Climate change

Public health

Pathology

Disease

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Veterinary medicine

Infectious disease (medical specialty)

Biology

Pandemic

Biodiversity

Outbreak

Nursing

Virology

Geography

Waterborne diseases

Ecology

Leptospirosis

One Health

Zoonotic disease

Disease reservoir

Medicine

Environmental health

Better understanding of how environmental changes affect pathogens, hosts, and disease vectors can help prevent and respond to zoonoses, write Rory Gibb and colleagues Climate change and biodiversity loss are among this century's greatest threats to human health and are exposing people worldwide to increasing food and water insecurity, extreme weather, pollution, and infectious disease threats.12 Zoonotic infectious diseases are situated at this nexus between environmental change, ecosystems, and health. Zoonotic pathogens and parasites are maintained in an animal reservoir and regularly or sporadically spill over to cause disease in humans,3 sometimes leading to sustained human-to-human or vectorborne epidemics (eg, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronaviruses (SARS-CoV), Ebola, plague) but more commonly to endemic or sporadic disease (eg, leptospirosis, helminthiases, Lyme disease, hantavirus diseases). ### Glossary of terms

Ecosystem perspectives are needed to manage zoonotic risks in a changing climate