Research overview: disease transmission at the leopard-dog-human interface

This overview examines zoonotic and cross-species disease risks where leopards prey on free-ranging dogs near people, including canine distemper, rabies, and parasites. It synthesises research on pathogen spillover among domestic dogs, leopards, and humans in shared landscapes, and how prey subsidies that draw cats toward settlements also create disease bridges. The literature discusses surveillance, dog vaccination as a tool that simultaneously protects people, reduces prey subsidies, and lowers cross-infection, and the data gaps in carnivore epidemiology in human-dominated areas. The survey links conflict management to One Health thinking, arguing that managing dogs benefits human health, leopard welfare, and coexistence simultaneously.