In recent decades, about 75% of infectious diseases affecting humans have a zoonotic origin. The increase in emerging zoonotic diseases occurs in areas close to the equator, with tropical environments and in developing countries. The emergence of zoonoses have recently been favored by the exploitation of ecosystems, from habitat fragmentation to illegal trade. The interaction of human populations or production/pet animals with wildlife is one of the socio-environmental factors that increases the risk of pathogen spread. This has proven to be even more significant in fragmented environments with agricultural edges and primary vegetation, where biodiversity is high due to the interaction of exotic species associated with human settlements, wild species and agricultural or pet fauna. This is due to the exponential increase in contact that leads to an exchange of vectors and therefore of pathogens that can adapt and cause outbreaks of emerging diseases not only to the human population, but also to wild animal populations.

Since most of the transmission cycles of zoonotic agents depend on interactions between non-human animals and humans, it is impossible to study the emergence of zoonoses in isolation without considering the habitat in which the communities are located, considering the ecosystem health as one of the main challenges to be achieved. This is why in recent decades, the study of zoonoses has been done from the “One Health” approach, which proposes that multidisciplinary studies should be carried out that include veterinarians, human physicians and ecologists, to jointly address and prevent the emergence of zoonotic pathogens.

Unfortunately, there are few studies focused on understanding how emerging pathogens affect the health of animals. This is why this symposium seeks to show the results of various investigations focused on understanding the pathogens that are infecting wild species that have been forced to live closely with human communities and how conserved areas can help us prevent the emergence of zoonoses.