Excellent One Health article on Huffington Post…

The Critical Question We're Not Asking About The Ebola Outbreak

Posted: 07/31/2014 6:39 pm EDT Updated: 07/31/2014 6:59 pm EDT

“The ebola outbreak in West Africa has the world on edge: Will the virus spill into new communities? Will it cross more borders? Even oceans? How can caregivers raise the victims' chances of survival, as well as reduce their own chances of getting sick?

Some experts emphasize the importance of another, generally overlooked question: How can we thwart such deadly outbreaks in the first place? … “

Please read full article http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/31/ebola-outbreak-causes_n_5638503.html?1406846385

Link graciously provided by Lynne Peeples lynne.peeples@huffingtonpost.com

The New One Health Journal Veterinary Sciences Released — Basel, Switzerland

The new online open access “One Health” journal Veterinary Sciences (ISSN 2306-7381, http://www.mdpi.com/journal/vetsci) is now released and has published its first issue:

Vet. Sci., Volume 1, Issue 1 (June 2014), Pages 1-76 http://www.mdpi.com/2306-7381/1/1/

Table of Contents:

Editorial: Veterinary Sciences—A Forum for One Medicine, One Health

by Duncan Ferguson

Vet. Sci. 2014, 1(1), 1-2; doi:10.3390/vetsci1010001

http://www.mdpi.com/2306-7381/1/1/1/

Editorial: Animal Models and Better Understanding of “One Medicine”

by Duncan Ferguson

Vet. Sci. 2014, 1(1), 3-4; doi:10.3390/vetsci1010003

http://www.mdpi.com/2306-7381/1/1/3/

Article: Filarial Nematode Infection in Ixodes scapularis Ticks Collected from Southern Connecticut by Pabbati Namrata, Jamie Miller, Madari Shilpa, Patlolla Reddy, Cheryl Bandoski, Michael Rossi and Eva Sapi

Vet. Sci. 2014, 1(1), 5-15; doi:10.3390/vetsci1010005

http://www.mdpi.com/2306-7381/1/1/5/

Review: Review of Animal Models of Prostate Cancer Bone Metastasis

by Jessica Simmons, Said Elshafae, Evan Keller, Laurie McCauley and Thomas Rosol

Vet. Sci. 2014, 1(1), 16-39; doi:10.3390/vetsci1010016

http://www.mdpi.com/2306-7381/1/1/16/

Review: Non-Human Primate Models of Orthopoxvirus Infections

by Anne Schmitt, Kerstin Mätz-Rensing and Franz-Josef Kaup

Vet. Sci. 2014, 1(1), 40-62; doi:10.3390/vetsci1010040

http://www.mdpi.com/2306-7381/1/1/40/

Review: Respiratory Animal Models in the Common Marmoset (Callithrix jacchus)

by Christoph Curths, Sascha Knauf and Franz-Josef Kaup

Vet. Sci. 2014, 1(1), 63-76; doi:10.3390/vetsci1010063

http://www.mdpi.com/2306-7381/1/1/63/

Full text can be accessed free of charge.

Provided to the One Health Initiative website July 28, 2014 by:

Ellen Lu

Managing Editor

Veterinary Sciences

____________________________

NOTE: 

About Editor-in-Chief, Duncan C. Ferguson, VMD, PhD, DACVIM, DACVCP, Professor and Head, Urbana, Illinois http://vetmed.illinois.edu/cb/

            Associate Editor, Margarethe Hoenig, DVM, PhD, Professor, Urbana, Illinois http://nutrsci.illinois.edu/directory/mhoenig

Drs. Ferguson, Hoenig and the Comparative Biosciences faculty at the University of Illinois, College of Veterinary Medicine are in the forefront of important One Health (One Medicine) collaborative research activities that affect animal and human patients.  In addition to “public health”, comparative medicine/translational medicine are critical clinical health components under the One Health umbrella. Interdisciplinary, collaborative comparative medicine research has, in the past, expeditiously developed and can significantly help develop future advances in diagnoses and treatments for cancer, cardiovascular diseases, joint and skeletal diseases, metabolic disorders, and others.

The One Health Initiative team congratulates the new Veterinary Sciences journal and endorses their comparative medicine One Health (One Medicine) approach.

