American Medical Association (USA) President Reaffirms Strong Support of One Health

"The AMA strongly supports the One Health Initiative, the collaborative effort of multiple disciplines to attain optimal health for humans, animals, and our environment. More than 60 percent of human infectious diseases and the preponderance of emerging infectious diseases have an animal vector. Better collaboration is needed between human and veterinary medicine to protect the public health. The One Health Initiative is playing an important role in achieving this goal."

Cecil B. Wilson, MD, President,

American Medical Association

Message for posting on the One Health Initiative website received August 30, 2010

REMINDER:  A Highly Significant …

One Health Initiative Symposium: Vaccination of Animals for Prevention and Control of Zoonotic Diseases

American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene – 59^th Annual Meeting - www.astmh.org

November 3-7, 2010

Marriott Atlanta Marquis Hotel

Atlanta, Georgia (USA)

A symposium organized jointly by members of the ASTMH and the Society for Tropical Veterinary Medicine (STVM) http://www.soctropvetmed.org/ deals with the broad subject of One Health.

  Marriott – Room A704, Thursday, November 4, 2010, 3:45 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. 

U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Bernadette Dunham, DVM, PhD Supports AVMA/AMA “One Health” Initiative

FDA Veterinarian Newsletter 2007 Volume XXII, No IV - Dr. Dunham Supports AVMA/AMA “One Health” Initiative

http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/NewsEvents/FDAVeterinarianNewsletter/ucm109489.htm

-         Last Updated Version below: 10/28/2009

Dr. Bernadette Dunham, [Current] Director of the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine (USA), is a strong proponent of the initiative called “One Health,” aimed at developing more collaboration and communication between human and veterinary medicine. 

The concept behind the One Health initiative is not new (it was first articulated in the 19th Century), but it gained increased attention as the American Medical Association’s House of Delegates voted in June to approve a resolution to support it, and the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) in July at its annual convention named members to a One Health Initiative Task Force. AVMA had endorsed the concept earlier.

Dr. Roger Mahr, Immediate Past President of the AVMA, made the One Health initiative his top priority during his presidency (2006-2007). It was his recommendation to establish the task force.

According to an AVMA press release, the task force was given the job of “articulating a vision of One Health that will enhance the integration of animal, human, and environmental health for the mutual benefit of all.”

The One Health initiative addresses the significance of zoonotic diseases. The most obvious zoonotic diseases are variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, West Nile virus, avian influenza, rabies, and salmonellosis. But many other diseases can move between humans and animals. Approximately 60 percent of all infectious agents of humans are zoonotic, according to experts. In addition, 75 percent of emerging human diseases seen in the past 25 years have been zoonotic, AVMA’s Dr. Mahr stated during the group’s annual conference in July.

The leading advocates of the initiative are Dr. Laura H. Kahn, a physician on the research staff of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University; Dr. Bruce Kaplan, a veterinarian in Sarasota, FL, and previously with the [U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and] U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service; and Dr. Thomas P. Monath, a physician previously with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Fort Collins, CO) and the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (Fort Detrick, MD), and currently with the investment firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Menlo Park, CA.

They have drafted this One Health mission statement:

“Recognizing that human and animal health are inextricably linked, One Health seeks to promote, improve, and defend the health and well-being of all species by enhancing cooperation and collaboration between physicians and veterinarians, and by promoting strengths in leadership and management to achieve these goals.”

The initiative seeks increased educational opportunities between human and veterinary medical schools, more communications, and more cross-species disease surveillance, as well as other coordination.

Dr. Kaplan is collecting statements of support for the One Health initiative. Dr. Dunham, who has had veterinary clinical experience as well as human and veterinary research experience, sent him this statement of support:

“Sir William Osler, M.D. (1849-1919) promoted the philosophy of ‘one medicine.’ How exciting to witness, in 2007, the official adoption of the ‘One Health’ initiative by both the AMA and the AVMA!! Through mutual collaborations—clinical and research experiences—veterinarians and physicians can accomplish so much more together to advance the health of humans and animals. Today, we truly live in a global village where people, animals, and microbes all travel. So, it is even more imperative that we all embrace the One Health initiative. I look forward to joining my colleagues in a multidisciplinary approach as we address the global health needs of humans, animals, and their environment.”

Others who have sent testimonials supporting the One Health Initiative include Major General Gale S. Pollock, Acting, Surgeon General, U.S. Army; and former U.S. Senator Bill Frist, MD.  Dr. Kaplan is continuing to collect testimonials. [please see http://www.onehealthinitiative.com/endorsements.php]

                                                   *     *     *     *       

Note: Jack Woodall, PhD, a renowned viral epidemiologist, became the contents manager/editor of the ProMED-mail section in the Kahn-Kaplan-Monath-Woodall One Health Initiative website http://www.onehealthinitiative.com in February 2009.  Dr. Woodall is visiting Professor and Director (retd.) Nucleus for the Investigation of Emerging Infectious Diseases at the Institute of Medical Biochemistry, Center for Health Sciences, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  He is a co-founder and associate editor of ProMED-mail, the outbreak early warning system online of the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases of the International Society for Infectious Diseases.

A good reason to attend the …

“One Health” Session Scheduled for the North American Veterinary Conference (NAVC), in Orlando, Florida (USA) Monday, January 17,  2011 www.navc.com

One of the outstanding featured speakers, a noted wildlife veterinarian will be:

Paul P. Calle, VMD, Dipl ACZM
Director, Zoological Health

Global Health Program

Wildlife Conservation Society

2300 Southern Blvd.

Bronx, NY 10460-1099

www.wcs.org

Dr. Calle’s speech will explore ““One World One Health^®  – A Field Veterinary Perspective”.

Dr. Calle cogently and briefly describes his One Health message as “The inextricable link between people, domestic and wild animals, and their diseases, has never been more obvious or of concern than it is today. With outbreaks of SARS, Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, and Ebola virus capturing the public’s attention, the concept that we only have One World and share One Health is on the front pages of newspapers around the world. The need to increase the linkages between public health, the health of domestic animals, and the health and conservation of wild animals has generated discussions and collaborations unheard of only a few years ago. This talk will present an overview of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s pioneering One World One Health^® activities around the world, which include international symposia and workshops on the topic held in New York City and Bangkok, Thailand in 2004; Beijing, China in 2005; and Brasilia, Brazil in 2007 as well as ongoing global field veterinary activities to investigate diseases and their relationships to people, domestic and wild animals.”

Eco-epidemiology and control of Chagas disease in northern Argentina

A long-term One Health collaborative effort of the University of Buenos Aires (led by Ricardo Gürtler, PhD), Rockefeller and Columbia University (Joel E. Cohen, PhD) and Emory University (Uriel Kitron, PhD, MPH) on the ecology, epidemiology and suppression of Chagas disease in the Argentinean Chaco.

A strength of the project is that it addresses all facets of transmission and risk, including the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi (which causes Chagas disease), the insect vectors, the wildlife and domestic reservoir hosts, humans and the physical and biological environments. Among the major findings of the projects is the high degree of heterogeneity in all of these components of the transmission systems. Infestations are highly aggregated, with only a few premises harboring high-density bug colonies. Some peridomestic structures with particular physical attributes maintain residual bug colonies that can recover to pre-intervention numbers and propagate through the community by flight dispersal.

Among our main findings are the inter-connectedness between domestic, peridomestic and Sylva tic populations of the main vector Triatoma infestans (Hemiptera: Reduviidae), the importance of super-spreader dogs and high-risk sites, the occurrence of unanticipated sylvatic foci of Triatoma infestans, and the economically optimal role for community action in sustainable Chagas disease intervention programs.

