zoonosis

noun

Etymology: From zoo- + (itself from Ancient Greek ζῷον (zōîon, “animal”)) + Ancient Greek νόσος (nósos, “disease”) (compare also nosology); the surface analysis is almost, although not quite, zoo- + -osis; compare also anthroponosis.

1. An animal disease, such as rabies or anthrax, that can be transmitted to humans.

   “In his first book since the 2008 essay collection Natural Acts: A Sidelong View of Science and Nature, David Quammen looks at the natural world from yet another angle: the search for the next human pandemic, what epidemiologists call “the next big one.” His quest leads him around the world to study a variety of suspect zoonoses—animal-hosted pathogens that infect humans.”