One Health Publications

UPDATED: 24 JAN 2022 11:49 AM

“One Health is an integrated approach to tackle health-related threats emerging at the intersection of animals, humans, plants and the environment and address collective needs for clean air, potable water and safe food.

This approach has gained massive traction as the pandemic underscored the need for attention to health-related threats emerging at the intersection of animals and humans.

A key player in promoting the One Health approach in India is the Union Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying. Union minister Parshottam Rupala says that his ministry is already ahead of the curve, having launched vaccination for animals before the Covid-19 vaccination began in India, in an interview with Rajiv Tikoo of Outlook Business. Edited excerpts: …”

One Health to the rescue – The Week

“…

The need of the hour is to work together for One Health and to fight the menacing microbes and other maladies that threaten society. More than anything, the situation requires teams of open-minded, impassioned professionals and executives across aisles, who are driven by a sense of duty. Hollow social assumptions that assign differential values, privileges and opportunities to various professions must be questioned. A structured campaign across society and governments should be undertaken to dismantle this syndrome of pseudo-identities creating rigid boundaries between the professions. …”

“…While this has prompted a complete ban on animal trade into and out of Hong Kong, as a silver lining it has revived the prominence of the One Health dimensions and analytics underlying most pandemics. …”

Conclusion
In conclusion, education is one of several pillars for food safety. In an ideal world it could be the sole pillar but that would require redesigning home and retail kitchens, mandatory training, and licensing. The One Health approach is needed to reduce environmental contamination from food animal production, fewer pathogens entering slaughter establishments, and fewer pathogens in produce fields and orchards. Thus, fewer pathogens entering home and retail kitchens where hopefully competent preparers would eliminate the hazards. Think of the combination of vaccination, masks, and distance. Each alone is imperfect in halting the COVID-19 viruses but together they reduce the hazard to de minimus. For food safety, a similar defense in depth approach is needed.

“…  The threat of AMR has long been signalled. And the steps needed to tackle AMR—boosting public awareness, better surveillance, improved diagnostics, more rational use of antibiotics, access to clean water and sanitation, embracing One Health, and investments in new antimicrobials and vaccines—have been consistently recommended in reports such as The Lancet Infectious Diseases Commission on Antibiotic Resistance in 2013 and the O’Neill report in 2016. There have been some noteworthy responses during the past decade. The Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System was launched by WHO in 2015. The Fleming Fund (an aid programme supporting 24 countries across Africa and Asia to tackle AMR) was established in 2015. In December, 2021, G7 Finance Ministers issued statements to support antibiotic development.  …”

BY LAURA H. KAHN, MD, MPH, MPP

 JANUARY 18, 2022 

“Agriculture is the foundation of civilization. Agriculture has provided relative food security that has allowed villages, towns, and nations to …

… Finally, everyone needs to understand that their health is inextricably linked to the health of animals, plants, environments, and ecosystems (i.e. One Health). From the air we breathe to the plants and animals we eat, to the water we drink, we depend on a healthy planet to live. One Health provides a roadmap for global sustainability and survival and should be an integral part of the UN’s Sustainable Development goals. 

Fortunately, the concept of One Health turned global in 2021 and was unanimously adopted by WHO member countries; and now it should become an explicit and active guiding principle of all governments’ public health policies.  

The stakes couldn’t be higher. The question is, will we pull together as a species and save civilization? Or will we go down fighting each other? It’s up to us.

Survival of the fittest.”

“… Each university has been given distinct roles to play. Each role aligns to their traditional strengths. Northern Arizona University will expand its capacity to address health care worker shortages in nursing, allied health and mental health education programs. The University of Arizona is launching its “One Health” initiative that leverages the university’s medical, veterinary, engineering and cooperative extension programs to address community and health care needs across the state. …”

The spread of multi-drug resistant (MDR) bacteria in food-producing animals including broilers is a global public health concern.

Controlling growth of MDR bacteria and limiting the transmission of antimicrobial resistance genes in broilers could be an effective mitigation strategy. To counteract the spread of MDR bacteria among zoonotic pathogens in food-producing animals and reduce the risk of their transmission to humans or the environment, antibiotic use in animal husbandry has to be reduced. Bacteriophage therapy is increasingly accepted as an environmentally-friendly antimicrobial intervention strategy, effective at specifically targeting bacterial pathogens, to prevent the transmission of resistant bacteria from foods to humans and vice versa.

We use MDR Salmonella and E. coli in broilers as a model and will first select the most efficient phage combinations to specifically reduce these bacteria and MDR plasmids in broilers. Using laboratory, an experimental chicken gut model and farm-level experiments, we will then establish the efficacy of phage formulations as feed additives within a commercial farming context to reduce bacterial numbers and progressively reduce MDR plasmid carriage in broilers. We will test the effect of phage therapy on intestinal parameters of the treated broilers and also on the broiler intestinal microbiome and resistome composition. We will investigate the transmission of AMR plasmids between different enterobacteria in the broiler gut and improve on-site detection of MDR foodborne pathogens as an early warning system at farm level.

