Epidemiology of emerging viral zoonoses

The last 2 decades has witnessed, peculiar disease emergence, which were sudden and hitherto unknown. New viral zoonoses are posing a greater challenge to public health. Most new zoonoses are due to infection with haemmorhagic viruses. Risk assessment and risk management are partial. The objective of this review is to create an understanding at the systems level, looking at the ecosystems, evolutionary biology, epidemiology and population dynamics of parasites, vectors and hosts. This retrospective information forms a strong basis for the theory of causation, thereby initiating the development of newer tools for diagnosis and working out the strategies for prevention.