What You Learned About Zoonotic Disease Spillover Risk During COVID-19

SciTech Daily  September 17, 2022
According to an international team of researchers (Japan, USA – Santa Clara University, University of Colorado, UK) media messaging throughout the pandemic consistently described direct causality between zoonotic disease spread and land use change. This was even though only 53% of the surveyed peer-reviewed literature made this association. The complexity of pathogen responses to land change cannot be reduced to one-size-fits-all proclamations. They discovered that as the literature moves from primary research to review articles and commentaries, and finally to webpages, the “overstating of the evidence” continually increases. In fact, 78% of secondary papers imply the land use–zoonotic spillover association, and all but one of the sampled webpages make this association. In addition, the researchers also noted that the secondary sources and web pages frequently failed to mention the uncertainty associated with their conclusions. Poor messaging can erode credibility, neglect the local community’s specific needs when it comes to policymaking, and detract attention from other factors that can lead to zoonotic spillover. They recommend more accurate, nuanced, and explanatory dissemination of the studies on zoonotic spillover risk, arguing that such an approach would also benefit science more broadly… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE