Abstract
Many species of wildlife are now on the way to extinction. The speed is several hundred times faster than we have ever experienced in the history. One of the causative reasons for extinction is outbreaks of severe infectious diseases. Recently, thousands of wild sea mammals have died in Europe by infections with three kinds of new morbilliviruses. In 1994, a third of the lions in the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem of East Africa died with neurological symptoms. Canine distemper virus was identified as the culprit in the epidemic, and the virus originally came from dogs that lived with humans. Thus, viruses could cause significant epidemics that decrease the wildlife population. The pathogens which caused such epidemics were rapidly identified by excellent collaborative investigations in the world. The works are highly evaluated, and it is important to have worldwide cooperation with modern techniques for epidemics in wild animals. However, we must realize that the expanding human society is directly or indirectly causing such epidemics in wildlife, and should cope with this situation.
