high level of contact between animals and humans, combined with poor health and a high global connection. Lead author Michael Walsh said around 40% of the most connected cities in the world have areas where human pressure on wildlife is high.
It is unlikely that between 14% and 20% of the largest cities in the world at risk of diseases passing from animals to humans will be able to detect new diseases due to poor health infrastructure, Walsh said.
“Emerging infections leading to substantial epidemics or pandemics are usually between animals and humans and cross species boundaries at vulnerable points of the human-animal interface,” says the expert in the article published in One Health and published in the journal Galileu. .
The article also reveals: “The sharing of space between wildlife, humans and pets has increased dramatically in recent decades and is a major driver of the rise in viral infections.”
“The increase in the human-animal interface has also occurred in conjunction with increasing globalization and poor health systems, resulting in a scenario with serious implications for human and animal health,” the document adds. “Locations where outbreaks are not identified can lead to worldwide spread and new pandemics,” said Walsh, a member of the Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosafety.
Walsh believes that although poorer countries have most cities in areas classified as at greatest risk of infectious transmission and subsequent global spread, the high risk in these areas is a consequence of poor health systems.
While they are not widely represented in the high-risk zone because they have better health infrastructure, richer countries still have many cities at risk of generating pandemics due to the extreme pressures they place on wildlife through unsustainable development.
Key measures needed to stem this situation include conservation efforts to limit wildlife encounters with humans and their pets, increased animal surveillance, and human health infrastructure to detect possible transmissions.
“With this new information, people can develop systems that incorporate infrastructure for human health, animal husbandry, wildlife habitat conservation and movement through transportation centers to prevent the next pandemic,” concludes the author.
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