As Zoonotic Diseases Become More Common, Watch For 5 Little-Known Diseases In 2017

The Conversation: Five little-known diseases to watch out for in 2017
Derek Gatherer, lecturer at Lancaster University

“…[E]merging diseases have been appearing at an accelerating rate. Part of the explanation for this may simply be that we are much better at detecting them now. On the other hand, population pressure, climate change, and ecological degradation may be contributing to a situation where zoonosis — the movement of a disease from a vertebrate animal to a human host — is more common. Whatever the explanation, hepatitis C (1989), West Nile virus (1999), SARS (2003), chikungunya (2005), swine flu (2009), MERS (2012), Ebola (2014), and Zika (2015) have all since had their time in the media spotlight. A further 33 diseases have [been] featured in the World Health Organization’s Disease Outbreak News since its inception in 1996. Of the ‘big eight’ listed above, six are known zoonotic diseases — and the remaining two (hepatitis C and chikungunya) are assumed to be so … So what other new infectious diseases are on the horizon? These are the ones to watch for in 2017. Leishmaniasis … Rift Valley Fever … Oropouche … Mayaro … Elizabethkingia…” (1/3).

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