title: Emerging infectious diseases of wildlife--threats to biodiversity and human health.
abstract: Emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) of free-living wild animals can be classified into three major groups on the basis of key epizootiological criteria: (i) EIDs associated with "spill-over" from domestic animals to wildlife populations living in proximity; (ii) EIDs related directly to human intervention, via host or parasite translocations; and (iii) EIDs with no overt human or domestic animal involvement. These phenomena have two major biological implications: first, many wildlife species are reservoirs of pathogens that threaten domestic animal and human health; second, wildlife EIDs pose a substantial threat to the conservation of global biodiversity.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA. daszak@uga.edu
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Daszak
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Cunningham
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Hyatt
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D000818:Animals; D000829:Animals, Domestic; D000835:Animals, Wild; D002980:Climate; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000635:transmission / Q000662:veterinary*; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D004197:Disease Reservoirs; D017753:Ecosystem; D006801:Humans; D015047:Zoonoses