Forbes Most modern epidemics have been caused by pathogens that spread from animals to humans. These zoonotic diseases are predicted to increase as climate change and deforestation worsen. Disease epidemics transmitted from animals to humans could kill at least 12 times more people in 2050 than they did in 2020, according to a recently published study. These zoonotic diseases are known as “spillover events” when they enter the human population. Such spillovers could be more frequent in the future due to intensifying climate change and deforestation — both of which mean that humans come into contact with animals more frequently.
This prediction is, of course, dependent upon both animals and people still being alive on the planet in 2050 in sufficient numbers to share diseases, a situation that appears increasingly debatable due to the erratic natures of the intensifying climate catastrophe and mass extinction events gripping the planet.
The researchers, all of whom are employed by Ginkgo Bioworks, a Boston-based biotech company that specializes in using genetic engineering to produce bacteria with industrial applications for other biotech companies, analysed nearly 60 years of epidemiological data and found that the number of epidemics has been increasing by almost 5% every year between 1963 and 2019, with deaths up by 9%.