Zoonotic Diseases And One Health

Humans are part of an ecosystem, and understanding our relationship with the environment and with other organisms is a prerequisite to living together sustainably. Zoonotic diseases, which are spread between animals and humans, are an important issue as they reflect our relationship with other animals in a common environment. Zoonoses are still presented with high occurrence rates, especially in rural communities, with direct and indirect consequences for people. In several cases, zoonosis could cause severe clinical manifestations and is difficult to control and treat. Moreover, the persistent use of drugs for infection control enhances the potential of drug resistance and impacts on ecosystem balance and food production. This book demonstrates the importance of understanding zoonosis in terms of how it allows ecosystems to transform, adapt, and evolve. Ecohealth/One Health approaches recognize the interconnections among people, other organisms, and their shared developing environment. Moreover, these holistic approaches encourage stakeholders of various disciplines to collaborate in order to solve problems related to zoonosis. The reality of climate change necessitates considering new variables in studying diseases, particularly to predict how these changes in the ecosystems can affect human health and how to recognize the boundaries between medicine, veterinary care, and environmental and social changes towards healthy and sustainable development.

The One Health concept recognizes that the health of humans, animals, and their ecosystems are interconnected, and that a coordinated, collaborative, multidisciplinary, and cross-sectoral approach is necessary to fully understand and respond to potential or existing risks that originate at the animal–human–ecosystems interfaces. Thus, the One Health concept represents a holistic vision for addressing some of the complex challenges that threaten human and animal health, food safety, and the environments in which diseases flourish. There are many examples showing how the health of humans is related to the health of animals and the environment. Diseases shared between humans and animals are zoonoses. Some zoonoses have been known for many years, whereas others have emerged suddenly and unexpectedly. Over 70% of all new emerging diseases over the past few decades have been zoonoses that have emerged from wildlife, most often from bats, rodents, or birds. Examples of zoonoses are many and varied, ranging from rabies to bovine tuberculosis, and from Japanese encephalitis to SARS. Clearly, a One Health approach is essential for understanding their ecology, and for outbreak response and the development of control strategies. However, the One Health concept and approach is much broader than zoonoses; it extends to including antimicrobial resistance, food safety, and environmental health and, consequently, impacts on global health security, economic wellbeing, and international trade. It is this breadth of One Health that connects the papers in this Special Issue.

Zoonotic diseases – pathogens transmitted from animals to people – offer particularly challenging problems for global health institutions and actors, given the complex social-ecological dynamics at play. New forms of risk caused by unprecedented global connectivity and rapid social and environmental change demand new approaches. ‘One Health’ highlights the need for collaboration across sectors and disciplines to tackle zoonotic diseases. However, there has been little exploration of how social, political and economic contexts influence efforts to ‘do’ One Health. This book fills this gap by offering a much needed political economy analysis of zoonosis research and policy. Through ethnographic, qualitative and quantitative data, the book draws together a diverse number of case studies. These include chapters exploring global narratives about One Health operationalization and prevailing institutional bottlenecks; the evolution of research networks over time; and the histories and politics behind conflicting disease control approaches. The themes from these chapters are further contextualized and expanded upon through country-specific case studies – from Kenya, Zambia, Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone – exploring the translation of One Health research and policy into the African context. This book is a valuable resource for academic researchers, students and policy practitioners in the areas of global health, agriculture and development.

One Health is an emerging concept that aims to bring together human, animal, and environmental health. Achieving harmonized approaches for disease detection and prevention is difficult because traditional boundaries of medical and veterinary practice must be crossed. In the 19th and early 20th centuries this was not the case—then researchers like Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch and physicians like William Osler and Rudolph Virchow crossed the boundaries between animal and human health. More recently Calvin Schwabe revised the concept of One Medicine. This was critical for the advancement of the field of epidemiology, especially as applied to zoonotic diseases. The future of One Health is at a crossroads with a need to more clearly define its boundaries and demonstrate its benefits. Interestingly the greatest acceptance of One Health is seen in the developing world where it is having significant impacts on control of infectious diseases.

