Book : People, pathogens and our planet Vol. 2

This report analyzes and assesses the benefits and the costs of control of an important group of contagious diseases. Zoonotic diseases are caused by pathogens that can infect both animals and humans, resulting in disease outbreaks, including epidemics in humans and epizootics in animals. These diseases account for 70 percent of emerging infectious  diseases. In the absence of timely disease control, zoonotic pathogens can cause pandemics, with potentially catastrophic impacts that are global in scale. The report also touches on food safety, but does not cover other risks and opportunities at the interfaces between humans, animals, and the ecosystem, such as food security and pollution. Limiting its focus to this topic matter has important advantages, particularly with respect to immediate relevance and relative simplicity.

Link: People, pathogens and our planet Vol. 2