A key finding of the study is the importance of dogs to the transmission of T. cruzi and to the surveillance of Chagas disease. Dogs are the key reservoir for T. cruzi and the major source of infection for Triatoma infestans, the main vector of Chagas disease in the Chaco, with a force of infection that is 14 times higher than that of humans. Dogs, whose average lifespan in the rural Chaco is only 3.5 years, also fulfill all the criteria for an optimal sentinel for Chagas disease. Trypanosoma cruzi infection is aggregated at the household level along the “80-20 rule”, with a small fraction of the seropositive dog, and to a lesser extent cat and human populations, showing high capacity to infect bugs. Field and experimental evidence shows that dogs are the preferred domestic bloodmeal source of T. infestans.

At the district-wide level, high domestic infestation was clustered in high human-density areas with higher land surface temperature and more degraded landscapes. Anthropogenic changes in the environment, including deforestation, introduction of cash crops and changes in land ownership patterns have had major impacts on wildlife, including suspected reservoir hosts such as opossums and skunks.

In addition to over forty scientific papers that resulted from the project, there is a strong training component for undergraduate and graduate students, post-docs and veterinarians, and the project is based on and committed to community participation and sustainable improvement in public health.

Links to free access key papers (all accessible through PubMed):

Ceballos 2009 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2782367/

Gurtler, PNAS -  http://www.pnas.org/content/104/41/16194.long

Vazquez-Prokopec, PLOS NTD - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2613538/

Gurtler, Parasitology - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2669415/

Cecere, EID -  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1853288/

Cardinal 2009

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T7F-4SKB3H6-1&_user=655046&_coverDate=11%2F30%2F2008&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000034138&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=655046&md5=ae152424e7353e5e6659ed8aeb08fdcc

Uriel Kitron, PhD, MPH

Department of Environmental Studies

400 Dowman Drive

Math and Science Center, Suite E511

Emory University

Atlanta, GA  30322

Tel: (404) 727-4253; fax: (404) 727-4448

ukitron@emory.edu; http://www.envs.emory.edu                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Ricardo Gürtler, PhD

CONICET Scientific Investigator

Professor and Head

Laboratory of Eco-Epidemiology

Faculty of Natural and Exact Sciences

University of Buenos Aires

Argentina

Dr. Kitron graciously provided this article to the One Health Initiative website. This was requested following the previous July 28, 2010 OHI website Publications page http://www.onehealthinitiative.com/publications.php (scroll down) posting of a news item on NEWKERALA.COM.  Prepared by Drs. Kitron and Gürtler, it is expected to be re-printed in the One Health Newsletter’s Fall issue http://www.onehealthinitiative.com/newsletter.php.

Provided by:

Dr. Craig N. Carter

Director & Professor, Epidemiology

Livestock Disease Diagnostic Center

Department of Veterinary Science

Colleges of Agriculture & Public Health

University of Kentucky

1490 Bull Lea Rd.

Lexington, KY  40511

craig.carter@uky.edu

UPI.com

Science News

Cancer clue found in animal diseases

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, July 26 (UPI) -- Canadian researchers say an unexpected connection between an animal disease and human cancers could lead to effective cancer therapies. … Read more:

http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2010/07/26/Cancer-clue-found-in-animal-diseases/UPI-23611280190685/

“One Health is the collaborative efforts of multiple disciplines working locally, nationally, and globally to attain optimal health for people, animals, plants and our environment.”

An OPINION:

One Health or… some health?

"When the eagles are silent, parrots begin to jabber." - Winston Churchill

 Bruce Kaplan, DVM

The international One Health movement has expanded during the early 21^st century.  It even sports the name “One Health” in most circles instead of “One Medicine”, the phrase promoted by the late Dr. Calvin Schwabe, the renowned public health veterinarian and parasitologist.  Actually, the two are essentially synonymous unless you want to split hairs.  One Health has been adopted by most to primarily designate a wider collaborative interdisciplinary inclusion.

I met and spent part of a morning and lunch with Dr. Schwabe at the home of his close friends, the family of the late noted public health figure,  Oscar Sussman, DVM, MPH, LL.B in Princeton, New Jersey (USA) in the early 1960s.  Schwabe was a brilliant, gentle, unpretentious person.  He called the concept “One Medicine” and was himself more oriented towards the public health (epidemiological) applicability.  Nonetheless, I am confident that if asked today, he would say something like, “whatever you call it, it needs to be implemented across the board in public health and clinical medicine for the benefit of human [and animal] health.”

While implementation still remains sometime in the future, the One Health movement has become and is becoming widely accepted worldwide, particularly in public health communities.  Regrettably, although One Health principles apply exceptionally well to protecting nations’ public health, it also applies equally well to clinical medical and surgical research (comparative medicine) and hence in private practice, i.e. in the fields of cancer, cardiovascular disease, orthopedic conditions, obesity, and many others.  By perusing the One Health Initiative website www.onehealthinitiative.com and the online quarterly One Health Newsletter http://www.onehealthinitiative.com/newsletter.php, one can find numerous examples of One Health advances for both disciplines, viz. public health and clinical health care.

Much more One Health activity is evident in public health academic communities than among clinical health academic circles.  It is practically non-existent and for the most part unheard of within the practicing veterinary medical and human medical communities.  Specifically, practicing veterinarians and physicians in private practices generally do not know about One Health and those that hear of it ask the legitimate question, “So, what is in it for us?”

If One Health activists continue to only stress public health to the exclusion of clinical medical/surgical research and neglect indoctrinating our practitioner colleagues into “What’s in it for all of us”… we will travel the path of “some health” and not ONE HEALTH.  Protecting and saving untold millions of lives requires recognition and implementation of, by and for both disciplines.

Dr. Bruce Kaplan is a member of the One Health Initiative website team along with Laura H. Kahn, MD, MPH, MPP, Thomas P. Monath, MD, and Jack Woodall, PhD.  He also serves on the editorial board of the One Health Newsletter and has been a co-author contributor to One Health articles with One Health Newsletter editor Mary Echols, DVM, MPH.  Dr. Echols was the first to appreciate and express the practical, bottom line phrase “so, what’s in it for us” relative to when many initially consider supporting the One Health concept.

Comments about this Opinion piece are welcomed.   Opinions and comments about One Health are encouraged.  Selected appropriate messages will be posted upon receipt of permission from author(s).  Please send to kkm@onehealthinitiative.com c/o Contents Manager.

The Alliance for Rabies Control's July 2010 newsletter is now available at:
www.rabiescontrol.net/ARCnewsletter18

UN News Center

UN agriculture agency adopts new strategy to combat animal disease outbreaks

26 July 2010 – Strengthening measures to prevent and control outbreaks of animal diseases could result in the saving of large amounts of money for governments, the United Nations agriculture agency said today, announcing a new strategy to more effectively detect and combat the diseases.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said it had drawn on its experience in past animal health emergencies to develop the “One Health” initiative, which aims to improve global response to disease outbreaks, implement effective prevention and containment strategies and manage risks. … Read more:

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=35426&Cr=fao&Cr1=

Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy
Academic Health Center -- University of Minnesota

Experts say H5N1 picture not greatly improved since 2003

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/avianflu/news/jul2310avian2.html

Robert Roos   News Editor

Jul 23, 2010 (CIDRAP News) – The global H5N1 avian influenza situation has not improved very much since the virus began spreading widely in 2003, and many human cases have probably gone unreported, French health experts conclude in an assessment published yesterday in Eurosurveillance.

While the deadly virus still has not gained the ability to spread easily from person to person, "The overall worldwide situation of influenza A(H5N1) . . . is not markedly improved since 2003," says the report by researchers from the French Institute for Public Health Surveillance (Institut de Veille Sanitaire) in Saint-Maurice, a French government agency.

