Plant Based Diet- A Therapeutic Riposte to Emerging Zoonotic Infections

Abstract

Emerging zoonotic infectious diseases like swine influenza, avian influenza and Ebola have caused massive human suffering, social upheaval and economic damage across countries and continents. There is increasing evidence that humanity’s overexploitation of nature is one of the major factors responsible for the spread. Recently, mankind is traversing a hard-pandemic time due to COVID19 outbreak which appears to be a brutal killer. When humans infringe wild adobes for food production, it generates opportunities for infectious pathogens to leap to livestock and humans. It is the time to begin brooding about more radical measures to handle the root of this crisis. A resilient food system that puts less stress on the environment would reduce the outbreak of Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) by reducing contact between humans and wild animals thereby restoring biodiversity. World Health Organisation (WHO) advises avoidance/judicious use of animal meat consumption during or after every outbreak. It is clearly evident that a balanced, healthy plant-based diet can help to control pandemics/epidemics not only by preventing the transmission but also by strengthening the immune system of individuals to combat the infection. This paper throws light on how the human diet is directly or indirectly linked to the emergence, spread and prognosis of various infectious diseases.

Keywords

• animal meat consumption
• coronavirus-19
• disease out