Zoonoses — the diseases that jump from animals to people

Environmental journalist, Michael Dulaney looks at viruses and bacteria that can move between bats, horses, seals, pigs, voles and even polar bears, and the conditions that lead to human infection.

These diseases are known as zoonoses.

Michael says climate change, urban sprawl, animal farming and even homelessness contribute to wild animals coming into ever closer contact with people, leading these illnesses to move from creatures to us.

To understand how this process works, Michael has researched the volunteers dedicating their lives to conservation. 

He has camped out on a freezing Victorian night to try to catch ducks with a net shot from a cannon, to test them for bird flu. 

He has gone frog hunting in the jungles of Indonesia, and he’s visited a suburban Melbourne apartment where a dedicated citizen gives up her master bedroom to a collection of injured flying foxes, while she sleeps in the spare room.

Michael also explains how the curious case of Trench Fever fits into the zoonotic puzzle. It was found first in Edmonton, Canada in 2022, when patients developed a serious heart condition after they were given organs donated by homeless victims of the opioid crisis.

Further information

Sentinels: When diseases spread between animals and humans is published by Scribe.

This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan. Conversations' Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.

This episode covers H5N1 bird flu, covid-19, pandemic, lockdown, flu, cat flu, swine flu, hendra virus, horse racing, horse trainer, fly by night bat clinic, Werribee poo ponds, necropsy, chicken farms, disease-proof pigs, PRRS, CRISPR, vaccines, vaccination, smallpox, pox virus, borealpox and northern red-backed vole.

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