"This fact, and regular reintroduction of the virus by wild birds in countries where foci have been controlled (such as Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey or Vietnam) underscore the importance of maintaining adequate surveillance and response capacities for infections in both animals and humans," the authors add.

They also write that the World Health Organization's (WHO's) human H5N1 case count "probably vastly underrepresents the true case burden worldwide." The count reached 501 cases, including 297 deaths, yesterday.

In Indonesia, they say, the case-fatality rate (CFR) for H5N1 is 88%, and nearly all the cases identified since January 2009 have been on the island of Java, which suggests that access to diagnosis is uneven and that severe cases are overrepresented in the official count.

The CFR is lower in Egypt, probably reflecting better access to timely diagnosis and care, the report adds, "but suspected human cases occurring in remote locations may not all be officially detected and/or reported and would have contributed to a higher CFR."

Reviewing the H5N1 situation in birds, the authors note that 63 countries and territories in Asia, Africa, and Europe have had outbreaks in poultry and/or wild birds since the end of 2003. Twelve countries have had poultry outbreaks so far this year: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Israel, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Romania, and Vietnam.

"Many other countries, notably in sub-Saharan Africa, have suspected transmission in predominantly backyard flocks but lack surveillance systems to document it," the article says.

Discussing the patterns of human cases, the report observes that the numbers have generally trended downward over the past 6 years and that most cases have occurred in the months from November to April, though Indonesia has cases throughout the year. In recent years the number of cases has fallen in Asia and grown in the Near East, mainly Egypt. The latter accounted for 66 of 149 cases (44%) from Jan 1, 2008, to Jul 1, 2010.

At least 40 clusters of human cases, accounting for more than 100 illnesses in all, have occurred since 2003, the researchers report. Common exposure to sick poultry was the source of infection in the vast majority of these, but investigators concluded that limited human-to-human transmission occurred in some of the clusters, most of which were in families.

Genetic susceptibility probably has played some role in the clusters, as suggested by the three-generation cluster in Indonesia in 2006 and by clusters in Turkey, the report says. It adds that no instances of transmission in healthcare settings have been confirmed since 2003.

In conclusion, the experts say that some countries that were hit hard by H5N1 before 2007, such as Thailand and Turkey, seem to have controlled the problem and reduced risks to humans. But the virus continues to circulate in poultry elsewhere, especially Egypt, Indonesia, and Bangladesh.

While Egypt and Indonesia face a complex situation, "communication in these countries is transparent and constructive and allows for quick reporting of cases, especially if suspected clusters should arise," the article says. It notes that Indonesia authorities last December resumed the practice of reporting cases to the WHO. In June 2008 the Indonesian health minister had said the government would no longer report cases as they occurred and instead would give only periodic updates.

The virus still has the potential to spark a human pandemic, the researchers state. Unlike in 2003 and 2004, poultry outbreaks and human cases now are occurring in some of the most densely populated areas in the world, which may increase the risk of transmission from birds to humans and make it harder to contain the virus if it starts spreading among humans, the experts assert.

Tarantola A, Barboza P, Gauthier V, et al. The influenza A(H5N1) epidemic at six and a half years: 500 notified human cases and more to come. Eurosurveillance 2010 Jul 22;15(29) [Full text] http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=19619

OPEN NOTICE (Contact Us):

 The One Health Initiative Website Welcomes …

 Worldwide One Health Submissions for Posting on:

·                         One Health News page

·                         Publications page

·                         Upcoming Events page

Comments and suggestions also appreciated...

 Please send to kkm@onehealthinitiative.com c/o Contents Manager

_____________________________________

Bottom line of One Health Implementation:  “Untold millions of lives will be protected and/or saved in our generation and those to come!”

One Health: The Intersection of Humans, Animals and the Environment

Please see the current issue of the Institute for Laboratory Animal Research (ILAR) Journal Volume 51, Number 3.

http://www.ilarjournal.com/index.html

The One Health Initiative website team considers this to be a significant and important contribution to One Health literature.  In toto, it provides more concrete evidence sustaining the premise recognized by many international health scientists that One Health implementation is essential for this generation and for those to come. “One Health implementation will help protect and/or save untold millions of lives in our generation and for those to come.”

Introduction: One Health Perspective (first article) may be viewed by the gracious permission of the ILAR Journal, National Research Council of the National Academies, Washington, D.C. 20001 via issue Managing Editor, Cameron H. Fletcher.  

Please see PDF on the Publications page of this website at http://www.onehealthinitiative.com/publications.php (scroll down).

Issue Editor: James G. Fox, DVM, MS, DACLAM

                   Director of the Division of Comparative Medicine and

                   Professor in the Division of Biological Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

                   Cambridge, MA 02139

“One Health in Action” pearl from a Veterinarian who teaches in a U. S. Medical School

An article in The Scientist.com  http://www.the-scientist.com/2010/7/1/22/1/  entitled ‘Litter bug’ presents some interesting stories about the transmission of the protozoan disease toxoplasmosis caused by the parasite Toxoplasma gondii.  It occurs worldwide in mammals and birds and is a common infection in humans.

The true ‘stories’ are always more complex than the media ones; it's always an interesting classroom session when I explain to 2nd-yr. medical students that humans are much more likely to become infected with 'toxo' [toxoplasmosis] from eating undercooked pork, lamb, or beef than they are from handling the litter boxes of house cats, especially if those cats are fed commercial cat food.

Since the advent of HIV, case-control studies have shown no causal association[s] between the opportunistic clinical toxoplasmosis suffered by many AIDS patients and their ownership of domestic cats.

When I explain how easily feed grains in bins and silos can be 'infested' w/mice, rats, and feral cat feces and that, sometimes, those feces & mummified mice end up in the feed mill ... you can almost see the light bulb 'turn on' above the students' heads; most of them have no rural or agricultural experiences and never thought about the pathway that red meat actually takes to the supermarket.  Sadly, even today (esp. after the popular press releases of the mid-'70s), most 'human school' microbiology faculty still over-emphasize the toxoplasmosis/cat feces "link", but not the importance of meat hygiene, i.e. cooking meat thoroughly.  Having said that, I also tell the students that immunocompromised humans, and especially pregnant women, should be counseled to only eat meat that has been thoroughly cooked, and always practice adequate hand washing following taking care of any of the family's pet animals.   

Provided by Dr. Ronald Warner:

Ronald D. Warner, DVM, MPVM, PhD
Professor
Director, TravelMed Clinic
Director, Preventive Medicine Division

Coordinator, Comm. Med./Public Hlth Residency Rotation
Dept of Family and Community Medicine, School of Medicine
Texas Tech Univ. Health Sciences Center
3601 4th Street
Lubbock, TX 79430-8143 (USA)
e-mail: ronald.warner@ttuhsc.edu  
voice: (806) 743-1100, ext 261
fax: (806) 743-1292

1st International One Health Congress - REMINDER

 Human Health, Animal Health, the Environment and Global Survival

Call for Abstracts Now Open …

Melbourne Convention Centre

Victoria, Australia

February 14 -16, 2011

 See Website for More information

http://www.onehealth2011.com/

 Welcome to the 1st International One Health Congress!

For the last few years, the One Health concept has brought together experts working in the areas of animal and human disease. One Health has provided a new synthesis for veterinary and public health communities, particularly in the United States of America, Europe and Australia.

However, there is an urgent need and a growing interest to broaden the agenda to incorporate a truly global perspective and to consider environmental issues.

This 1st International One Health Congress will achieve these goals by focusing clearly on the risks and challenges brought about by the interactions between animal and human health and the environment.  It will consider these in the general context of the science and research being undertaken, but critically it will focus on the outcomes that need to be achieved to effectively manage the growing risks to global health.

