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