One Health Initiative Autonomous pro bono Team: Laura H. Kahn, MD, MPH, MPP ▪ Bruce Kaplan, DVM ▪ Thomas P. Monath, MD ▪ Jack Woodall, PhD ▪ Lisa A. Conti, DVM, MPH

Tuberculosis in Animals and Humans: A One Health Approach

A power point slide presentation http://goo.gl/SVVFcv for the One Health Section of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) convention in Denver, Colorado on July 28, 2014 by:

Charles O. Thoen, DVM, PhD

Professor of Veterinary Microbiology & Preventive Medicine

Iowa State University

College of Veterinary Medicine

Ames, Iowa

Please see optional slide presentation link:

https://iowastate-my.sharepoint.com/personal/cthoen_iastate_edu/_layouts/15/guestaccess.aspx?guestaccesstoken=LKnmBcqEaGhftDQ6kjBJAAbSKBjiHdi5dBiYVZwOj1s%3d&docid=1e748d13f24f348cea0f0cccc46dbe363

Dr. Thoen is an internationally recognized tuberculosis expert, co-editor of the textbook Zoonotic Tuberculosis: Mycobacterium bovis and Other Pathogenic Mycobacteria
:: Click Here :: - 3rd Edition (2014), prominent longstanding One Health supporter/leader http://www.onehealthinitiative.com/supporters.php and the current President of the American Veterinary Epidemiology Society (AVES).

Tuberculosis Overview (16324)
Public and Corporate Practice |  One Health
Monday | 11:00 AM - 11:40 AM
Colorado Convention Center: 303

https://avma.eventkaddy.net/sessions/16324

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 07/13/2014 - 20:48

How to prevent the next Ebola outbreak

By Columnist *Laura H. Kahn, MD, MPH, MPP Laura H. Kahn

“The Ebola virus has emerged in three West African countries where it had not previously been reported: Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. In early July, health ministers from 11 countries and representatives from the World Health Organization (WHO) and relevant partner organizations met in an emergency two-day meeting in Accra, Ghana, to strategize on containing the worsening crisis. So far, the outbreak is the largest and deadliest since the disease was first recognized in 1976 in northern Zaire. As of July 8, there had been 888 cases and 539 deaths, with a mortality rate over 60 percent. Previous outbreaks, in Central African countries, typically had mortality rates closer to 90 percent. …

“…This is why a One Health approach—an approach that recognizes the connection between human health and animal and environmental health—is so important in Africa. Healthy livestock promote healthy humans. Unfortunately, developing countries have difficulty providing food for their human populations, let alone their livestock. Livestock production accounts for relatively little agricultural output in sub-Saharan Africa. Public health and agriculture experts must work together to improve agriculture and figure out how to meet Africans’ demands for animal proteins in an environmentally sustainable way.”

Please read entire column at http://thebulletin.org/how-prevent-next-ebola-outbreak7312 

*International One Health physician leader, Dr. Kahn is a Research Scholar, Program on Science and Global Security’ Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University and Co-Founder, One Health Initiative Autonomous Pro Bono team and website.

*An Editorial News item Viewpoint…

Single One Health example shines during U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Laboratory Accident Reports

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a press release July 11, 2014 outlining their recognition of and plans for remedying disclosures about a recent regrettable anthrax episode.  Steps for improving laboratory quality and safety were highlighted http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2014/p0711-lab-safety.html. 

Noted in the second paragraph of the press release was, “While finalizing this report, CDC leadership was made aware that earlier this year a culture of non-pathogenic avian influenza was unintentionally cross-contaminated at the CDC influenza laboratory with the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of influenza and shipped to a BSL-3 select-agent laboratory operated by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). There were no exposures as a result of that incident.  The CDC influenza laboratory is now closed and will not reopen until adequate procedures are put in place. Further investigation, review, and action is underway.”  Repeat: “There were no exposures as a result of that incident.” 

The New York Times report on July 12, 2014 http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/12/science/cdc-closes-anthrax-and-flu-labs-after-accidents.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=HpSum&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0 mentioned this important item describing it as …”In a second accident, disclosed Friday, a C.D.C. lab accidentally contaminated a relatively benign flu sample with a dangerous H5N1 bird flu strain that has killed 386 people since 2003. Fortunately, a United States Agriculture Department laboratory realized that the strain was more dangerous than expected and alerted the C.D.C.”…

This potentially life saving “One Health in Action” by an essentially veterinary medical oriented USDA laboratory issuing an alert to CDC was wisely and promptly accepted; this is instructive.  It demonstrates how the One Health (One Medicine) approach—a collaborative, multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary paradigm—can and does significantly advance the public’s health.  The CDC maintains a One Health Office http://www.cdc.gov/ncezid/dhcpp/one_health/.

