Using Routine Surveillance Data to Estimate the Epidemic Potential of Emerging Zoonoses: Application to the Emergence of US Swine Origin Influenza A H3N2v Virus

Cauchemez, Simon; Epperson, Scott; Biggerstaff, Matthew; Swerdlow, David; Finelli, Lyn; Ferguson, Neil M.

Background When a virus emerges in the human population, such viruses can cause global epidemics potentially harming large numbers of people. Zoonotic viruses are viruses that are transmissible from animals to humans; the global health threat of zoonotic viruses was recently demonstrated by the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic and the SARS epidemic in 2003. Many zoonotic viruses are transmitted by means of an infected vector, while others can be transmitted by inhalation, contact with infected excretions, or by direct contact with an infected animal. Zoonotic viruses primarily cause occasional infections in human populations exposed to reservoir species (the animal species harboring the virus) because the pathogens are usually poorly adapted for sustained human-to-human transmission. However, zoonotic viruses are under strong selective pressure to acquire the ability for human-to-human transmission.