Troubling link of globalization to animal and human diseases

Troubling link of globalization to animal and human diseases

diseases now appearing in new geographical areas, such as West Nile virus; to trade-generated disease such as the melamine dog-food contamination of 2006 that involved China, Canada and the United States; and to the rise in previously unknown animal and human diseases such as SARS, HIV-AIDS and BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as mad cow disease).
many emerging diseases jump from animals to humans, said Brown. The SARS virus transferred from bats to civet cats (a delicacy in southern China) to humans after the disease mutated from one species to another.
scientists fear a mutation in the virus could lead to human-to-human transmissions with the potential to spark a global pandemic.