ROLE OF VETERINARIANS AND ONE HEALTH IN THE FIGHT AGAINST ZOONOSIS

ROLE OF VETERINARIANS AND ONE HEALTH IN THE FIGHT AGAINST ZOONOSIS

Dr. Trupti Suryakant Kattimani ¹ and Dr. Annarao Patil ²

1. Veterinary officer, Dept. Of AHVS, Veterinary Dispensary Salagar Basantpur TQ: Chincholi, Dist: Kalaburgi, State: Karnataka.
2. V. Sc scholar, Dept. Of Clinical Medicine, Veterinary College Bidar, KVAFSU, State: Karnataka

World zoonosis day was started on July 1885 and celebrated every year on same day to commemorate Louis Pasteur of his successfully administration of the first vaccine against Rabies virus, a deadly zoonotic disease. The main objective of the celebration is to emphasize and bring the zoonotic risk awareness amongst community. Zoonosis are the infectious diseases that can spread from animals to human and voice versa. Approximately 150 zoonotic diseases are known to exist and in a systemic review of 1,415 pathogens known to infect humans among them 61% were zoonotic. Scientists estimated that more than 6 out of every10 infectious diseases in human are spread from animals. Zoonosis is any disease or infection that is naturally transmissible from vertebrate animals to humans (WHO, 2021). There are more than 250 zoonotic disease are present all over the world. The word Zoonosis derived from Greek in which Zoon means animal, Noson means disease. The word Zoonosis introduced by Rudolph Virchow in 188.60% pathogens are zoonotic, 75% of all emerging diseases are zoonotic diseases. Swine flu, Bird flu, SARS, Mad cow disease and so many are emerging zoonotic diseases. Human may get infection from animal directly or indirectly via urine, faeces, saliva, milk, meat and aerosol transmission. Recently after Covid-19 pandemic the zoonotic diseases and their control became an integral part of One Health Approach and part of duty of Veterinarian.

Zoonotic diseases may be

1. Viral disease Ex: Rabies.
2. Bacterial disease Ex: Leptospirosis.
3. Mycotic disease Ex: Histoplasmosis.
4. Parasitic disease Ex: Taeniasis.

Zoonotic diseases spread from 

1. Bites of animals Ex: Rabies.
2. Aerosol transmission Ex: Tuberculosis.

• Water transmission Ex: Toxoplasmosis.

1. Milk born zoonosis Ex: Q-Fever.
2. Meat born zoonosis Ex: Hydatidosis.
3. Hide or skin transmission Ex: Anthrax.

• Biting of insects/vectors Ex: West Nile Fever.
• By contaminated surfaces Ex: Ring worm.

1. Scratch from infected animals Ex: Cat Scratch disease.
2. Tick bites Ex: Lyme disease.
3. Through cutaneous transmission Ex: Cutaneous larva migration

Mode of transmission of zoonotic disease

1. Direct zoonosis –Disease transmitted from infected vertebrate host to man by direct contact

Ex: Rabies from bite of Rabid dog

2. Cyclozoonosis—Disease transmission needs more than one vertebrate host

Ex: Taeniasis

3. Metzoonosis—Disease transmitted biologically by invertebrate vectors

Ex: Plague

4. Saprozoonosis—Disease transmission needs inanimate object like soil, plant material, animal faecal matter in addition with vertebrate host

Ex: Cryptococcosis

Points to be considered for the control of zoonotic diseases as advised by veterinarian are as follows

1. Avoid raw milk, egg and meat consumption.
2. Always keep your hands clean.
3. Avoid scratches or bites from pets and other animals.
4. Keep animal houses clean, hygienic and dispose the animal biological wastes in scientific way.
5. Avoid deforestation, mining activities and resort like human recreational activities in the forest.
6. Intensive farming, illegal wildlife trade and encroachment of forest land in the name of modernization and development are the primary causes of zoonosis.
7. Avoid interaction between wild and domestic animals because wild animal acts as reservoir host for many zoonotic diseases like Rabies.
8. Handle the food safety for animals as well as humans.
9. Avoid bites of arthropod vectors because most of them were vector or intermediate host for many deadly pathogens and parasites.
10. Avoid touching of the animal bio waste from bare hands.
11. Follow regular deworming and vaccination in all animals especially in the pets.
12. Follow isolation and quarantine procedures for newly purchased animals.
13. Periodic health check up and estimation of sero prevalence of various deadly zoonotic potential diseases.
14. Creation of awareness among farmers, farm labors, pet breeders and pet owners about various zoonotic diseases, their mode of transmission and control by hygienic practices in the farm.
15. Prompt isolation and treatment to pet and domestic animals and proper disposal of their biological wastes.
16. Avoid unnecessary animal and human movement during pandemic situation.