The salient point is that the majority of the dangerous pathogens are zoonotic agents, and thus all biosafety systems and protocols used by policy makers should involve both animal and human scientists thereby leading to a higher standard.

*The One Health Initiative website welcomes other responsible commentaries related to this subject and other One Health issues.  Please submit Microsoft word formated copy of 400 -1000 words containing a maximum of 6 references to kkm@onehealthinitiative.com for publication/posting consideration. 

A List of some current [known] “ONE HEALTH” activist University Institutions (USA)

http://www.onehealthinitiative.com/publications/One%20Health%20Universities%20USA%20July%2010,%202014.pdf

The One Health Initiative team* honors and congratulates each of these 32 One Health [or One Health related] programs (26 states) and—in the true spirit of One Health (One Medicine)—encourages continued collaborations (sharing information) between and among these institutions of higher learning.

Auburn University (USA)

http://www.vetmed.auburn.edu/home/about-the-college/news/news-at-the-college/auburn-launches-one-medicine-cancer-initiative#.U7kHcU0U8dU

http://www.wltz.com/story/23090055/au-researcher-develops-bone-cancer-therapy-for-dogs  

Berry College, Mount Berry, GA (USA)

www.berry.edu/academics/majors/onehealth/

www.berry.edu/Templates/general.aspx?id=51539609661

The University of California Davis (USA)

http://globalhealth.ucdavis.edu/initiatives/one_health.html

North Carolina State (NC State) University (USA)

http://www.cvm.ncsu.edu/about/one-health.html

Colorado State University (USA)

http://www.today.colostate.edu/story.aspx?id=9210

Cornell University (USA)

http://www.acsf.cornell.edu/research/Focus-OneHealth.php

University of Florida (USA)

http://research.vetmed.ufl.edu/one-health-2/

Fontbonne University, St Louis, Missouri (USA)

http://www.fontbonne.edu/academics/undergraduate/departments/biologicalphysicalsciences/one-health-certificate/course-requirements/ 

University of Georgia (USA)

http://onehealth.uga.edu/

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (USA)www.vetmed.illinois.edu/onehealth/

Iowa State University (USA)

https://www.aavmc.org/data/files/annualconference/2014/ppt/Nolan.pdf

Kansas State University (USA)

http://www.onehealthkansas.ksu.edu/

Louisiana State University (USA)

http://www1.vetmed.lsu.edu/VCS/PDFs%20and%20Word%20Docs/item50038.pdf

University of Minnesota (USA)

http://www.cvm.umn.edu/respond/OneHealth/home.html

Michigan State University (USA)

https://www.msu.edu/~iih/onehealth.html

Mississippi State University (USA)

http://www.cvm.msstate.edu/index.php/about/dean-s-message

University of Missouri (USA)

http://mizzouadvantage.missouri.edu/medicine/

The Ohio State University (USA)

http://vet.osu.edu/cvm/one-health-college-veterinary-medicine

Oregon State University (USA)

http://vetmed.oregonstate.edu/one-health-osu-vet-med

University of Pennsylvania (USA)

http://www.onehealthinitiative.com/publications/One%20Health%20Initiative%20NEWS%20June2013%20.pdf

Penn State University (USA)

http://science.psu.edu/science-seminars/archive/2014-science-seminars/conservation-and-the-one-health-approach

http://science.psu.edu/news-and-events/lectures-and-events/frontiers/learning-resources/learning-resources-2011

University of Pittsburgh (USA)

http://www.publichealth.pitt.edu/home/news/in-the-news/articleid/1578/pitt-upmc-receive-awards-to-create-clinical-data-research-network-conduct-comparative-effectiveness

A significant One Health translational medicine research approach…Regrowth of injured muscles in mice and humans has been demonstrated by a multidisciplinary research team - “An Acellular Biologic Scaffold Promotes Skeletal Muscle Formation in Mice and Hu – Posted http://www.onehealthinitiative.com/news.php Monday, May 12, 2014

Princeton University (USA)

https://www.princeton.edu/sgs/publications/articles/OneHealth-article-June-2010.pdf

Purdue University (USA)

http://www.purdue.edu/ethics/oie/003054-2014.html

Texas A & M University (USA)

http://onehealth.tamu.edu/challenge

http://onehealth.tamu.edu/about

Tufts University (USA)

http://www.tufts.edu/home/feature/?p=one_health

University of Tuskegee (USA)

http://www.onemedicine.tuskegee.edu/

Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine

https://www.vetmed.vt.edu/news/vs/issue03-06-june14/

University of Washington (USA)

http://deohs.washington.edu/hamp/

Washington State University (USA)

http://globalhealth.wsu.edu/newsletter/the-allen-school-update/archives/jan-feb-2014/one-world-one-health

Western University of Health Sciences (USA)

http://www.westernu.edu/veterinary/veterinary-research-overview/veterinary-research-interest-groups/#ccrprig

University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA)

http://researchguides.library.wisc.edu/onehealth

 Note: List alphabetized according to name of University.

