Urbanization and Emergence of Infectious Diseases

Abstract

The process of urbanization is ongoing and continuous since the industrial revolution in the 18th century. The United Nations has estimated the growth of world's urban population to be 6.3 billion by 2050. Rapid influx of migrants in cities led to the development of informal urban settlement which is the initial probable source of emerging communicable diseases. Due to overcrowding, closer contacts with wild and domesticated animals increases the risk of emerging zoonotic diseases. Adequate housing, proper city planning, proper hygiene and sanitation, and surveillance can help in preventing transmission of pathogens, emerging infectious diseases, and decline of ecosystem. This chapter considers the role of urbanization that plays in the emergence of zoonotic diseases and cross-species transmission of pathogens into new host population through exploring the dynamics and complexity of ecological system at wildlife-livestock-human interfaces and the factors affecting the epidemiology of disease emergence.