Yes, it's true: animals are at the root of at least 75 percent of human infectious diseases.

Examples are SARS-CoV-2, HIV, influenza viruses, and even the measles virus comes from the animal kingdom.

A simple observation could create the impression that the animals are the perpetrators and humans are the victims.

This perception is not only wrong, but also dangerous. For example, the eradication of bats and flying foxes, which are notorious for “slinging viruses”, would severely disturb the ecological balance, with consequences for us humans.

Bats devour large quantities of insects, keep mosquitoes at bay, flying foxes spread the seeds of their fruit prey, preserve forests and can create new ones.

In addition to this anthropocentric perspective, I would like to point out that it is humans who come into contact with animals and have more or less completely conquered their habitat and are encroaching further and further.

In the article "How much reverence" at this point, zoonoses researchers are assigned the "classic attitude of animal is perpetrator, human is victim" and contrasted with an expanded "moral map of our species".

It is said that primatologist Frans de Waal is calling for a new ethical attitude towards animals.

Does that also mean: infection research versus behavioral research?

Hardly likely.

Protect animals from human diseases

As an example, a digression into my research: On behalf of an unusual combination of institutes, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, we started looking for viruses and bacteria as early as 2001 between wild apes and humans - the primate researchers of the MPI-EVA with a focus on the health of chimpanzees, the RKI with a focus on pathogens relevant to humans.

Great apes are our closest genetic relatives and are therefore ideal indicators or early warning systems for novel pathogens.

Methodologically, the procedure was such that the animals were not disturbed in their natural behavior, i.e. only faecal samples and autopsy samples from deceased chimpanzees were examined.

As early as 2008, we were able to show that all cases of observed respiratory diseases in great apes were due to viruses transmitted from humans to the animals, causing the animals to become ill and in some cases even die.

This was a wake-up call for primatology and conservation and has led to a rethink of how we treat great apes in the wild.

We have established hygiene measures to protect the animals from our diseases;

for example, the "AHA rules" have been mandatory for many years in the great ape projects and ecotourism that are important for species protection.

Further examples of the transmission of pathogens from humans to a wide variety of animals followed, including SARS-CoV-2.

The fact is: Humans are a large, globally connected population and can be found in every corner of the world.