Diseases linked to animals are big threat to public health, said Dr. Mildred Padilla, vice chair of the veterinary medicine division of the Department of Science and Technology-National Research Council of the Philippines (DoST-NRCP), in a recent seminar.

Through the years, man has suffered from various diseases linked to animals. These diseases which animals pass to humans are called zoonoses.

According to WebMD, there are at least 38 diseases people catch directly from animals, at least 48 diseases from the bite of bugs that bit an infected animal, and at least 42 diseases people get by consuming or handling food or water contaminated with animal feces.

Some of these diseases include rabies, leptospirosis, hepatitis, food and mouth disease, salmonella, and anthrax, among others.

Padilla said that zoonotic diseases are continuously emerging. One of the most common ways to acquire these diseases is through contaminated food and water.

“Although animal-associated microbial and chemical contamination of food can occur at any stage of the food chain, most of food safety problems reported seemed to emanate in the animal production area,” said Padilla.

She stressed that food safety practices and animal health controls in animal production areas must be developed, implemented, and reinforced.

Padilla cited that most food laws are not up-to-date and not based on risk analysis.

She noted that most of government-owned and operated food testing laboratories are not fully equipped to diagnose animal diseases.

“Inspection workforce is small relative to the demand and LGU meat inspectors have limited skills for disease diagnosis. There is inadequate food and safety awareness and education among consumers and slow to non-adoption of good practices by producers and other stakeholders,” Padilla stressed.

Meanwhile, Dr. Carolyne Ann Benigno, of the Food and Agriculture Organization for Asia and the Pacific (FAO) based in Thailand, said that globalization and trade interdependence pose threats to food security and public health.