The Congress aims to make recommendations on policy and organisational changes using the underlying science to inform and drive the process.  For the first time, it is envisaged that a global consideration of interrelated issues of animal and human health and the relationship with the environment can take the science to the policy maker and thus drive real and profound change. We see this as setting a pathway that in 10 -15 years will result in a seamless approach to infectious disease management  with both the  resources and those with the skills and knowledge intimately linked with the focus clearly on delivering outcomes in a fully united way.

Selected recently as the most livable city in the world, Melbourne is renowned as a global sports capital. Melbourne and the surrounding area offers everyone something in which to delight. So our invitation goes beyond the science and thought and extends to enjoying all that Australia has to offer as a unique global venue for such meetings. We look forward to sharing this with you in February 2011.

“One Health” Session Schedule Announced for North American Veterinary Conference (NAVC), in Orlando, Florida (USA) Monday, January 17,  2011

It was recently announced that The North American Veterinary Conference (NAVC) www.navc.com would present a new session in 2011 which focuses on the important and timely topic of One Health. The One Health initiative is a movement dedicated to improving the health of all species- both human and animal- through the collaborative integration of human health care, veterinary medicine and other scientific health disciplines. This initiative encompasses a diverse collaboration of health care professionals working at multiple levels of government, research institutions of higher learning (e.g. medical, veterinary medical and public health schools), and in private practicing physicians and veterinarians offices (clinics and hospitals), all striving to improve human, environmental, and animal health. 

Discussions by the speaker participants at this session are expected to discuss the important work being done by health care professionals at the global, national, state, county, and local levels.  It will concentrate on activities by physicians and veterinarians in North America who work in private practice(s), caring for patients and companion animals, respectively, in local communities.

Noted speakers and topics to be presented will include:

Donald F. Smith, DVM, DACVS

Professor of Surgery and Austin O. Hooey Dean, Emeritus

Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.  14853 (USA)

Title: Our Veterinary Legacy: One Health

Paul P. Calle, VMD, Dipl. ACZM

Director, Zoological Health, Global Health Program, Wildlife Conservation Society

185^th St. and 2300 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, New York 10460 (USA)

www.wcs.org

Title: One World One Health – A Field Veterinary Perspective

Kirsten Gilardi, DVM, Dipl. ACZM
Assistant Director, Marine Programs
Wildlife Health Center
One Shields Avenue
University of California
Davis, California 95616

Title: One Health In Action: Preventing the Spread of Disease from people to Animals.  (Dr. Gilardi’s talk will focus on the USAID PREDICT project.)

Florina S. Tseng, DVM
Assistant Professor
Director, Wildlife Clinic
Department of Environmental and Population Health
Wildlife Medicine,

Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University

200 Westboro Road, North Grafton, MA 01536

Title: One Health: A Unique Approach for Human and Animal Health Monitoring.

Kate Hodgson, DVM, MHSc, CCMEP

Medical Education Consultant

Office of Continuing Education and Professional Development

Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto’

1 Kings College Circle
Toronto, ON M5S1A8, Canada

Title: One Health- Evidence of the Health Benefits of Companion Animals to Human Health.

Dr. Hodgson will look at the importance of integrating companion animal health and disease to human health with an emphasis on how this affects the private practicing veterinarian and the family physician.

Note: NAVC is primarily geared for presenting educational materials for private practice veterinarians.  A One Health booth was graciously provided by the NAVC at the 2009 conference.  The booth was serviced pro bono by representatives from the Florida State Department of Health, the University of Florida’s College of Veterinary Medicine and the One Health Initiative website team.

For more information, please contact Dr. Hayley Murphy:

Hayley Murphy, DVM

Director of Veterinary Services

Zoo Atlanta

800 Cherokee Ave., SE

Atlanta, GA 30315

(P) 404-624-5801

(F) 404-624-5959

hmurphy@zooatlanta.org

Veterinary Advisor: Baboon and Gorilla SSP

United States Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS)

Washington, D.C.  20250        

July 8, 2010

Subject:   Notice on Vacancies on the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods     

We are working to recruit new members for the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF).  The Committee provides scientific advice and recommendations to the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Health and Human Services concerning the development of microbiological criteria by which the safety and wholesomeness of food can be assessed. 

We are seeking members with scientific expertise in the fields of epidemiology, food technology, microbiology (food, clinical, and predictive), toxicology, chemistry, risk assessment, infectious disease, biostatistics, and other related sciences. Please see the attached Federal Register Notice for additional details on this Committee and how to apply.

 Please share this notice with others who may have an interest.    If you have any questions, feel free to contact us.

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Frame/FrameRedirect.asp?main=http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/rdad/FRPubs/2010-0001.htm .

Thank you,

Gerri M. Ransom
Director, Executive Secretariat
National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods
USDA-FSIS, Office of Public Health Science
Room 354 Aerospace (Mail Drop Room 333)

Phone: 202-690-6600
Fax: 202-690-6364
E-mail: gerri.ransom@fsis.usda.gov

Karen Thomas-Sharp

Advisory Committee Specialist

USDA,FSIS, OPHS

Room 333, Aerospace Center

1400 Independence Ave., SW

Washington, DC  20250-3700

Phone:  202-690-6620

Fax:    202-690-6634

Email:  karen.thomas-sharp@fsis.usda.gov

“One Health in Action” - Veterinarian Earns Professor Promotion at School of Medicine in Lubbock, Texas (USA)

Ronald D. Warner, DVM, MPVM, PhD and a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine (ACVPM) with a specialty in epidemiology was promoted to Professor at Texas Tech University's School of Medicine (TTUHSC) - Lubbock, TX (USA), effective February 26, 2010.  Dr. Warner has been on the TTUHSC Department of Family and Community Medicine faculty since August of 1994, following his U.S. Air Force career.  His primary responsibilities will continue to be: teaching medical and graduate students, as well as medical residents; epidemiology research; and directing the Texas Tech Physicians' Travel Medicine Clinic.

Dr. Warner has been and is a noted One Health supporter and advocate.

Wellcome Trust & Wolfson Foundation Funds Establishment of ‘Laboratory of Comparative & Veterinary Virology’ at new Centre for Virus Research at University of Glasgow, Scotland (UK)

Prof. Massimo Palmarini, DVM, PhD, Director of the Medical Research Centre, University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research notified the One Health Initiative website team today (July 5, 2010)—please see letter posted on Publications page—that Wellcome Trust & Wolfson Foundation has provided funds, £4.8 million, for the establishment of a ‘Laboratory of Comparative & Veterinary Virology’ within the new Centre for Virus Research at University of Glasgow, Scotland (UK). 

Dr. Palmarini is a longtime One Health supporter and has collaborated with members of the One Health Initiative website for nearly four years.  The One Health Initiative team was honored to provide a letter of support that was included in the application for this grant.  Dr. Palmarini will assume directorship of the Centre on August 1, 2010. 

The One Health Initiative team congratulates Dr. Palmarini and his associates and extends our best wishes for success!

NOTICE (July 5, 2010):

 The One Health Initiative Website Welcomes …

 Worldwide One Health Submissions for Posting on:

·                         One Health News page

·                         Publications page

·                         Upcoming Events page

Comments and suggestions also appreciated...

 Please send to kkm@onehealthinitiative.com c/o Contents Manager

Bottom line of One Health Implementation:

“Untold millions of lives will be protected and/or saved in our generation and those to come!”

