Narges Dorratoltaj

Crops and livestock can face similar risks, but livestock is uniquely vulnerable to disease outbreaks.

Events are unfolding rapidly in the global spread of the SARS-CoV2 virus.

Since cases of coronavirus were first reported in China, the outbreak has spread to 16 other countries.

Although reports of opioid abuse started to become widespread in 2014 and this crisis was declared a public health emergency in October 2017, the "opioid epidemic" actually dates back to the 1990s.

This year's influenza strains have been particularly bad, but a century ago half a billion people were infected, and somewhere between 50 and 100 million people probably died.

Following recent hurricanes we have all seen the catastrophic damage to homes, businesses, and communities. We hear less, however, about the increased risks to health.

In 2013, avian influenza (H7N9) was first diagnosed in humans. Since then there have been 1,258 cases of H7N9 among humans, mostly in East Asia.

The 2014–2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa infected more than 28,000 people, took more than 11,000 lives, and caused a GDP loss of approximately USD 519 million in Sierra Leon, Liberia, and Guinea