<<
>>

The term emerging infectious disease (EID) is used to describe an infectious disease that has appeared in a population for the first time or one that is increasing in geographical range, host range or prevalence

(Morse 2001; Tompkins et al. 2015). In the past three decades, EIDs have been globally recognised as occurring at an increasing rate, in part because of urbanisation, glo­balised trade, habitat loss and other environmental changes (Daszak et al.

2000; Jones et al. 2008; Cunning­ham et al. 2017). Many EIDs have significant impacts on human health, domestic animal health, wildlife health and biodiversity. There is an increasing interest in those diseases where wildlife form an important element of the epidemiology (referred to in this chapter as ‘wildlife EIDs').

In general, the factors driving emergence of infectious diseases are complex and operate on a large scale. Our understanding of why diseases emerge is incomplete, with significant gaps in baseline information. This chap­ter will focus on aspects of emerging disease in Austral­ian native mammals. Notable EIDs involving Australian native mammals are listed in Table 20.1.

1.

<< | >>
Source: Vogelnest L., Portas T. (Eds.). Current Therapy in Medicine of Australian Mammals. CSIRO,2025. — 848 p.. 2025

More on the topic The term emerging infectious disease (EID) is used to describe an infectious disease that has appeared in a population for the first time or one that is increasing in geographical range, host range or prevalence: