Global zoonotic disease surveillance: an emerging public health and biosecurity imperative

The proliferation of disease pathogens that can infect humans, livestock, wildlife, and other animals increasingly threatens biodiversity and environmental security, and has collateral impacts upon human health and international system of exchanges Globalization means that physical distance from outbreaks of zoonotic diseases--even distances spanning half the globe--can no longer be considered a safeguard against infection from those diseases. The unexpect resurgence in human deaths from H5N 1 avian influenza in Vietnam and Thailand during August and September 2004 and the first evidence of direct human-to-human transmission of this potentially deadly zoonotic disease clearly demonstrate the ne for international cooperation and collaboration in