Commentary - One Health: A Crucial Collaborative Tool for Early Disease Surveillance

March 22, 2023 — 

In the past several years, the world has seen an unprecedented emergence of diseases with epidemic and pandemic potential. Epidemics of West Nile virus, Ebola, Zika, COVID-19, and mpox show how the health of people, animals, and our shared environment are closely connected. For as long as people have lived with and around animals, there has always been the potential for sharing diseases. The majority of infectious diseases that affect people are zoonotic, which means they can spread between animals and people.

A One Health approach is critical to most effectively protect health for people, animals, plants, and our shared environment. One Health recognizes that the health of people, domestic and wild animals, plants, and our shared environment are closely linked and interdependent. Shared threats at the human-animal-environment interface can be addressed using a One Health approach that brings together experts from all sectors.

In today's connected world, people and animals interact more closely and more often than they have ever before. We have pets in our homes, work with animals on farms, see wildlife in our yards, visit animals in public settings like zoos, and even bring animals into our classrooms and healthcare facilities. Changes in climate and land use have changed animal habitats and movement, often bringing wildlife into our communities and closer to our homes and daily lives. But with this increased human-animal-environment connection comes the increased risk for new and reemerging zoonotic diseases in both people and animals that can have a profound impact on societies by affecting economies, food safety and security, livelihoods, and global health.

It's not a question of if but when the next zoonotic disease with pandemic potential will come. This reality is why a One Health approach to surveillance is crucial for finding diseases at the human-animal-environment interface early enough to prevent their spread. It's also important for our ability to address conservation, biodiversity, and protect the environment.

Read the full commentary at https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/987525?src=parcdc_stmmscpedt?&faf=1.

[Source: Medscape & CDC 7 February 2023 by Casey Barton Behravesh]