Praecipio International Team Endorses One Health

 In a June 30, 2010 message to the One Health Initiative website team, *physician director and co-founder of Praecipio International             

http://praecipiointernational.org/ and http://praecipiointernational.org/?page_id=852, James M. Wilson V, MD endorsed One Health and wrote:

“One Health has the full support of our team at Praecipio and an open offer to its entire community for access to The Praedico social network (it's free).  The Praedico is where we share analytic insight and experience, share live event information, and (most importantly) get to know each other socially as an online community of interest.  It's free with no commercial interests.  We stood it up to enable deeper conversation to occur among those not necessarily comfortable with attribution.  It was created two days ago, the result of many social experiments using other social networking platforms such as Google groups and LinkedIn.  We have found Ning to work simply enough and encourage everyone in One Health to join.”  

 “Praecipio International is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to providing information on disruption caused by infectious disease events in order to promote well-informed social and economic decisions.  Praecipio International works to enhance and improve international public health and security against biological threats by stimulating collaboration within and offering education to the international, multi-disciplinary humanitarian community.  Praecipio International created the first comprehensive, operational infectious disease forecasting and early warning center in the world, the Haiti Epidemic Advisory System (HEAS).  Praecipio's team members provided warning of unusual respiratory disease in Mexico in April 2009 to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization, which was later recognized to be the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic.”

 Please see *Dr. Wilson’s biography at http://praecipiointernational.org/?page_id=22

Brazilian Virologist Responsible for the Isolation of Dengue fever (“breakbone fever”) Virus Dies

Dr. Hermann Gonçalves Schatzmayr (1936 – June 21, 2010), was a Brazilian veterinarian, virologist and researcher of Austrian descent. He was 75 and was the head of the Department of Virology at the Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (IOC / Fiocruz) in Rio de Janeiro for 30 years.  Dr. Schatzmayr was also the president of the institution from 1990-1992 and one of the most important virologists in Brazil.  He was responsible for the isolation of dengue virus types 1, 2 and 3 in Brazil and participated in the eradication of polio and smallpox there. He was also a member of international committees of the World Health Organization (WHO) and belonged to the WHO group that monitors and evaluates research projects in progress with live smallpox virus. 

Provided by:

John (Jack) Woodall, MA, PhD, Director (retd.)
Nucleus for the Investigation of Emerging Infectious Diseases

Institute of Medical Biochemistry

Center for Health Sciences

Federal University

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Antibiotics in Animals Need Limits, F.D.A. [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] Says

By GARDINER HARRIS  New York Times

Published: June 28, 2010

 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/29/health/policy/29fda.html?hp

Also see WebMD:

http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/news/20100628/fda-antibiotics-in-livestock-affects-human-health?src=RSS_PUBLIC

One Health Book Reviewed Favorably in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVMA) -USA

*This book review has been reprinted with the permission of the American Veterinary Medical Association.  It originally appeared in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVA), 2010;236:1304-1305 [http://avmajournals.avma.org/loi/javma].  To quote from this review, please Reference the JAVMA citation.  To obtain permission to reproduce this review, please contact dfagen@avma.org.

This landmark One Health book was co-edited/written by a prominent physician and veterinarian, Drs. Peter M. Rabinowitz of Yale Medical School and Lisa A. Conti, DVM, MPH, director of the Florida Department of Health’s environmental health division, respectively.  It was a co-equal, collaborative production.

Rabinowitz and Conti assembled a representative group of outstanding scientific health leaders from the fields of medicine and veterinary medicine in this first of its kind endeavor.  The book demonstrates the critical need for co-equal interdisciplinary collaborative communications and research in the 21^st century considering the exponential emergence of zoonotic disease threats and risks worldwide, not to mention the many mutually concerning clinical health care problems of humans and animals, e.g. cancer, obesity, orthopedics, cardiovascular, metabolic and others.

Note: The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) is one of the leading health organizations supporting the national and international One Health movement in conjunction with the American Medical Association (AMA), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS), the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH), American Public Health Association (APHA), and many others.

Reviewed by Katie Portacci, DVM, MPH, DACVPM

Oftentimes, the wide breadth of literature available on zoonotic diseases can be difficult to obtain in a clinical setting, yet veterinarians are looked on as a primary source of information for zoonotic diseases. Human-Animal Medicine: Clinical Approaches to Zoonoses, Toxicants and Other Shared Health Risks serves as a consolidated resource for a number of zoonotic and other disease risks that may be shared between humans and other animals. The book highlights the role of veterinarians in the detection of diseases that may have an impact on human, wildlife, or pet health. It also serves as a reminder that veterinarians should be aware of the diseases that are reportable and how to report to local, state, or federal authorities.

Although not a quick reference source for specific disease treatments, this book provides small animal practitioners with key talking points to improve client communication regarding shared disease risks. The legal and ethical obligations veterinarians must consider when communicating with clients or other health professionals are clearly emphasized. Guidance is also provided on standard practices to minimize zoonotic disease risks to animal health workers.

Overall, this book provides an overview on a wide range of clinical topics frequently encountered by veterinary, human, and public health professionals. It is reasonably priced and could be a useful reference for veterinarians in small animal practice to improve communication regarding shared human and animal health risks or for veterinarians and veterinary students actively engaged in public health.—By Peter M. Rabinowitz & Lisa A. Conti. 412 pages; illustrated. Wiley-Blackwell, 2121 State Ave, Ames, IA 50014. ISBN 978-1-4160-6837-2. 2010. Price $99.95.

20^th Century Public Health Leader and unheralded early One Health Practitioner Dies

June 23, 2010

The One Health Initiative website recently became aware of the death of Oscar Sussman, DVM, MPH, JD on March 25, 2010.  He was 92 years old.

In an obituary published online, Dr. Sussman was noted for his “colorful career in public health with the state of New Jersey.  He believed in the public’s right to know and the government’s role to protect the public.  An award for service described him a having “a rare combination of unusual traits.”  He was also described as controversial, forceful, learned, articulate and a champion of the underdog. He was an early advocate of preventive health care. [those of us who knew him recognized and appreciated the validity of these words in a positive sense] In 1962, he went to Egypt on a Fulbright professorship.  In 1966, he was a World Health Organization (WHO) consultant to Brazil.  He retired in 1978, as Director of Consumer Health Services for NJ. …”

Dr. Sussman was a masterful inspiring model in his use of collaborative interdisciplinary “One Health” principles (formerly referred to as “One Medicine”).  He successfully collaborated with numerous outstanding historic public health and research figures including Richard Shope, MD of ‘Shope papilloma virus fame’ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shope_papilloma_virus, James H. Steele, DVM, MPH, the founder of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) veterinary public health division http://www.amazon.com/One-Man-Medicine-Health-Steele/dp/1439240043, and Martin Goldfield, MD, the former director of laboratories for the New Jersey State Department of Health.   Drs. Goldfield and Sussman did landmark research on the epidemiology of arboviruses (e.g., eastern and western encephalitis) in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s).  Dr. Sussman participated in many other public health issues of the era http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=search&db=pubmed&term=SUSSMAN%20O%5Bau%5D&dispmax=50. 

Notably, Dr. Sussman and his family were close personal friends with Calvin Schwabe, DVM, ScD, the public health expert and parasitologist who championed and coined the term “one medicine” http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/onehealth/about/schwabe.cfm.   Dr. Schwabe was a member of the faculty of the University of California, Davis, Ca School of Veterinary Medicine and also was one of eight founding faculty of the School of Medicine (USA). The Calvin Schwabe One Health Project is a significant part of the UC Davis One Health Institute http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/ohi/.

Important 4^th Edition Book Published with One Health Implications

http://www.amazon.com/Pathogenesis-Bacterial-Infections-Animals-Carlton/dp/0813812372/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1277135164&sr=1-2

The Fourth Edition of "Pathogenesis of Bacterial Infections in Animals" captures the rapid developments in understanding the mechanisms of virulence of the major bacterial pathogens affecting animals. Now including a color plate section, the new edition has added emphasis on bacterial evasion of the immune system, overarching themes in pathogenesis, and the contributions of pathogenomics and newer approaches. 

