New on the AI Toolkit this week (14 – 20 December)

Case Study

Pandemic 2009 as a case study for disease surveillance and risk assessment

Using ‘Pandemic 2009’ as a case study example, Angus Nicoll for the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, discusses disease surveillance and risk assessment, and what can and cannot be assumed in the future. Also covered are vaccination issues, pressures on emergency room services, and lessons learned.

Feature Document

Surveillance for Influenza 'A' virus in animal populations: what can work?

Delivered by Professor of Veterinary Epidemiology, Colorado State University – Mo Salman – at the Influenza at the Interface between Human and Animals Conference, this presentation takes a look at surveillance systems and other prevention strategies for H5N1 in animal populations.

News

Cases of Influenza A-Infected Pigs Confirmed in Korea

Safari West cheetah first zoo animal with swine flu

More pandemic influenza A H1N1 articles released  

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE 'ONE HEALTH COMMISSION' (USA) SUMMIT IN WASHINGTON, DC ON NOVEMBER 17, 2009

European Union survey on MRSA in pigs: Spain highest contamination rate

vetsweb.com -  November 27, 2009

http://www.vetsweb.com/news/eu-survey-on-mrsa-in-pigs-spain-highest-contamination-rate-688.html

One Health Academic Programs of Importance

      Obtained from  http://phpartners.org/index.html and http://phpartners.org/veterinary.html

       Combined Master of Public Health/Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Program - College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University (Fort Collins, CO) - The College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics have created a combined 5-year program of study that can result in earning both the Masters in Public Health degree and Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degrees.

       Coordinated MPH (Health Behavior) DVM (School of Veterinary Medicine) - Auburn University, School of Veterinary Medicine and University of Alabama-Birmingham School of Public Health

       Doctor of Veterinary Medicine/Master of Public Health (DVM/MPH) Joint Degree - University of Florida

       Dual Degree DVM/MPH - School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin - Madison

       DVM-MPH Degree Program - University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine

       DVM/Master of Public Health Program - Tufts University (North Grafton, MA)

       DVM/Masters of Public Health Program - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

       DVM/MPH dual degree program - College of Veterinary Medicine, Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI) - The Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine offers a DVM/MPH degree program in collaboration with the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.

       DVM/MPH Dual-Degree Program at the University of Minnesota - The Veterinary Public Health (VPH) program allows students to combine their veterinary studies at any accredited veterinary college while pursuing the M.P.H. at the University of Minnesota, School of Public Health.

       Emphasis in Infectious Disease/Zoonoses, Master of Public Health Program - Kansas State University

       Master of Preventive Veterinary Medicine - University of California- Davis - This specialized master's degree program focuses on preventive medicine, but is not an accredited public health degree.

       Master of Science in Veterinary Public Health Texas A&M - The Veterinary Epidemiology and Public Health program is administered through the Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences within the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

       Master of Veterinary Public Health - North Carolina State University

       MPH Program for Veterinarians - The University of Iowa College of Public Health and Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine

       Purdue University Graduate Certificate Program in Veterinary Homeland Security - National Biosecurity Resource Center for Animal Health Emergencies - Long-distance graduate-level program with courses certified by APHIS.

       Veterinary Public Health - University of Glasgow

       Veterinary Public Health Concentration - University of Tennessee

       Veterinary Public Health Program - The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine

The Alliance for Rabies Control's November 2009 newsletter is now available on our website at:

www.rabiescontrol.net/ARCnewsletter15.pdf 

It includes articles on a rabies control project in India, rabies risks to cavers, the early history of rabies, 

a World Rabies Day project in Congo, updates on the Alliance's Bohol rabies control project, photographs

from the 3rd World Rabies Day and various news updates about rabies and the Alliance's work.

 We have again included hyperlinks in the pdf file. Whilst reading the pdf file you can now click on the links

(highlighted by blue text) and access the linked webpages directly.

 With Best Wishes,

Deborah Briggs, Executive Director of the Alliance, 

and Louise Taylor, newsletter editor 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19157669

Soc Sci Med. 2009 Mar;68(6):991-5. Epub 2009 Jan 20.

Animal-human connections, "one health," and the syndemic approach to prevention.

Rock M, Buntain BJ, Hatfield JM, Hallgrímsson B.

Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada. mrock@ucalgary.ca

A syndemic involves two or more afflictions that, by interacting synergistically, contribute to excess burdens of disease. A syndemic approach to prevention, meanwhile, focuses on connections among health-related problems, considers those connections when developing health policies, and aligns with forces for social change. In this short report, we expand the syndemic concept to acknowledge the extent to which animal health connects with human health and, with reference to existing publications, we demonstrate the pertinence of this expanded definition for a syndemic approach to prevention. Our demonstration assumes practical importance in relation to the concept of 'one health', which many prominent veterinary and human health scientists have recently endorsed as a sound basis for redressing human diseases, animal diseases, and environmental degradation worldwide. While social scientists have mostly ignored animal health, few 'one health' proponents have emphasized social conditions or involved social scientists. By explicitly accommodating animal-human connections in our expanded conceptualization of a syndemic, we hope to help create a space in which human health, veterinary, and social scientists may learn from one another, collaborate in research, and cooperate to clear the way for innovations in prevention.  PMID: 19157669 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Dutch call to investigate Q-fever effects in people

vetsweb.com - 13 Nov 2009

http://www.vetsweb.com/news/dutch-call-to-investigate-q-fever-effects-in-people-643.html

Eurosurveillance, Volume 14, Issue 45, 12 November 2009

 Editorials

 Antibiotic resistance in Europe: the challenges ahead  http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=19405

http://researchmagazine.uga.edu/fall2009/ugaresearch-Fall-2009.pdf

Fall 2009 Issue

UGAresearch – Vol 38, No. 2 - Discovery and Innovation at the University of Georgia

See: Reference to One Health on page 9.