Project partners

• Ulrich Dobrindt, Universität Münster, Germany (Coordinator)
• Clara Marín-Orenga, Universidad Cardenal Herrera – CEU, Spain
• Muna Anjum, Animal and Plant Health Agency, United Kingdom
• Raul Fernandez Lopez, Universidad de Cantabria, Spain
• Danish Malik, Loughborough University, United Kingdom
• Annamária Szmolka, Veterinary Medical Research Institute, Hungary
• Eliora Ron, Tel Aviv University, Israel

Call

• One Health interventions to prevent or reduce the development and transmission of AMR

Going deeper into whether a civil dialogue can help address the global challenges we face – what History teaches us

by Richard Seifman

 January 12, 2022 in Health, Society

 

 

 

… and a National Institute of One Health to coordinate research and surveillance on animal and human infections and several measures to control …

“… Hedgehog surveys from Denmark and Sweden demonstrated a surprisingly high prevalence of MRSA carrying mecC (mecC-MRSA)^8,9, raising the possibility that the evolution of these bacteria was driven by natural selection in wildlife, as opposed to clinical use of antibiotics. Historically, mecC-MRSA was first discovered in dairy cows and subsequently in humans¹⁰, suggesting that the use of antibiotics in livestock was providing a selective advantage and that human infections were the result of zoonotic transmission. Studies from many different European countries revealed that mecC-MRSA is also present in other domesticated animals such as sheep, goats and horses as well as in a broad range of wild animals, albeit at low frequencies¹¹. …”

“Discussion

This research shows that hedgehogs are a natural reservoir of zoonotic mecC-MRSA lineages that predate the antibiotic era, which is inconsistent with the commonly accepted view that widespread resistance in clinical pathogens is a modern phenomenon that is driven by our use of antibiotics in human and veterinary medicine. …

“In conclusion, we describe the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms that led to the emergence of methicillin resistance in the pre-antibiotic era, possibly as a co-evolutionary adaptation of S. aureus to colonization of dermatophyte-infected hedgehogs. *These results underscore the importance of taking a broad One Health perspective on antibiotic resistance that recognises the role of natural selection in wild animals and the connectivity of natural, agricultural and human ecosystems in the evolution and spread of antibiotic-resistant pathogens.

 ____________

 *SEE The Concept of One Health Turns Global in 2021: How it was Born – One Health Initiative

COVID-19 spotlights the growing threat of zoonotic outbreaks and boosts support for surveillance of pathogens in animals. Can science curtail a phenomenon fueled by human behavior?

“ … This past May, several international organizations — including the UNEP and the World Health Organization — created a One Health High-Level Expert Panel to “improve understanding of how diseases with the potential to trigger pandemics, emerge and spread,” also with a focus on zoonoses. …

 …  Epstein and others who follow the One Health approach — which emphasizes managing the shared environments of people, animals, and plants — advocate for larger changes in human behavior, such as curbing development into areas heavily populated by wildlife, reducing deforestation, confronting climate change, and reducing consumption of certain animals.

At Weill Cornell Medicine, Varma sees academic medicine playing a larger role in these efforts, including increasing coordination among veterinary, academic medicine, and public health institutions to share data; providing more interdisciplinary training in medical and veterinary education to increase understanding of contagion; and helping physicians know when to ask ill patients about their contacts with animals that might spread disease. … “

ICM_10_Year_Report.pdf (stlzoo.org)

“… The “One Health-One World” concept remains in focus with the least developed countries at the epicentre of the publication activities. …

… Above all, IDP provides comprehensive and authoritative coverage of important topics via scoping reviews, research articles, commentaries, opinions, etc. with the aim of strongly contributing to achieving the SDGs within the “One Health” framework. …

 … First, keeping in line with the SDGs and with WHO’s “triple billion” targets is a priority governing IDP’s future strategy and further improve the publication quality. This will be achieved by promoting the “One Health” trans-disciplinary, multisectoral, cross-regional research approach.  … “

Developing models for clinical collaboration and communication between physicians, veterinarians, and other animal, human, and environmental/public health professionals at the primary care level.

Human-Animal Medicine Textbook

Human-Animal Medicine is an innovative reference exploring the unprecedented convergence of human, animal, and environmental health, triggering global pandemics and requiring new clinical paradigms. The “One Health” approach calls for greater communication and cooperation between human health care providers, public health professionals, and veterinarians to better address vital issues of emerging diseases and environmental change. This incredibly timely book provides, for the first time, practical guidelines for “One Health” collaborations in a wide range of clinical human-animal health issues, including the H1N1 virus, zoonotic diseases, the human-animal bond, animal allergy, bites and stings, and animals as “sentinels” for toxic environmental health hazards.

Table of Contents

One Health for Clinicians

The One Health clinical concept recognizes that the health care of humans and animals in a community benefits when there is collaboration and communication between human and animal health professionals. The Center for One Health Research supports the One Health Initiative (OHI), which seeks to promote this collaboration. The OHI has developed a one page brief to inform clinicians about the One Health Initiative and its importance in patient care.

View and download the one page PDF file here.

Spanish Version