As in the previous editions, the core of the book presents both an overview of pathogenesis of important bacterial infections of animals, including relevant events that occur in the herd or flock and its environment, and in-depth analysis of actions taking place at the cellular and molecular levels. With contributions from 74 experts in the field, this book serves as a remarkable resource for veterinary and medical microbiologists, immunologists, and pathologists, as well as graduate students in veterinary medicine and animal science.

Key Features:

·          Contributions from 74 experts in the field capture the rapid developments in understanding the mechanisms of virulence of the major bacterial pathogens of animals.

·          Includes a color plate section.

·          Presents both the overview of pathogenesis, including relevant events that occur in the herd or flock and its environment, and actions taking place at the cellular and molecular levels.

·          Serves as a valuable reference for veterinary and medical microbiologists, immunologists, and pathologists, as well as graduate students in veterinary medicine and animal science.

The Editors:

Carlton L. Gyles, DVM, MSc, PhD, FCAHS, is Professor of veterinary microbiology at Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada.

John F. Prescott, MA, Vet MB, PhD, FCAHS, is Professor of veterinary microbiology at Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada.

J. Glenn Songer, PhD, is Professor of veterinary microbiology, The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.

Charles O. Thoen, DVM, PhD, is Professor of veterinary microbiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.

North Carolina State College (USA) of Veterinary Medicine Participates in International Cancer Study

Read complete story:

http://wake.mync.com/site/wake/news%7CSports%7CLifestyles/story/52303/NC_State_College_of_Veterinary_Medicine_Participates_in_International_Cance

“… The Center for Comparative Medicine and Translational Research (CCMTR) is a community of more than 100 research scientists from five North Carolina State University colleges. These investigators are involved in collaborative "One Health" studies with government, private, and other academic researchers to advance knowledge and practical applications that improve the health and well being of people and animals.”

“One Health in ACTION”

New One Health Course Launched – University of California Global Health Institute (USA) – April 2010

The One Health Center of expertise was launched as part of the University of California Global Health Institute in November 2009 (http://www.ucghi.universityofcalifornia.edu/). In April, One Health Center faculty at UC Davis and UC Riverside launched a two-credit course on One Health that was co-taught by Michael S. Wilkes, MD (UCD Medical School) and Co-Directors of the Center Patricia A. Conrad, DVM, PhD and Anil Deolalikar, PhD. Both students and faculty in the course represented the unique transdisciplinary focus of the One Health approach to global health. Teleconferencing technology was utilized in the biweekly two-hour sessions to link the six medical students and residents at the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento with the nine graduate students at each of the main campuses in Davis and Riverside. 

The graduate students enrolled in the course at UC Davis came from International and Community Nutrition, International Agricultural Development, the Center for Health & the Environment, and the School of Veterinary Medicine. At UC Riverside, the graduate students were drawn from the Departments of Entomology, Environmental Sciences, and Cell, Molecular and Developmental Biology, and Sociology. Similarly, the faculty who participated from all three sites came from diverse disciplines, including economics, microbiology, epidemiology, medical ethics, environmental engineering, nutrition, medicine, environmental public health, and parasitology.

The overall goal of the course was to introduce students to the core concepts involved in One Health, particularly the promotion of an integrated transdisciplinary approach to global health problems. Students learned how the health of humans, animals and the ecosystems they share are closely linked. Each session focused on real case problems ranging from water scarcity, waterborne disease and watershed management in Tanzania and Kenya, tsetse fly control in Ethiopia, and zoonotic disease transmission in California. In addition, students were exposed to techniques of cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analysis of global health interventions.

Students worked in small break-out groups to brain storm about problems and identify solutions to One Health iterative cases.  These were then shared with the entire group of faculty and students via the teleconference systems with audio and video capabilities.

Laurie Harris, DVM, one of the veterinary medical graduate students in the class led a One Health case discussion based on her graduate work on the health of the mountain gorillas and neighboring human communities in Rwanda. Afterwards Laurie commented, "Leading a One Health discussion was a fun way to share ideas and, thanks to the help of my colleagues, to think more deeply about the interdisciplinary nature and effectiveness of my own research."

Provided June 4, 2010 by the author:

Patricia A. Conrad, DVM, PhD

Co-director for the new One Health Center of Expertise

Professor, Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology
5311 Vet Med 3A
School of Veterinary Medicine
University of California
Davis, CA 95616

http://faculty.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/faculty/paconrad/

and

Cheryl Scott, RN, DVM, MPVM

Calvin Schwabe One Health Project

Program Director

UCDavis School of Veterinary Medicine

Deans Office Surge IV

RM 119

http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/onehealth/

U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) journal recently published a favorable review of the book:

Who's in Charge? Leadership during Epidemics, Bioterror Attacks, and Other Public Health Crises

By Laura H. Kahn, MD, MPH, MPP
Praeger Security International, Santa Barbara, CA, USA, 2009
ISBN 978-0275994853
Pages: 236; Price: US $49.95

It appeared in the June 2010 issue of the journal.

See  http://www.cdc.gov/eid/content/16/6/1050b.htm. 

Dr. Kahn is an internationally known One Health expert and advocate.  She also is a member of the One Health Initiative website team: Laura H. Kahn, MD, MPH, MPP, Bruce Kaplan, DVM, Thomas P. Monath, MD and Jack Woodall PhD.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Announces New Food Safety Reporting Website

www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/PublicHealthFocus/ucm212845.htm

The FDA and the National Institutes of Health (USA) launched a new website on May 24, 2010 called the Safety Reporting Portal (SRP).  This site is used to report food safety problems and/or adverse events involving FDA-regulated foods (not including dieatary supplements and infant formula), along with events involving animal feeds and animal drugs.  Also, consumers can use the site to report problems with pet foods and pet treats.

One Health Initiative Symposium: Vaccination of Animals for Prevention and Control of Zoonotic Diseases

American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene – 59^th Annual Meeting - www.astmh.org

November 3-7, 2010

Marriott Atlanta Marquis Hotel

Atlanta, Georgia (USA)

A symposium organized jointly by members of the ASTMH and the Society for Tropical Veterinary Medicine (STVM) and deals with the broad subject of One Health. 

The Symposium focuses on vaccines, considered the most cost effective means of disease prevention.  The role of vaccines in preventing the spread of disease from animals to humans will be explored.  Speakers will address exampls where vaccination in animal species (livestock, poultry and wildlife) for zoonotic disease agents is used or could be used in order to reduce the risk of human disease. 

Specific examples are drawn from important human diseases cause by viral agents of animals.  Speakers will address the potential for additional impact on disease risk reduction for selected vaccine-preventable diseases as well as opportunities for vaccine interventions.

Session Summary:

·                           Demonstrate concrete cases where the vaccination of wildlife, livestock and poultry is being used to reduce human disease.

·                           Provide a One Health forum for discussing the integration of approaches that can reduce disease risk in animals and people.

Symposium organizers:

Thomas P. Monath, MD, Chair – Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and member, One Health Initiative Website team         

Bob H. Bokma, DVM, Co-Chair – United States Department of Agriculture-Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS)

Speakers:

Clarence J. Peters, MD – University of Texas Medical Branch,  Galveston, TX (USA)

“Rift Valley fever: prevention of human disease outbreaks by vaccination of livestock”

Thomas Geisbert, PhD -  University of Texas Medical Branch,  Galveston, TX (USA)

“Progress in the development of vaccines against Ebola hemorrhagic fever”

Thomas E. Walton, DVM, PhD - USDA (retired),  Fort Collins, CO (USA)

“Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis attenuated vaccine strain TC-83: successful application of an IND human vaccine to equines for control of major northern hemispheric epizootic and epidemic, 1969-1972.”

