Northeast India as the Next Frontier of EcoHealth and One Health Research.

Abstract

We are living amidst the sixth mass extinction event caused by human-mediated habitat alterations and climate change. One unintended fallout of anthropogenic pressure and climate change is the increased frequency of emerging infectious diseases. Across the globe, massive efforts are ongoing to understand the factors contributing to infectious disease outbreaks. However, South Asia, which is particularly vulnerable to climate change, lacks sufficient data in this regard, especially the highly biodiverse region of Northeast India. This region is particularly susceptible to emerging infectious diseases and has been identified as a hotspot for both biodiversity and zoonotic diseases. In this review, we emphasize Northeast India's rich biological diversity, high anthropogenic pressures, and environmental changes, which make it an important location for surveillance and monitoring of factors that promote spillover of zoonotic infectious diseases. We provide a roadmap rooted in EcoHealth and One Health principles for studies investigating the emergence of zoonotic diseases in this resource-limited but highly biodiverse environment, which can contribute significantly toward preventing and mitigating future outbreaks.