 *One Health Initiative Autonomous pro bono Team: Laura H. Kahn, MD, MPH, MPP ▪ Bruce Kaplan, DVM ▪ Thomas P. Monath, MD ▪ Jack Woodall, PhD ▪ Lisa A. Conti, DVM, MPH

A TIMELY serious One Health issue…

Tackling the ebola epidemic in west Africa: why we need a holistic approach

Immediate medical action is not enough to manage the disease. We need cross-sector collaboration and integrated research [One Health]

By Naomi Marks

Guardian Professional, Thursday 19 June 2014 12.18 EDT

As the death toll from ebola in west Africa continues to rise, there is a growing awareness of the threat of diseases transmitted from animals to people.

Ebola, a haemorrhagic fever that causes uncontrolled bleeding, is dramatic in its manifestation and has a case fatality rate of up to 90%. Its emergence can be sudden and unexplained, and, as the recent crisis shows, it can spread across communities and borders with alarming speed.

What the outbreak confirms is that if animal transmitted diseases such as Ebola – known as zoonoses – are to be tackled effectively, the response must go beyond media focus and immediate medical action when an epidemic hits. There is a crucial need for multidisciplinary working over the longer term to gain a holistic understanding of the drivers of these diseases.

This so-called one health approach takes as its premise an understanding that human health, animal health and environmental health are all interlinked. It calls for collaborative efforts between natural and social scientists – including doctors, vets, environmental scientists, geographers and anthropologists – at local, national and international levels.

Such a holistic understanding of health is not new. It is however increasingly gaining traction among those in the field, with the veterinary sector proving to be particularly quick to recognise the benefits of one health. A recent joint research initiative from the Department for International Development (DfID) and the social science, natural environment, medical and bioscience research councils, recognises the benefits of the approach. It aims to fund multidisciplinary research that would, among other benefits, reduce the impact of zoonoses on vulnerable people and their livestock.

When natural and social scientists work together – not just alongside each other, but meaningfully integrate their findings – it can be very productive. However, breaking down the barriers between researchers is one thing. The real challenge is to persuade those with the funds and the power to make cross-sector action happen. One of the issues that urgently needs to be tackled is a reconsideration of funding models to help facilitate cross-sector working.

Over the past 40 years more than 60% of emerging infectious diseases affecting people have had their origin in wildlife or livestock. Many of these zoonoses may cause death more slowly than Ebola, and remain unnoticed by anybody outside the immediate populations affected by them, but their effects are often devastating.

An example is trypanosomiasis, a disease caused by parasites transmitted by the tsetse fly, which affects both humans and animals and is widespread in large parts of Africa. This disease is one of four zoonoses being studied by the multidisciplinary research programme Dynamic drivers of disease in Africa, which is considering the complex links between ecosystems, zoonoses, health and wellbeing. While there were 88 Ebola cases reported in 2012, 50 of them fatal, there are an estimated 30,000-50,000 new cases of trypanosomiasis reported each year, with some 48,000 deaths recorded annually. In addition, the disease is likely to be misdiagnosed as in its early stages it is often confused with malaria and in its later stages with Aids.

Trypanosomiasis is fatal when left untreated and even when it is, it has a prolonged recovery period. As a result, it can ruin lives and livelihoods. The UN Food and Agricultural Organisation says the disease probably threatens rural development and poverty alleviation in sub-Saharan Africa more than any other disease.

Like ebola, a multidisciplinary approach to understanding trypanosomiasis is essential if it is to be controlled. Take Zambia, where trypanosomiasis has historically acted as a limitation on human settlement, with families keeping away from fertile but highly tsetse-infested areas. Land pressure is increasingly leading to colonisation of these areas. Land clearance for cash crops such as cotton is also thought to be having an effect on tsetse populations, and thus the spread of the disease.

