News

A Quantitative Approach to the Prioritization of Zoonotic Diseases in North America: A Health Professionals’ Perspective   Victoria Ng*, PhD, Jan M. Sargeant, DVM, PhD Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses, Department of Population Medicine, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, Canada   Conclusions/Significance: We present the first zoonoses prioritization exercise involving health professionals in North America. Our previous study indicated individuals with no prior knowledge in infectious diseases were capable of producing meaningful results with acceptable model fits (79.4%). This study suggests health professionals with some knowledge in infectious diseases were capable of producing meaningful results with better-fitted models than the general public (83.7% and 84.2%). Despite more similarities in demographics and model fit between the combined public and combined professional groups, there was more uniformity across priority lists between the Canadian public and Canadian professionals and between the US public and US professionals. Our study suggests that CA can be used as a potential tool for the prioritization of zoonoses.   Citation: Ng V, Sargeant JM (2013) A Quantitative Approach to the Prioritization of Zoonotic Diseases in North America: A Health Professionals’ Perspective. PLoS ONE 8(8): e72172. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0072172   Provided by:   Victoria Ng, PhD Research Scientist Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses Department of Population Medicine Ontario Veterinary College University of Guelph, Guelph Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1 Phone: 519-824-4120, ext. 54471 Mobile: 416-262-2901 Fax: 519-766-1730 Email: vng03@uoguelph.ca   Drs. Ng and Sargeant are One Health Supporter/Advocates http://www.onehealthinitiative.com/supporters.php.