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American Medical Association (AMA) President Posts AMA Website Blog about One Health

 

 Dr. Cecil B. Wilson, AMA President posted the following blog on the American Medical Association website on January 28, 20011:

 

 Click below to read or see Publications page http://www.onehealthinitiative.com/publications.php with attachment.

 

We are in it together Posted at 1/28/2011 8:56 AM CST

Physicians and veterinarians—as healers—have a lot in common, whether our patients walk on two legs or four. And our patients share a lot of diseases in common, whether they talk, bark, moo, oink, purr…or whinny.

I was reminded of this when I participated on a panel last week in Orlando with another physician and two veterinarians at the North American Veterinary Conference. We were talking about opportunities for interdisciplinary action in association with the “One Health Initiative,” which the AMA supports. 

This is a movement also supported by the One Health Commission of which the AMA is a member. The commission was formed in 2009 to forge collaborations between physicians, osteopaths, veterinarians, dentists, nurses and other scientific disciplines.

Here’s why it is important for this interaction:

• Sixty percent of the nearly 1,500 infectious diseases now recognized in humans are caused by pathogens that have an animal vector.
• Three of every four newly emerging human infectious diseases originate in animals (zoonotic).
• Many zoonotic diseases pose increasing threats to the human race (Ebola, Lassa fever and the Nipah, Hendra and Marburg viruses).
• Pollution and environmental contamination affect human and animal health.
• Many drugs and most medical devices are tested and refined in animals before use in humans.
• Humans, animals and the environment also intersect at farms, slaughterhouses and processors.
• Monitoring animal health has led to the discovery that environmental contaminants, such as lead or mercury, can be unhealthy for humans.

We are in it (this world) together, whether man or animal. And sharing information and science through collaboration between the veterinary and medical professions benefits us all.

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Permission to post on the One Health Initiative website granted January 31, 2011 by Cecil B. Wilson, MD, President of the American Medical Association