Litt stoff fra CNN om globaliseringens konsekvenser i form av økende
infeksjonssykdommer; ikke bare blant mennesker. Erling Fossen har
sikkert allerede innsett at dette ikke betyr noe...? Teknikkoptimistene
har sikkert en teknisk løsning?
Karsten Johansen
Infectious disease on the rise among wildlife
January 20, 2000 Web posted at: 1:25 PM EST (1825 GMT)
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Crowded living conditions, moving to new places and
eating unusual foods can spread disease -- among wild animals, too.
A new study warns that when it comes to the globalization of the planet,
animals face a lot of the same hazards as people, including so-called
emerging infectious diseases.
"We call it pathogen pollution," said Peter Daszak of the University of
Georgia, lead author of a paper appearing in today's edition of the journal
Science.
These diseases can cause local extinctions among wild animals and in some
cases could even lead to total extinction of a species, he said.
And diseases of wildlife not only threaten the future of the animals, but
also may form a reservoir of germs that could harm people and domestic
animals, his team warns.
Indeed, this type of transmission may have been a factor in the emergence of
the virus that causes AIDS as well as the newer Marburg and Ebola viruses,
the paper notes.
The international transport of livestock and current agricultural practice
have helped spread rinderpest in Africa and mad cow disease in Europe, for
example.
And even the seemingly most innocent act can pose problems.
"Recent analysis suggests that 15,000 tons of peanuts are fed annually to
United Kingdom garden birds. This form of provisioning has led to the
emergence of infection by salmonella and E coli in Britain ... because of
the high density and diversity of birds at feeding stations," the scientists
reported. Similar reports have occurred in the United States.
Bringing animals together in zoos and wild animal parks in an effort to
conserve them may also cause problems, the study notes.
For example, researchers have determined that a type of herpes virus that is
harmless to African elephants can be fatal to their Asian cousins.
And zoo animals in the United Kingdom have been exposed to food contaminated
with the agent that causes mad cow disease. They reported that that exposure
to the agent, called BSE, has been found in 58 zoo animals of 17 species.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Mar 15 2000 - 12:52:10 MET