Context

World Zoonosis Day is observed annually on July 6 to commemorate the first immunisation against a zoonotic illness.

• Indian Immunologicals Limited (IIL) organised a nationwide free vaccination camp against zoonotic diseases on account of World Zoonosis Day 2022. 

About

What is Zoonosis?

• Zoonotic diseases originate in animals and can spread to humans.
• Infections occur through bites or contact with the infected animal’s bodily fluids.
• Virus, bacteria, fungi, prions or parasites cause zoonosis.
• Rabies, Ebola, certain strains of Swine flu, leptospirosis, brucellosis, anthrax, Zika and Ebola viruses, rickettsioses, plague, chikungunya, dengue and Japanese encephalitis, are the most notorious zoonotic diseases.

Origin of World Zoonosis Day

• World Zoonosis Day was instituted on 6 July 1885 to educate and raise awareness about zoonotic diseases that can transmit from animals to humans.
• It commemorates French biologist Louis Pasteur, who administered the first dose of the first vaccine against rabies.
  
  

India, a potential hotspot for zoonotic diseases:

• A recent report from the State of the World’s Forests 2022 predicts India as a potential hotspot for zoonotic viral diseases. 
• Zoonotic diseases such as rabies have imperilled human health since antiquity.
• Dogs are the source of most human rabies deaths, contributing up to 99% of all rabies transmissions to humans, and every year it causes 18,000 to 20,000 deaths.