Emerging and re-emerging pathogens present a huge challenge to human
and veterinary medicine. Emergence is most commonly associated
with ecological change, and specific risk factors are related
to the type of pathogen, route of transmission and host range.
The biological determinants of host range remain poorly
understood but most pathogens can infect multiple hosts, and
three-quarters of emerging human pathogens are zoonotic.
Surveillance is a key defence against emerging pathogens but
will often need to be integrated across human, domestic animal
and wildlife populations.
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