One Health Seeks to Curb Zoonotic Diseases
People and animals share connections through food, work, shared environments, recreation and companionship.
As a part of that interdependence, there also are diseases that are transmissible between animals and humans. Examples are salmonellosis, tuberculosis, rabies, E. coli infections, brucellosis, West Nile virus, Lyme disease and some strains of influenza.
These “zoonotic” diseases cause an estimated annual 2.5 billion cases of illness and 2.7 million deaths worldwide. Concern for reducing the incidence of these diseases led to the formation of the One Health Office by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
One Health works in the United States and around the world to protect the health of humans, animals and the environment. It drives collaboration between disease investigators, human health care providers, veterinarians, scientists, ecologists, educators and policymakers.
Partnerships and communication between experts in animal, human and environmental health are an essential part of the One Health approach. Examples of their recent work include:
- Working with multiple partners to educate rural youth in organizations like 4-H and FFA about preventing the spread of diseases shared between people and animals. One important outcome of this effort was the rapid response to an outbreak of influenza among people who had attended fairs in Ohio and Michigan. One Health traced the outbreak to infected pigs exhibited at the fairs.
- Responding to disease outbreaks and public health emergencies, such as examining the risk of Ebola, COVID-19 and Zika viruses to pets and other animals.
- Protecting Americans by educating about diseases they can get from their pets and livestock, like salmonellosis and ringworm.
- USDA One Health currently is focusing specifically on research and education related to antimicrobial resistance, avian influenza, and influenza in swine.
Additional information about One Health can be found here. Examples of projects executed as part of the program can be read here.