Zoonotic diseases are taking a heavy toll on iconic wildlife species, posing danger to public health, the Kenya Wildlife Research and Training Institute (KWRTI) said in a report launched in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, Tuesday.
According to the National Wildlife Research Agenda 2023-2027 report, the recent emerging infectious disease (EID) was dominated by zoonotic diseases from wildlife in protected sanctuaries.
The report notes that 71.8 percent of EIDs originated from wildlife and were on the rise. “Some recent emerging zoonotic diseases that have caused major impact include Ebola, SARS-Cov, MERS-Cov and most recently SARS-Cov2,” says the report, which was launched in the resort town of Naivasha, located about 90 km northwest of Nairobi.
It warns that the threat of diseases to wildlife, livestock and humans was worsened by population growth, habitat loss and unregulated movement of people, livestock and wildlife.
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According to the report, the global movement of people, livestock and wildlife had increased the interaction among them, resulting in pathogens crossing the species-specific barrier. “Despite threatening wildlife populations, wildlife diseases especially those of zoonotic nature are also threatening human health and wellbeing,” the report says.
Zoonotic diseases will continue to increase in frequency over the next few decades mainly in tropical developing countries where wildlife biodiversity is immense and the human population is dense and growing, the report says.
“In order to safeguard wildlife resources, human welfare and livestock productivity in Kenya, there is a need for comprehensive research on wildlife diseases and ecosystem health,” it says.
Patrick Omondi, the director of KWRTI, said the aim of the report was to inform policy interventions on the current and emerging needs in the wildlife sector.
Omondi said that research projects that are in the pipeline will assess the impacts of fire in Aberdares National Park in central Kenya and the development of the recovery plan for the sable antelopes, adding that the institute is also conducting investigations on competent vectors for filaria worms in rhino sanctuaries and the marine megafauna aerial census along the Kenyan coast.
