Zoonotic diseases are infectious diseases that are naturally transmitted between vertebrate animals and humans, encompassing a wide range of etiologic agents including viruses, bacteria, parasites, and fungi. They arise through direct contact, vectors, ingestion of contaminated food or water, or inhalation of infectious aerosols, and often involve complex reservoir and amplifier host dynamics. Zoonoses are central to One Health research, which integrates human, animal, and environmental health to study spillover mechanisms, host-pathogen interactions, ecological drivers, and evolutionary processes that enable cross-species transmission, adaptation, and, in some cases, sustained human-to-human spread.
Human activity continues to expand ever further into wild areas, throwing ecology out of balance. But what begins as an environmental issue often evolves into a human problem.
Ecology
Jan 21, 2026
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100
UCLA biologists are developing a tool to predict when deadly Salmonella outbreaks are likely to happen in wild songbird populations so that people can protect their feathered friends by taking down bird feeders at the right ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 13, 2026
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26
Australian researchers have uncovered how a particular strain of a diarrhea-causing parasite managed to infect more animal species, offering new insights into how parasitic infections emerge and spread to people.
Evolution
Jan 7, 2026
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37
From land-borne pathogens to high-speed vessel strikes, Pacific whales and dolphins are caught in a "perfect storm" where human-caused trauma and infectious diseases were found in more than 65% of investigated strandings.
Ecology
Dec 22, 2025
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272
While the spread of raccoons in Europe is often discussed, their companion tends to remain unnoticed: The raccoon roundworm Baylisascaris procyonis arrived in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century with the first raccoons ...
Plants & Animals
Dec 19, 2025
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23
The H5N1 avian influenza virus—commonly known as bird flu—has been causing outbreaks in dairy cows in the United States since March 2024. Now, scientists studying the adaptation of the avian H5N1 viruses to cows have found ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Dec 15, 2025
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60
As the planet edges towards 1.5°C of global warming, a new study led by the Natural History Museum, London has revealed that scientists still have only a limited understanding of how climate change is reshaping the risk of ...
Environment
Dec 15, 2025
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98
An ongoing outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza has affected more than 184 million domestic poultry since 2022 and, since making the leap to dairy cattle in spring 2024, more than 1,000 milking cow herds.
Veterinary medicine
Dec 4, 2025
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24
Researchers from North Carolina State University have confirmed that a species of Rickettsia first seen in dogs in 2018 is a new species of bacteria. The new species, dubbed Rickettsia finnyi, is associated with symptoms ...
Cell & Microbiology
Dec 2, 2025
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48
A veterinary researcher studying Calgary's urban wildlife has uncovered a surprising health anomaly in the city's jackrabbits (Lepus townsendii).
Plants & Animals
Dec 2, 2025
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20
