3 out of every 4 new or emerging infectious diseases in people come from animals – CDC
A vegan lifestyle would greatly reduce the risk of pandemics. Origin of several infectious diseases can be linked back to humans farming animals:
- Measles = cows
- Whooping cough = sheep, pigs
- Leprosy = water buffalo
- MERS = camels
- Nipah = pigs
- Strep throat = cows (most likely)
- Smallpox = camels (most likely)
- SARS 1 = civet cats (most likely)
See video for more.
There have been documented epidemics caused by avian (chicken) and swine (pig) flu. The 1918 flu which killed a quarter of the world’s population and killed 50 million people was caused by a H1N1 flu likely originating at a Kansas chicken farm. This was despite the fact that most chicken farming then was free range. Learn more at the Anti-Pandemic Diet.
An H1N1 strain that reached pandemic levels in USA and Mexico in 2009 likely had its origins among pig populations in both countries.
Any space where we confine animals in crowded, unhygienic spaces – whether a factory farm or Wet Market – incubate diseases at a rapid rate. This is perhaps why 80% of antibiotics sold in USA are given to animals.
