Emerging Infectious Diseases 20-year Timeline, Zoonoses

Dr. Paul Arguin, EID associate editor, was special editor for the first zoonoses issue. 

According to Dr. Arguin, “The month of December evokes a variety of memories such as baking gingerbread houses, drinking peppermint lattes while shopping for Christmas presents, and traveling home to be with family. Here at EID though, December means emerging infections in humans transmitted from a vast menagerie. In December 2004 on the heels of the recent worldwide SARS and U.S. monkeypox outbreaks, EID published its first zoonoses-themed issue – which turned into an annual tradition. Anchored by a thought provoking perspective by Dr. Hilda Kruse and colleagues on wildlife as a source of zoonotic infection, EID volume 10, number 12 included articles describing pathogens transmitted from multiple classes of vertebrate hosts including amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. This annual exciting issue is more than just an opportunity for an armchair adventure. It provides us with the time to focus on the impacts of these diseases and the possibility to improve lives by learning more about the interconnectedness of humans and other animals in our ecological niches.”