Emerging infectious diseases are often due to environmental disruption, which exposes microbes to a different niche that selects for new virulence traits and facilitates transmission between animals and humans. Thus, health of humans also depends upon health of animals and the environment – a concept called One Health. This book presents core concepts, compelling evidence, successful applications, and remaining challenges of One Health approaches to thwarting the threat of emerging infectious disease. Written by scientists working in the field, this book will provide a series of "stories" about how disruption of the environment and transmission from animal hosts is responsible for emerging human and animal diseases. Explains the concept of One Health and the history of the One Health paradigm shift. Traces the emergence of devastating new diseases in both animals and humans. Presents case histories of notable, new zoonoses, including West Nile virus, hantavirus, Lyme disease, SARS, and salmonella. Links several epidemic zoonoses with the environmental factors that promote them. Offers insight into the mechanisms of microbial evolution toward pathogenicity. Discusses the many causes behind the emergence of antibiotic resistance. Presents new technologies and approaches for public health disease surveillance. Offers political and bureaucratic strategies for promoting the global acceptance of One Health.

H1N1 ("swine flu"), SARS, mad cow disease, and HIV/AIDS are a few examples of zoonotic diseases-diseases transmitted between humans and animals. Zoonotic diseases are a growing concern given multiple factors: their often novel and unpredictable nature, their ability to emerge anywhere and spread rapidly around the globe, and their major economic toll on several disparate industries. Infectious disease surveillance systems are used to detect this threat to human and animal health. By systematically collecting data on the occurrence of infectious diseases in humans and animals, investigators can track the spread of disease and provide an early warning to human and animal health officials, nationally and internationally, for follow-up and response. Unfortunately, and for many reasons, current disease surveillance has been ineffective or untimely in alerting officials to emerging zoonotic diseases. Sustaining Global Surveillance and Response to Emerging Zoonotic Diseases assesses some of the disease surveillance systems around the world, and recommends ways to improve early detection and response. The book presents solutions for improved coordination between human and animal health sectors, and among governments and international organizations. Parties seeking to improve the detection and response to zoonotic diseases-including U.S. government and international health policy makers, researchers, epidemiologists, human health clinicians, and veterinarians-can use this book to help curtail the threat zoonotic diseases pose to economies, societies, and health.

Globalization of the food supply has created conditions favorable for the emergence, reemergence, and spread of food-borne pathogens-compounding the challenge of anticipating, detecting, and effectively responding to food-borne threats to health. In the United States, food-borne agents affect 1 out of 6 individuals and cause approximately 48 million illnesses, 128,000 hospitalizations, and 3,000 deaths each year. This figure likely represents just the tip of the iceberg, because it fails to account for the broad array of food-borne illnesses or for their wide-ranging repercussions for consumers, government, and the food industry-both domestically and internationally. A One Health approach to food safety may hold the promise of harnessing and integrating the expertise and resources from across the spectrum of multiple health domains including the human and veterinary medical and plant pathology communities with those of the wildlife and aquatic health and ecology communities. The IOM's Forum on Microbial Threats hosted a public workshop on December 13 and 14, 2011 that examined issues critical to the protection of the nation's food supply. The workshop explored existing knowledge and unanswered questions on the nature and extent of food-borne threats to health. Participants discussed the globalization of the U.S. food supply and the burden of illness associated with foodborne threats to health; considered the spectrum of food-borne threats as well as illustrative case studies; reviewed existing research, policies, and practices to prevent and mitigate foodborne threats; and, identified opportunities to reduce future threats to the nation's food supply through the use of a "One Health" approach to food safety. Improving Food Safety Through a One Health Approach: Workshop Summary covers the events of the workshop and explains the recommendations for future related workshops.

Zoonotic diseases represent one of the leading causes of illness and death from infectious disease. Defined by the World Health Organization, zoonoses are "those diseases and infections that are naturally transmitted between vertebrate animals and man with or without an arthropod intermediate." Worldwide, zoonotic diseases have a negative impact on commerce, travel, and economies. In most developing countries, zoonotic diseases are among those diseases that contribute significantly to an already overly burdened public health system. In industrialized nations, zoonotic diseases are of particular concern for at-risk groups such as the elderly, children, childbearing women, and immunocompromised individuals. The Emergence of Zoonotic Diseases: Understanding the Impact on Animal and Human Health, covers a range of topics, which include: an evaluation of the relative importance of zoonotic diseases against the overall backdrop of emerging infections; research findings related to the current state of our understanding of zoonotic diseases; surveillance and response strategies to detect, prevent, and mitigate the impact of zoonotic diseases on human health; and information about ongoing programs and actions being taken to identify the most important needs in this vital area.