Many examples of recent zoonotic disease outbreaks exists, e.g. Avian Influenza virus (both in our own region and globally), SARS (globally), Ebola Reston virus (Philippines), Nipah virus (Malaysia), Chikungunyah virus (Indonesia), Hendra virus (Australia). The economic costs of such outbreaks can be huge as exemplified by the examples below
| Disease | Economic Impact |
SARS (2003) |
Cost to East Asia in excess of US$40 billionGlobal cost approximately US$60 billion |
Avian influenza |
Direct economic cost currently more than US$20 billion |
Nipah (1999) |
Cost to Malaysia – estimated to be US$500 million |
BSE |
Cost to the UK – estimated to be US$7.5 billion |
Bluetongue virus |
France (2007): US$1.4 billionNetherlands: US$85 millionUnites States: US$130 million annually |
Foot-and-mouth Disease (2001) |
United Kingdom: US$355 billion |
Equine influenza |
Australia (2007): A$1 billion |