In addition, there are likely to be social differences in vulnerability to trypanosomiasis, based on gender roles, livelihood patterns and the different ways in which people interact with their environment. These points are aside from other, 'macro' changes, such as climate change and urbanisation, which may be having an effect on tsetse ecology and disease transmission. Thus, it can easily be seen how medical research on its own is insufficient to understand and tackle the disease.

The stories behind a host of other zoonoses – from rift valley fever to ebola – are just as complex. Only multidisciplinary research can help to reveal and unravel their complexity. Without a holistic understanding of all the inter-related factors affecting the emergence, transmission and spread of zoonoses, disease management or elimination will remain beyond our reach.

Naomi Marks works for the Dynamic Drivers of Disease in Africa Consortium.

Please see http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2014/jun/19/ebola-multidisciplinary-approach-stop-epidemic.

Permission to post on One Health Initiative website by:

Naomi Marks

Communications Officer

Dynamic Drivers of Disease in Africa Consortium

STEPS Centre

Institute of Development Studies

Brighton, BN1 9RE

UK

Twitter @DDDAC_org

Tel: +44 (0) 1273 915606

________________________________________________________________________

*          *          *      

Ebola virus – A One Health History

Resource: http://www.onehealthinitiative.com/endorsements.php

Prominent Pennsylvania (USA) Veterinary Medical School Dean Joins One Health Initiative Team’s Honorary Advisory Board

The One Health Initiative Autonomous pro bono team is delighted to announce that Dr. Joan C. Hendricks http://www.vet.upenn.edu/people/faculty-clinician-search/JOANHENDRICKS, a veterinarian, has graciously accepted becoming a member of the team’s Honorary Advisory Board http://www.onehealthinitiative.com/advBoard.php on June 23, 2014.  The OHI Honorary Advisory Board was established in 2010 and has 34 distinguished members from within the U.S. and worldwide. 

Dr. Hendricks has been The Gilbert S. Kahn Dean of the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (USA) since 2006.  In addition, she is noted for conducting scientific research studying the physiology and anatomy of sleep and collaborating with other researchers at The Center for Sleep and Circadian Neurobiology (CSCN) http://www.med.upenn.edu/sleepctr/ at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine.

In a recently published interview http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/current/2014-05-08/interviews/qa-joan-hendricks posted on the One Health Initiative website’s NEWS page May 18, 2014, Hendricks was quoted in response to a question  …You talk a lot about the One Health concept. What is that, exactly?:

 “The school has always had a sense that our job was to advance knowledge to benefit domestic animals and people together. For a long time, we thought of it as treating diseases, so we talked about one medicine, many species. The One Health concept is a little bit more wholistic and progressive, and says that the health of people and animals are interdependent, and interdependent with the wild environment, as well. Veterinary medicine is the only multispecies medical specialty. All veterinarians have a particular connection with the medical school. … It’s a grounding for everything from doing a good job taking care of the animals to also being able to identify ways that they will be healthier, so it’s genetics, nutrition, or the way they’re taking care of training and how the people connect to them, as well. And if you’re talking about animals that serve people by doing some kind of work like the working dogs, or producing food and fiber, you want the animals really healthy because that’s the best outcome for everybody. A component of One Health is linked to food production. It’s a natural thing for a veterinarian to be linked to animal source food because you want the animals healthy. There’s a mission for veterinarians that is in our oath that we serve human society and animals. … It’s really about resolving, making sure that both sides of the equation do well and solving the problems that come about when the interests are in conflict. Connecting to animals is better for people than not. …”

Dr. Hendricks is a longstanding supporter/advocate on the One Health Initiative Supporter list http://www.onehealthinitiative.com/supporters.php and has worked in collaboration with the One Health Initiative team since 2007.

Infection Ecology and Epidemiology (IEE)—A Significant One Health Journal—by One Health Sweden

Infection Ecology & Epidemiology is a peer-reviewed Open Access journal aiming to be a truly international forum for the free exchange of original, cross-disciplinary, high quality papers from researchers in multiple medical and ecological disciplines engaged in describing the complexity of zoonotic infections and what exactly happens at the interface between wild and domestic animals, and humans. Of particular interest at present is the growing global problem of antibiotic resistance.

Target groups include veterinarians, physicians, molecular biologists, ecologists, and environmental chemists with an interest in zoonotic infections.

ADVANTAGES

• Open Access

• Rapid publication process

• Easy archiving

• All contents immediately deposited upon publication in PubMed/PubMed Central

• No charge for colour images, multi-media or other supplementary elements

• No publication fees

All contents freely available at: www.InfectionEcologyandEpidemiology.net