E. Paul H. Gibbs, BVSc, PhD - University of Florida, Gainesville, Fl (USA)

“The global eradication of rinderpest and its significance for “One World, One Health”.

Hendra virus outbreak in Australia Affecting Human Lives: a ‘One Health in Action’ example

In response to several News reports including Australia.To News on May 21, 2010 entitled “New research sheds light on Hendra virus” and a ProMED-mail article posted on the One Health Initiative website’s ProMED page May 24, 2010 entitled “HENDRA VIRUS - AUSTRALIA (04): (QUEENSLAND), HUMAN EXPOSURE” the One Health Initiative website requested from veterinarian Dr. Hume Field an updated News report.  Dr. Field is a prominent and valued One Health supporter/advocate living and working in Australia.

The following was graciously provided on May 30, 2010:

Queensland Government

Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation

May 2010

Hendra virus

Hume Field, BVSc, MSc, PhD, MACVS

Principal Veterinary Epidemiologist (Emerging Diseases), Biosecurity Queensland

Hendra virus was first described in September 1994, in a novel disease outbreak in horses in Australia. Twenty horses and two humans were infected on that occasion, resulting in the death of 13 horses and one human. A further thirteen incidents (some single-horse events, some multiple-horse events) have been identified to date, resulting in more than 40 confirmed equine cases and seven human cases (four of them fatal). Fruit bats of the genus Pteropus (colloquially known as flying foxes) are the natural host of the virus.

The most recent incident was confirmed on 20 May 2010, when Biosecurity Queensland confirmed a positive Hendra virus PCR result for a horse on a property in Tewantin, in south-east Queensland, Australia. The horse was humanely euthanized after a rapid clinical progression. A second (in-contact) horse on the property was clinically well and negative for Hendra virus in the first round of testing. The second horse will remain under quarantine until samples collected a minimum of two incubation periods after the last exposure opportunity are negative to all tests.

Animal health (Biosecurity Queensland) and public health (Queensland Health) agencies are responding jointly to the incident, and will continue to work with the horse owners, the attending veterinarian and local community.

The Biosecurity Queensland Emerging Diseases Research Group, led by veterinary epidemiologist Dr. Hume Field, is using infra-red cameras to record nocturnal interactions and behaviour in horses, bats and other nocturnal wildlife to better understand how Hendra virus is transmitted to horses. The group is also collecting pooled urine samples from fruit bat colonies in the vicinity as part of ongoing investigations into Hendra virus infection dynamics in bats.

There have been calls from individuals and groups in the community for culling of bats. The Biosecurity Queensland perspective is that culling is scientifically flawed and not the answer to the Hendra virus problem. Fruit bats are an important part of the natural system, promoting biodiversity and supporting the timber industry and nature-based recreation and tourism. Beyond this, it’s simply not feasible to cull bats – they are nomadic animals whose movements are driven by food availability – if you cull one location, animals will move in from another location to utilise the food resources. Indeed, culling is likely to be counter-productive and exacerbate virus excretion, firstly by further stressing bat populations, and secondly, the resultant ‘sink’ effect will result in increased population flux. Most importantly, culling is just not necessary; there are effective measures that people can take to mitigate the risks of infection transmission from bats to horses, and from horses to humans.

The website www.biosecurity.qld.gov.au has up to date information on Hendra virus, including the latest version of the Guidelines for veterinarians handling potential Hendra virus infection in horses.

NOTICE (June 7, 2010):

 The One Health Initiative Website Welcomes …

 Worldwide One Health Submissions for Posting on:

· One Health News page

·Publications page

·Upcoming Events page

Comments and suggestions also appreciated...

 Please send to kkm@onehealthinitiative.com c/o Contents Manager

“Wildlife and One Health” edition of the One Health Newsletter

One Health Newsletter Published – May 25, 2010 - Spring Issue, 2010 Volume 3 Issue 2

http://www.doh.state.fl.us/Environment/medicine/One_Health/OneHealth.html

http://www.onehealthinitiative.com/newsletter.php

 Cancer Surgeon and One Health Advocate Saves Human Lives in Tampa, Florida (USA)

Prominent oncology surgeon and One Health supporter, Mokenge P. Malafa, MD has been saving lives at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute in Tampa, Florida (USA) for years. Dr. Malafa is chair, department of gastrointestinal oncology, section head, pancreatic oncology and program leader, gastrointestinal tumor program at Moffitt.

On May 20, 2010, Bruce Kaplan, DVM, a successful high risk hepatocellular carcinoma surgical patient after five years presented his surgeon, Dr. Malafa with a copy of the landmark One Health book, Human-Animal Medicine – Clinical Approaches to Zoonoses, Toxicants and other Shared Health Risks by Yale Medical School’s  Peter M. Rabinowitz, MD, MPH and Florida State Department of Health’s Lisa A. Conti, DVM, MPH sevierhealth.com/product.jsp?isbn=9781416068372">http://www.us.elsevierhealth.com/product.jsp?isbn=9781416068372.

ProMED-mail: A Valuable One Health Asset Worldwide

“The costs of doing a poor job tracking infectious diseases as they move between animals and humans have been staggering over the last 60 years.  ProMED-mail (please see our ProMED page on this website) makes a valiant and remarkable effort to overcome this deficit.  A cadre of physicians, veterinarians and other health scientists participate.

Species-jumping pathogens have caused more than 65 percent of infectious disease outbreaks in the past six decades, and have racked up more than $200 billion in economic losses worldwide over the past 10 years, according to a report issued last year September by the U.S. Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the National Research Council. 

Lack of communication between those tracking human and animal health has led to missed opportunities to detect and quickly contain species-crossing pathogens, the report notes.

To improve coordination and communication between groups, ProMED’s current staff of nearly 40 experts in 16 countries includes 8 veterinarians and veterinary medical health specialists -- one in Thailand, one in Cameroon, one in Israel, one in Tanzania, and four in the U.S.  The ProMED staff recently reviewed ProMED postings from 1996 to 2004 and found that more than 10,000 reports on animal disease were posted during that interval. Approximately 30 percent covered diseases that can be transmitted between animals and humans.  The remaining were related to animal diseases in both domestic animals and wildlife.”

Information provided by:

Larry Madoff, MD, Editor – ProMED-mail  [Edited for One Health Initiative website by Jack Woodall, PhD, ProMED associate editor]

Please see previous News Item RE: One Health in ACTION!   More about Dr. Breitschwerdt and his laboratory’s research contributions to One Health…

Flea Bites Linked with Chronic Infections [by a veterinarian], Possible Birth Defects [human infants] - USA

http://twt.tl/2mB1Bnl

Dr. Edward Breitschwerdt, a veterinarian, directs the Intracellular Pathogens Research Laboratory (IPRL)in the Center for Comparative Medicine and Translational Research at North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine, where he is a Professor of Medicine and Infectious Disease. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Medicine at Duke University Medical Center. Historically, research in the IPRL has focused on questions of comparative medical importance related to Rocky Mountain spotted fever, canine and human ehrlichiosis, anaplasmosis, babesiosis and most recently bartonellosis in animal and human patients.

In collaboration with scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, University of Texas, Galveston, John’s Hopkins, University of California (Davis) and other research groups around the world, Dr. Breitschwerdt and the laboratory has contributed to the development of more sensitive and specific diagnostic tests for a variety of insect-transmitted infectious agents.  These diagnostic techniques can be used on numerous types of patient samples (blood, urine, cerebrospinal fluid or biopsy tissues) and are applicable to samples obtained from either sick animals or people. The laboratory performs applied research that has a direct impact on patient care and infectious disease management practices in both human and veterinary medicine.

