Coronavirus: Epidemiologist debunks 3 myths about how animals transmit diseases

But we do know that these “spillover events” are the starting points of many outbreaks, from influenza to HIV and from SARS to COVID-19.Zoonotic diseases are caused by pathogens which originate in other animal species. In this fraught atmosphere, it’s natural for misconceptions to circulate, so here’s what we know about how new diseases jump from animals to people.It’s often assumed that close contact with wild animals is necessary for zoonotic outbreaks like Ebola or COVID-19 to occur. Activities like hunting, butchering and trading wild animal meat for human consumption carry a high risk of exposure to pathogens, but we don’t know how often they actually cause diseases. This has been seen in Bangladesh, where bats drink from and urinate into vessels collecting palm sap, causing outbreaks of Nipah virus in local communities.Although wild animals transmit zoonotic viruses, people are much more frequently in contact with domestic animals, creating ample opportunities for disease spillover.