Strengthening Navy's biosecurity in the face of the asymmetric threat of marine zoonoses.

As modern naval operations increasingly occur in littoral and tropical marine environments, the threat of marine zoonoses-infectious diseases transmitted from marine organisms to humans-has emerged as a potent asymmetric challenge. Unlike conventional military threats, these pathogens bypass hardware defenses and instead target personnel, compromising mission readiness, creating operational delays, and threatening force health protection. This review explores the biological and operational dimensions of marine zoonoses, including bacterial, parasitic, viral, and toxin-related risks such as Vibrio spp., Anisakis spp., norovirus, ciguatera, and scombroid poisoning. It analyzes transmission chains, risk pathways, and epidemiological patterns relevant to naval deployments. The review also introduces a strategic biosecurity framework for naval forces composed of three pillars: prevention, detection, and response. This framework integrates health education, medical intelligence, environmental surveillance, and outbreak control protocols to safeguard personnel in maritime settings. A strong cross-sector collaboration, integrating military-civilian efforts in surveillance, diagnostics, and response is essential. Embedding marine biosecurity into military doctrine through training, diagnostic capacity building, and outbreak simulations enhances frontline preparedness. Marine medicine thus plays a vital role in defending both personnel and operations through proactive, coordinated, and strategic biosecurity actions.