One Health

Zoonotic Disease, Livestock, and Welfare

The conditions that create poor farm animal welfare also create risk for zoonotic disease emergence, linking animal welfare to human public health.

Key Facts

H5N1 and H5N2 avian influenza viruses have spread through intensively farmed poultry
Salmonella and Campylobacter are common in poultry and frequently linked to farm conditions
Crowding and stress suppress immune function making animals more susceptible to disease
The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic highlighted risks of close human-animal contact in markets
One Health frameworks explicitly link animal, human, and environmental health

Welfare Considerations

The connection between poor farm animal welfare and zoonotic disease risk illustrates why animal welfare is a public health issue. Crowded, stressed animals with weakened immune systems are both suffering and more likely to amplify and transmit pathogens. Improving farm animal welfare through better conditions, lower stocking densities, and stress reduction simultaneously reduces zoonotic disease risk.

What You Can Do

Support One Health approaches that connect animal welfare to human disease prevention
Advocate for intensive farming reform as both a welfare and public health issue
Choose animal products from systems with lower disease pressure and better welfare
Donate to research connecting farm animal welfare and zoonotic disease risk