Role of Veterinarians and One Health in the Fight against Zoonoses
Dr. Sudhanya Nath1* and Aravindkumar K.2
1PhD Scholar, Dept. of Animal Nutrition, West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences, Kolkata – 700037
2B.V.Sc. & A.H. Student, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Veterinary Education and Research, Puducherry – 605009
*Corresponding author – sudhanyanath@yahoo.com
Abstract
In the animal-based food system, veterinarians serve an important role in fighting zoonoses. To ensure the food health of public, they should be able to demonstrate competence for the safety of farm animals. Agricultural catastrophes and zoonotic spread of diseases have illustrated how intertwined animal and human health are in recent times. As a result, Veterinary medicine supports the concept of One Health to a large extent. The advantages of collaboration between vets and human doctors become obvious, particularly in the control of zoonotic diseases. Using One Health approach, on the other hand, brings moral issues to the surface. Veterinarians should be well prepared to face any kind of adverse situation if public-health policies hamper animal health. A broader understanding of One Health is the beginning point to deal with such ethical issues giving emphasis on veterinarian’s role.
Key words: Veterinarians, One Health, Zoonotic disease, Human health, Animal health.
Introduction
The realisation that human, animal, and environmental health are all intertwined is the starting point for One Health. To date, One Health concepts have been proposed mostly in the context of zoonoses and beyond. Under the One Health umbrella, translational medicine, as well as the advantages of animal interaction on human health in hospitals, prisons, or elderly homes, can all be included. This can be put in ways:
- Veterinarian activities are directly affected by One Health concept.
- An encompassing strategy should be formulated to deal with the moral issues that occur as a result.
At least 75% of new diseases have been confirmed to have a zoonotic origin, with a variety of animal species serving as major reservoirs.The high mortality rate and upcoming risks of epidemics/pandemics merging to lead mostly in rise of new maladies makes it vital and essential to strengthen studies in which veterinarians are capable of identifying and disclosing the dangers, key points, and other observational factors responsible for the transmission of a communicable diseases. The veterinarian is expected to look further than the individual animal and clinical symptoms while using the One Health approach.Veterinary public health is described as a component of public health activity related to the preservation and enhancement of social health by utilising the skills, information, and career of veterinarians as sources of veterinary services.
Role of Veterinarians and One Health
A veterinarian must be able to consider communal and global viewpoints, as well as animal welfare and public health.In light of the current pandemic’s possible origins, expanding research in areas with high human activity alone, as well as frequent contact with wildlife, should become a top priority in the fight against emerging diseases, as such hotspots are crucial in the emergence of new epidemics and pandemics.The information gained by monitoring potential environmental interactions, and the knowledge gained from previous studies in all areas of knowledge, will be useful tools for forecasting, controlling, and preventing zoonotic epidemics. These can be archived by the veterinarians. The various roles are:
- Different parameters (ecological, chronological, and many others) are recorded byGeospatial technology, allowing for disease modelling and forecasting.Rising-risk activities might be determined, and health education programmes could be implemented to address habits that aid or inhibits disease adaption and spread.
- Controlling vectors and/or hosts boosting agents that spread zoonotic diseases through the environment.
- Wildlife monitoring is done by studies that look at alterations in the host and possible diseases.Active monitoring is critical in the detection of possible animal infections and the possibility of their appearance in humans.
- In vitro experiments further into evolution of pathogen’s property over time.
The usage of sentinel animals, that have a higher vulnerability in the natural environment, or have a limited lifespan, has been extremely beneficial. Given that the hazards are shared by people and animals, the One Health concept must be attributed in therapies.
- Public health entails informing the public about the dangers of human-animal contact and the precautions that must be taken.Approaches such as conventional medicine are used successfully in some nations with more strong economies for other infections and would aid in the prevention of zoonotic diseases.
- The use of molecular diagnostics in the exchange of experiences among multidisciplinary teams of health professionals. They are particular animal models that give excellent environment for the replication of disease with human-like reactions and should be used to evaluate vaccines and treatments before being used to humans.
- The genetic evolution of zoonotic or prospective diseases must be closely watched at all times. Genomic plasticity has been shown in bacteria or viruses within animal hosts as well as in adverse ecological parameters such as heat, chemical, physiological, and biochemical stress, all of which may encourage the picking of more adaptive, tolerant, and harmful agents.
- Hygiene management of pets and livestock.
Veterinarians are extremely crucial in wildlife monitoring, which has become a critical component in the regulation of emerging zoonoses since there is constant change in the environment, biochemical variations of pathogens. Wild animal-human interconnections are the main factors of the development of new diseases. As a result, cooperation between veterinary stakeholder and the government for the participation in wildlife surveillance and clinical communities is crucial for the formation of standard precautions and these should be adopted in a standard direction for collection of basic and particular data, which is lacking in many of the underdeveloped nations. Through the use of photogrammetry technology, vet epidemiology can be linked with disease prediction and forecasting research by connecting ecological variables such as temperature, moisture, soil quality, insect density, disease, carrier, vulnerability, and movement of human and animal. The merging of factors such as the amount of these geo-coded sub data and multi-professional partnerships around the globe will indeed facilitate the delivery of advanced systemsto from a broad view for the expansion of knowledge associated to zoonotic diseases. Because many diseases are transmitted by animals, creative prevention and control measures are required, as well as the collaboration of many other sectors.
Challenges for the veterinarians:
The existing system of intensive livestock farming has a significant impact on the danger of zoonotic disease transmission from farm animals to people. Over the last few decades, the primary driver of cattle agricultural intensification has been cost reduction.Veterinarians and farmers continue to try to keep animals healthy within this framework. However, due to these unsatisfactory economic conditions, addressing health problems with a heavy reliance on antimicrobials appeared to be the most effective. Simply put, treating bacterial infections with antimicrobials was a less expensive alternative than investing in biosecurity, feed, or shelter.Drug resistance of dangerous and innocuous microorganisms in animals is undeniably caused by the use of antibacterial in animals. Although establishing a direct connection between the use of antimicrobials in farm animals and antimicrobial resistance in human patients is difficult, the use of antimicrobials or antibiotics has its impact on human health indirectly. This led to the so-called “Dutch Model,” which seemed to be quite efficient and led to a substantial decrease in antibiotic use. This programme also was provided as a paradigm of antimicrobial reduction policies in animal husbandry on a global scale. Despite prior epidemic knowledge and experience, most governmental organisations are still sceptical of the veterinarian’s involvement in this setting. Veterinarians have a track record of successfully managing disease outbreaks. When carefully implemented to animals, control procedures have resulted in a dramatic reduction in zoonoses in humans.
Conclusion:
Maintaining natural boundaries between reservoir organisms and animal culture, as well as following the One Health principle to these efforts, is perhaps the most effective method. To assure that veterinary and human experts collaborate locally and globally, jointly funded comprehensive and integrated animal science research initiatives should be formed.It is necessary to strengthen cooperation and interaction among state agencies, such as between government animal health and public health.Procedures at the national level to foster increased cooperation and coordination involved in humans and livestock should be implemented; state-level mechanisms should also be addressed. Although veterinarians have less connection with the other fields, the veterinarian must take a lead in research and measures that largely entail protection and monitoring, which must be carried out as a critical aspect of sustaining global health, particularly in the case of new and remerging zoonotic diseases
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- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7263917/
