I've just watched 'Disease X' on the BBC and, while I was already aware of this, the vast majority of diseases (espeically viruses) seem to be transmitted to humans by animals.

A lot of farm animals get infected (by bats for example), then the pathogen spreads when people consume the animal produce (e.g. H2N1 viruses can spread via dairy produce if cattle infected) or when farmers are in close contact with the farm animals.

This got me thinking: are vegans less likely to catch some nasty diseases due to the lack of meat and dairy consumption, and are plants less likely to transmit pathogens?

Would another global pandemic be less likely if the majority of people were vegan or at least consumed less meat and dairy than they currently do?

In theory there'd be less contact with vectors such as bats and rodents since less of their habitats would be encroached upon due to farming AND less people would get infected by viruses transmitted by animals (like the nipah virus) or found in animal produce?

Sorry this…