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The Health Burden of Orphan Zoonotic Disease in the United Kingdom, 2005–2009
Author(s) -
Halsby K. D.,
Walsh A. L.,
Smith R.,
Said B.,
Kirkbride H.,
Smyth B.,
Browning L.,
Larkin L.,
Morgan D.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
zoonoses and public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.87
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1863-2378
pISSN - 1863-1959
DOI - 10.1111/zph.12040
Subject(s) - zoonotic disease , environmental health , medicine , disease , public health , toxoplasmosis , disease burden , orphan drug , burden of disease , one health , global health , veterinary medicine , population , virology , pathology , biology , bioinformatics
Summary ‘Orphan’ zoonotic diseases attract disproportionately low scientific and public health attention for the impact that they can have. This article pulls together information on their health burden in the UK from routine and enhanced data sources. These diseases are heterogeneous in nature; some have very low case numbers (e.g. hydatid disease), whilst others affect hundreds of patients each year (e.g. toxoplasmosis). The number of deaths attributed to orphan zoonoses is relatively low, and the majority recorded in this article were caused by toxoplasmosis. There is a clear issue of under‐reporting and under‐diagnosis in the data sets presented, and further work should be carried out to obtain more accurate estimates of the prevalence of zoonotic infections. Joint human and veterinary studies are especially important for these diseases.