A new way to fight infectious diseases and predict outbreaks

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in 2019

virus jumped from its natural animal

host

into humans and life as we know it’s

changed

and with this change came questions

what happened how did we get here

can we prevent this from occurring again

we do not have all the answers to these

questions

but one thing we do know is that the

emergence of covid19

did not come as a surprise to scientists

that have been working on emerging

infectious diseases

and this will not be the last

so why should we

expect more infectious diseases

well in the last few decades there’s

been an increase in the number of new

diseases

with 60 percent of these diseases being

zoonosis

what is a zoonosis a zoonosis

is a disease that is caused by a

pathogen that can affect both humans

and animals some well-known zoonoses are

diseases like ebola

rabies avian influenza

also known as bird flu

over 70 percent of zoonosis

come from wildlife but why wildlife

well one of the reasons is an increasing

population with an increasing demand for

resources

has meant that humans are now

encroaching into areas

that were previously uninhabited and

coming into contact

with wildlife and the diseases that they

carry

so the world health organization

regularly releases

a list of priority diseases for research

and development

based on their potential to cause a

public health emergency

and all the diseases on this list are

zoonosis

included in the current list among

others

is covet 19 ebola

zika and disease x

this is x is defined as a currently

unknown disease

but with the potential to cause an

international

epidemic and in 2019

this is x was coveted 19

a zoonosis so

why are zoonosis important

they have widespread effects with both

direct and

indirect costs an example of a direct

cost to humans

is ill health and

premature death

pre-covered it was estimated that

annually

2.5 billion cases of disease

and 2.7 million deaths are due to

zoonosis

when we look at indirect costs

we can consider what is happening right

now with covet 19.

economies are in recession global value

chains have been

disrupted there’s in there’s reduced

international demand for goods

on a person or not we have all been

affected by copy 19

in one way or the other with the loss of

a loved one

the inability to see our friends and

relatives

not to mention the psychological impacts

that this pandemic is having

on our children so

what can we do to mitigate

the effects of stenosis and prepare

for disease x we can use

the one health approach

the one health approach integrates human

health

animal health and environmental health

so in terms of zoonotic diseases it

looks at all the factors

that can lead to the emergence of a

disease or that can increase

the threat of a disease

we shall now look at an example of where

the one health approach was used

successfully

in 1997 there was an outbreak of avian

influenza

also known as bird flu in hong kong

and authorities there devised a one

health

approach to the disease that went on to

be used

in other emerging facial disease

outbreaks after that

so basically what they did was to look

at poultry production and marketing

systems

as well as thick and healthy poultry and

wild birds

in order to determine the roots of

exposure to the virus

and then with this knowledge we’re able

then to design

targeted responses to prevent further

transmission of the disease

in humans and poultry

we can look at another example of how

the one health approach can be used

normally before outbreaks of ebola

in humans there are large outbreaks in

wildlife populations

particularly non-human primates like

gorillas and chimpanzees

so what normally happens is that hunters

will come across

the carcasses of these animals that have

died from ebola

and then both of the carcasses are in

the process

get infected and serve as a primary

source of infection

in their communities so in this case the

one health approach

could be in regular surveillance of

these wildlife populations for disease

education of the hunters on the risks of

butchering carcasses of animals that

they have found dead and looking into

alternative

avenues of life livelihood

for these hunters we’ll look at

one last example mosquito bone

infections like

zika rift valley fever or dengue

we could actually use the one health

approach in prediction of future

outbreaks

by using meteorological data like

temperature

and rainfall to determine when the

environment will be more suited

for mosquito populations so we can see

from these examples that

the one health approach is

a multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary

approach

but one health is not a new concept

it’s been around in various forms since

the 19th century

but to this day many just pay lip

service to it

as a veterinarian working with zoonosis

i see the need

for this holistic integrated approach

that one health

offers and my veterinary faculty has

always been

a champion of one health but outside

veterinary circles it seems like one

health

is an option and not a necessity

so how can we ensure that one health is

integrated into all levels of our health

response

well it starts with you and me

we need to educate each other on

the use of one health to mitigate

effects of stenosis or prevent

zoonosis and we also need to understand

that some activities

even though seemingly unrelated to

health can actually increase

the risk of stenosis for example

wildlife trades

encroachment into previously uninhabited

areas and natural phenomena like

flooding

our local authorities lawmakers and

traditional leaders

all need to be involved in preventing or

mitigating the effects of such

activities

and natural phenomena traditional

leaders

are hard enough because as i mentioned

earlier

over 70 percent of the nurses come from

wildlife

and where do we find this wildlife we

are found

outside the urban settings in the areas

that are governed

by these traditional leaders we also

need to advocate

for one health to be integrated into

national policy

this national policy should dictate an

integration of line ministries

in the response to zoonosis for example

ministry of

livestock and fisheries ministry of

health minister of mines

and so on but there needs to be an

agency

that oversees this whose mandate is to

ensure that all stakeholders

are involved in this one health response

and this agency

should also conduct and support research

into zoonosis for example looking into

potential spillover

in addition this agency should bridge

the gap

between human or animal or environmental

health research

and government policy

so what will happen

the next time we have disease x

the way we prepare for it now would

determine its severity

and we all have a role to play one

health

integrates human health and more health

and environmental health

and used properly it will ensure that

the next time a disease jumps

from its animal host into humans we will

be ready

with the answers thank you

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you