One Health Publications
Anti-Vaxxers and Vaccine Hesitancy: A Cottage Industry Gone Big Time
April 15, 2021
HEALTH, POLITICS & FOREIGN AFFAIRS, SOCIETY
by *Richard Seifman – Board Member, United Nations Association-National Capital Area
*Note: Seifman is a member of the One Health Initiative Advisory Board
View PublicationRanking the risk of animal-to-human spillover for newly discovered viruses
April 12, 2021
Significance
The recent emergence and spread of zoonotic viruses, including Ebola virus and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, demonstrate that animal-sourced viruses are a very real threat to global public health. Virus discovery efforts have detected hundreds of new animal viruses with unknown zoonotic risk. We developed an open-source risk assessment to systematically evaluate novel wildlife-origin viruses in terms of their zoonotic spillover and spread potential. Our tool will help scientists and governments assess and communicate risk, informing national disease prioritization, prevention, and control actions. The resulting watchlist of potential pathogens will identify targets for new virus countermeasure initiatives, which can reduce the economic and health impacts of emerging diseases.
Abstract
The death toll and economic loss resulting from the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic are stark reminders that we are vulnerable to zoonotic viral threats. Strategies are needed to identify and characterize animal viruses that pose the greatest risk of spillover and spread in humans and inform public health interventions. Using expert opinion and scientific evidence, we identified host, viral, and environmental risk factors contributing to zoonotic virus spillover and spread in humans. We then developed a risk ranking framework and interactive web tool, SpillOver, that estimates a risk score for wildlife-origin viruses, creating a comparative risk assessment of viruses with uncharacterized zoonotic spillover potential alongside those already known to be zoonotic. Using data from testing 509,721 samples from 74,635 animals as part of a virus discovery project and public records of virus detections around the world, we ranked the spillover potential of 887 wildlife viruses. Validating the risk assessment, the top 12 were known zoonotic viruses, including SARS-CoV-2. Several newly detected wildlife viruses ranked higher than known zoonotic viruses. Using a scientifically informed process, we capitalized on the recent wealth of virus discovery data to systematically identify and prioritize targets for investigation. The publicly accessible SpillOver platform can be used by policy makers and health scientists to inform research and public health interventions for prevention and rapid control of disease outbreaks. SpillOver is a living, interactive database that can be refined over time to continue to improve the quality and public availability of information on viral threats to human health.
Global One Health initiative awarded CDC Cooperative Agreement to expand capacity and strengthen public health systems in Ethiopia
April 9, 2021
Apr 7, 2021
Source: CDC
The Ohio State University Global One Health initiative (GOHi) has been awarded $5.61 million in funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and bolster Ethiopia’s public health system capacity for small- and large-scale disease outbreaks and emergencies.
Since 2009, GOHi has been on the front lines in Ethiopia working with in-country partners to strengthen capacity using a One Health approach—one that brings together multiple disciplines working globally to address the spread of disease, promote health and emphasize the connection among humans, animals, plants and the environment.
As new diseases emerge, the need for health system preparedness across the globe is vital for nations to prevent spread of pathogens, detect and report epidemics, and respond to and mitigate the spread of those epidemics. The current COVID-19 pandemic urgently underscored these needs. Under-preparedness in one country, is a global risk to all. …
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Why India needs a ‘One Health’ vision to tackle the crisis caused by the pandemic
April 7, 2021
‘One Health’ initiatives, by their multidisciplinary nature, entail working across ministries and navigating tacit institutional hierarchies and allocating leadership roles. This holistic view of health is important in the post-pandemic scenario.
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One Health Initiative team member honored by University of Florida (UF) Alumni Association
April 6, 2021
Helena Chapman
BS ’03, MPH ’05, Ph.D ’16 | Arlington, VA
TITLE: Associate Program Manager, Health and Air Quality Applications, NASA Applied Sciences Progam
COMPANY: Booz Allen Hamilton/NASA
INDUSTRY: Government Services
Minor in One Health | Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health
April 5, 2021
Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health – University of Arizona
The groundbreaking field of One Health – understanding how human health is deeply interconnected with animal health and environmental health …
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Vaccination as a Control Tool in Bovine Tuberculosis: Social Media Monitoring to Assess Public Response to Government Policy Development and Implementation
April 4, 2021
By DocWire News Featured Reading –
Abstract
One Health Commission
March 27, 2021
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We even post significant One Health past events to create a repository of how the ‘paradigm shift’ has progressed in the past two decades. If you know of …
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A Call for One Health in Medical Education: How the COVID-19 Pandemic Underscores the Need to Integrate Human, Animal, and Environmental Health
March 27, 2021
“ … Preventing future pandemics will require a transdisciplinary One Health approach, and physicians should be prepared to participate in these discussions while advocating for One Health initiatives for the benefit of their current and future patients. Integration of One Health education into medical school curricula will also prepare future physicians for other complex and urgently important health issues such as climate change, antimicrobial resistance, and the impact of biodiversity loss. As the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic persist, education in One Health must become a priority; it is essential to break down the conventional disciplinary silos of human medicine, veterinary medicine, environmental health, public health, and the social sciences, so that future health crises can be prevented and mitigated collaboratively.”
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While We Endure This Pandemic, What New Respiratory Virus Threats Are We Missing?
March 24, 2021
Open Forum Infectious Diseases, Volume 8, Issue 3, March 2021, ofab078, https://doi.org/10.1093/ofid/ofab078
View PublicationOne Health for One Planet: How to Address 21st Century Education Challenges – Impakter
March 23, 2021
We have been experiencing the worst global pandemic in over a century and it has brought the world economy to its knees. Now we need to map out the path to recovery, and in doing so, we have become aware of the incredible challenge of how to do better in the future. A lot will need to change for our post-COVID world to be sustainable and protected from another pandemic hitting us through an animal vector. In this article, I explore the most important change that needs to be made and that involves addressing 21st Century education challenges in a One Health manner.
The starting point is for us to recognize that the interface between animal-human-environmental health is not rhetoric but reality. The concept of One Health, which once sat on the periphery of the academic world, has now taken full center. This means that civil society, political decision processes, and the private sector need to embrace this fundamental notion. …
View PublicationQuick Links
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Please see MONOGRAPH in Veterinaria Italiana
“One Health – One Medicine”: linking human, animal and environmental health
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History of the One Health Initiative team and website (April 2006 through September 2015) and the One Health Initiative website since October 1, 2008 … revised to June 2020 and again to date February 2021
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Vaccines for zoonoses: a One Health paradigm
SciTech Europa Quarterly (March 2018) – Issue 26
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Pan European Networks SciTech Europa Quarterly
SciTech Europa Vaccines for zoonoses: a one Health paradigm – Pages 227-229 (Read PDF) “One of the One Health Initiative team’s co-founders and leaders is an internationally-recognized eminent physician…
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