Most importantly, recent IPRL collaborative discoveries illustrate unique, existing opportunities to make tremendous strides in our understanding of the role of infectious agents as a cause of chronic debilitating diseases in animals and human beings.  As many human pathogens are zoonotic (at least 60%) the comparative medical importance of various infectious agents in the pathogenesis of chronic diseases of companion animals and people is substantial and very much under studied.  Current research efforts are focused on the role of Bartonella spp. a cause of chronic debilitating illness throughout the world. 

One Health in Action!

Flea Bites Linked with Chronic Infections [by a veterinarian], Possible Birth Defects [human infants] - USA

http://twt.tl/2mB1Bnl

A researcher in North Carolina State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine has discovered that bacteria transmitted by fleas–and potentially ticks–can be passed to human babies by the mother, causing chronic infections and raising the possibility of bacterially induced birth defects.

Edward Breitschwerdt, DVM, DACVIM, a veterinarian and professor of internal medicine in the Department of Clinical Sciences and director of the CVM Intracellular Pathogens Research Laboratory, is among the world’s leading experts on Bartonella, a bacteria that is maintained in nature by fleas, ticks and other biting insects, but which can be transmitted by infected cats and dogs as well.

The most commonly known Bartonella-related illness is cat scratch disease, caused by B. henselae, a strain of Bartonella that can be carried in a cat’s blood for months to years. Cat scratch disease was thought to be a self-limiting, or “one-time” infection; however, Dr. Breitschwerdt’s previous work discovered cases of children and adults with chronic, blood-borne Bartonella infections–from strains of the bacteria that are most often transmitted to cats (B. henselae) and dogs (B. vinsonii subsp. berkhoffii) by fleas and other insects.

READ MORE  

http://www.cvm.ncsu.edu/news/2010-05-04-CCMTR-Research-Links-Flea-Bites-with-Possible-Bacterially-Induced-Birth-Defects.html

Official Global One Health Advancement:

Food Agricultural Organization-World Organization for Animal Health-World Health Organization Collaboration Document

The FAO-OIE-WHO Collaboration: a tripartite concept note

This document sets a strategic direction for the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Organisation for Animal Health, and the World Health Organization for joint action in addressing health risks at the human-animal-ecosystems interfaces, and proposes a long term basis for international collaboration on global activities.

http://aitoolkit.org/site/DefaultSite/filesystem/documents/FAO%20OIE%20WHO%20Collaboration%20-%20a%20tripartite%20concept%20note.pdf

‘International Zoonosis Research Institute’, Islamabad, Pakistan Links to One Health Initiative website

 http://www.izrionline.com/

and http://www.izrionline.com/Link.html

Information Provided by:

Nasir Shah Naqvi, PhD
Chairman International Zoonosis Research Institute 

Suite No 5 Second Floor Sajad Shrif Plaza

G 11 Markaz

Islamabad, Pakistan

World Medical & Health Policy

www.psocommons.org/wmhp

Vol. 2:Iss. 1, Article 24 (2010)

Review of L. H. Kahn’s Book:  See http://www.psocommons.org/wmhp/vol2/iss1/art24/

Who’s In Charge?  Leadership during Epidemics, Bioterror Attacks, and other Public Health Crises

By Arnauld Nicogossian, George Mason University

University of Pittsburgh (USA), Center for Global Health Links with One Health Initiative Website - May 4, 2010

          http://www.globalhealth.pitt.edu/resources/additional-links.php

Information provided by:

Joanne Russell, MPPM, RN, CCRC, Director

                   and

Donald S. Burke, MD

UPMC-Jonas Salk Professor of Global Health
Associate Vice Chancellor for Global Health

University Library, University of Illinois (USA) at Urbana-Champaign in Forefront of One Medicine/One Health

The University Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has and continues to support/promote the One Medicine/One Health initiative.  Their website now links to other significant One Health websites including the One Health Initiative website.  This makes them the 50^th known national and international website linking with the One Health Initiative website http://www.onehealthinitiative.com.

SEE:  http://uiuc.libguides.com/content.php?pid=98786

“From The University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine Strategic Plan:

Center for One Medicine

We are proposing a new University-wide program that would help prepare society to address the animal and human dimensions of emerging public health issues, such as avian influenza and anti-microbial resistance. This program will support studies at the intersection of wildlife disease, sustainable agriculture, conservation medicine, and human and environmental health. Ultimately, this work will inform and improve public health policy.”

“ONE HEALTH in Action”

ANNOUNCMENT: International Association of Medical Science Educators (IAMSE) - Global Outreach

 www.iamse.org 

 Peter G. Anderson, DVM, PhD, Professor of Pathology and Director of Pathology Undergraduate Education at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, shares his photographs from a recent trip to Zambia Africa.  Dr. Anderson was selected as a member of the Fulbright Specialist Program.  This Fulbright Foundation sponsored program promotes linkages between U.S. academics and their counterparts at universities abroad. The program is designed to award grants to qualified U.S. faculty in select disciplines to engage in short-term collaborative 2 to 6 week projects at higher education institutions in over 100 countries worldwide.

 Dr. Anderson made this trip to Zambia as part of the UAB Sparkman Center for Global Health Initiatives ongoing program to support health sciences educational activities in Zambia.  The Sparkman Center has an ongoing relationship with the University of Zambia School of Medicine.  The overall goal of these activities is to expand and enhance models of medical education in Sub-Saharan Africa. These models are intended to yield increasing number of new health care workers, strengthen medical education systems in the countries in which they exist, and build clinical and research capacity in Africa as part of a retention strategy for faculty of medical schools and clinical professors.  The strategy of this initiative is to build human capacity for health in Africa by strengthening the medical education system in an environment that values and nurtures basic science and research and which will contribute to the sustainability and quality of the overall effort.

 Click here to view selected photographs of the University of Zambia School of Medicine, the Chobe National Park, and Victoria Falls.

Please see previous posting about Dr. Anderson:

University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine (USA) Links Website with One Health Initiative website

http://www.vet.upenn.edu/  and  http://www.vet.upenn.edu/PennVet/AboutUs/tabid/247/Default.aspx

Information provided by:

Kelly Stratton

Communication Specialist

School of Veterinary Medicine

University of Pennsylvania

215.898.1475

Available on website Publications page - http://www.onehealthinitiative.com/publications.php

Music Industry News Network

Humanitarian University Consortium
Distance Education Initiative

 One Medicine: One Health (Zoonotic Disease) Online Course

Presented by:

Stephen M. Apatow, Director of Research and Development  
Humanitarian University Consortium Graduate Studies Center for Medicine, Veterinary Medicine and Law

Zoonotic Disease Online Course: Humanitarian Resource Institute.

 Related Textbooks:

·                         Human-Animal Medicine: Clinical Approaches to Zoonoses, Toxicants and Other Shared Health Risks (Amazon):  Peter M. Rabinowitz MD MPH, Lisa A. Conti DVM MPH DACVPM CEHP.

·                         Zoonoses: Recognition, Control, and Prevention:  Martin E. Hugh-Jones, William T. Hubbert, Harry V. Hagstad.

New Zealand One Health Advocate to Receive “Office of the New Zealand Order of Merit” (ONZM)

The Governor General of New Zealand will present the “Office of the New Zealand Order of Merit” (ONZM) award http://www.dpmc.govt.nz/honours/overview/nzom.html—the New Zealand version of the “Most Excellent Order of the British Empire” (OBE)—on Tuesday April 27, 2010, to veterinarian, Dr. James Daulby Edwards. “For services to the veterinary profession and the community.”

A longstanding supporter and advocate of the One Health concept, Dr. Edwards represents the Ministe