Conceptualizing emergent animal farming and infectious diseases: a One Health framework

The origin of animal farming is associated with major and inter-related changes in the ecology of humans and animals and new opportunities for pathogens to invade and be sustained in both populations. Understanding these transitions is critical for unravelling the origins and evolution of infectious diseases linked to emergent farming. This study aims to leverage One Health approaches, which recognize the inter-dependencies between the health of humans, animals, and environments, to better understand the ecology of humans, animals, and pathogens during the onset of farming.

This study develops a One Health conceptual framework to explore the interconnected ecological and health impacts of early animal farming. It employs archaeological and contemporary wildlife farming case studies to build this framework.

One Health frameworks are ideal to situate these changing human-animal-environment relationships in their widest context, allowing interacting processes and their feedback loops to be considered in integrated ways. Combined evaluation of ancient and contemporary emergent farming contexts enables a more inclusive approach, allowing a broader range of ecological and evolutionary insights to be considered.

One Health approaches offer a valuable framework for understanding the historical emergence and impact of infectious diseases within farming contexts. By situating ancient interspecies relationships within broader ecological and health contexts, this framework helps investigate complex archaeological contexts and offers useful parallels to contemporary issues in wildlife farming. Insights gained from studying ancient farming systems can inform current health and agricultural policies and contribute to preventing future infectious disease outbreaks.