Role of Veterinarian for the control of zoonotic diseases

1. Veterinarian in the zoo will regularly monitor the health of zoo animals, they will treat the sick animals, regular deworming and vaccination will be the key point of maintaining their health and disease free environment in the zoo.
2. Veterinarian as an epidemiologist he has broad knowledge of diseases existing in the country, state and locality. They have their own strategies to control the disease in a particular area or locality.
3. He has a crucial role in the control of zoonotic disease like Rabies by the Vaccinating the all existing dogs in the particular locality and also by implementing animal birth control programmes for stray dogs.
4. Veterinarian in the slaughter house will reject the animals which are infected with zoonotic diseases which in term will avoid the consumption of zoonotic potential meat to human and risk of spread of zoonotic disease to humans from meat animals.
5. Veterinarian working in the milk federation will monitor the pasteurization of milk which in terms prevents the spread of milk born zoonotic diseases from lactating animals to human beings.
6. Veterinarian acts as HACCP analyzer and implementation person in milk and meat industry, so he will be the key quality control person for animal origin food of human which has more biological value in terms of nutrition.
7. Veterinarian in the pet clinic will advise and practice regular vaccination and deworming to pets which in term he will safe guard the health of family members of pet owners against deadly zoonotic disease like Rabies, Taeniasis etc.
8. Veterinarian in the rural veterinary dispensary will treat the dog bite cases in animals, follows post bite vaccination schedule and create awareness in animal owners about Rabies and other deadly zoonotic diseases arising from animals to spreading humans, he also treats the animal with various type of sufferings, thereby he acts as potential disease control agent by deworming and vaccination.
9. Veterinarian will give talk on local languages regarding importance, mode of spread and control of zoonotic diseases on special occasions like World Rabies day, World Zoonosis day, World Tuberculosis day, World veterinary day and many more days in High School and Degree College students there by creating awareness to rural youth and students.
10. Veterinarian will give talk in Radio programmes, TV shows n write articles in regional languages and they will conduct farmers training programmes, through various extension techniques like Kisan samparka sabha, gram sabha, farm school and various methods of demonstration type of teaching related to zoonotic diseases, their mode of transmission and control measures to rural farmers, youth, children and farm women.
11. By conducting mass deworming and vaccination camps for the animals veterinarian acts as barrier between diseases and health.
12. Still today some mis believes in villages are that raw milk is very healthy, raw egg has more energy than boiled egg etc. But veterinarian will make alert about various pathogens and disease causing organisms spread through raw milk, egg and meat, so veterinarian are first public health person in the villages.
13. Veterinarians will create awareness about proper disposal of dead animal carcass, aborted fetus, retained placenta, uterine discharges, diarrheal fecal sample and other biological waste arises from animals in a proper way and hygienic practices in the farm.
14. Veterinarian are back bone of poultry industry, periodical screening of various diseases in poultry, their titer, vaccination and bio-security measures in the farm are designed by veterinarian to avoid the pathogen entry into the farm leading to severe disease outbreak and transmission of same pathogens to persons working in the farm, farm attenders, veterinarians, farm labors and butchers like Avian Influenza outbreaks.
15. Agencies like Integrated sample survey, NADRS, and OIE will monitor disease outbreaks and gives guidelines during disease outbreaks thereby they will also prevents the zoonotic diseases outbreak and transmission.

Veterinarian given an awareness  program on  the importance of Zoonotic Diseases and Rabies to college students and staff.

 One Health (OH) is a collaborative, multisectoral, coordinated, and transdisciplinary       approach – working at the local, regional, national, and global levels – with the goal of achieving optimal health outcomes by recognizing the interconnection between people, animals, plants, and their shared environment. With the increase in population, industrialization, and geopolitical problems, global changes are accelerating which damage the biodiversity, ecosystems, and migratory movements of both humankind and species in general. Rapid climate and environmental changes have led to the emergence and re-emergence of infectious and non-infectious diseases (Aggarwal and Ramchandran, 2020). One Health is “the collaborative efforts of multiple disciplines working locally, nationally, and globally, to attain optimal health for people, animals and our environment”, as defined by the One Health Initiative Task Force (Wikipedia, 2021). Animal health, human health and environmental together forms one health because human health and animal health are inter dependent, at the same time both are depend on the environment. Healthy human, healthy animal with healthy environment together forms one health traid.

‘One Health’ is an approach to designing and implementing programmes, policies, legislation and research in which multiple sectors communicate and work together to achieve better public health outcomes (WHO, 2021). In one health approach is a traid between Veterinarian, Physician and geologist.  The areas of work in which a One Health approach is particularly relevant include food safety, the control of zoonoses and combatting antibiotic resistance. These are the primary threat to human community. Many of the same microbes infect animals and humans, as they share the eco-systems in which they stay multiply and infects the diseases to susceptible host. Efforts by just one sector cannot prevent or eliminate the problem. For instance, the diseases like Hydatidosis caused by Tape worms of dogs effectively controlled by regular deworming by veterinarian and proper disposal of dog faecal material and main thing is to avoid contamination to feed and water of other animals and human. In discriminate use of antibiotics in terms of improper dosage and route will causes antibiotic resistance in animals and human, drug-resistant microbes can be transmitted between animals and humans through direct contact between animals and humans or through contaminated food, so to effectively contain it, a well-coordinated approach in humans and in animals is required. Many professionals with a range of expertise who are active in different sectors, such as public health, animal health, plant health and the environment, should join forces to support One Health approaches. To effectively detect, respond to, and prevent outbreaks of zoonoses and food safety problems, epidemiological data and laboratory information should be shared across sectors. Government officials, researchers and workers across sectors at the local, national, regional and global levels should implement joint responses to health threats. WHO works closely with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) to promote multi-sectoral responses to food safety hazards, risks from zoonoses, and other public health threats at the human-animal-ecosystem interface and provide guidance on how to reduce these risks (WHO, 2021).

Role of One Health for the control of zoonosis

It will have disciplined approach for the identification of potential organisms, their source of infection, their genome sequence, mode of transmission, clinical signs in animals and in human and way of its diagnosis and early therapeutic measures for a particular emerging zoonotic disease. Study of disease pattern, factors for its incidence, morbidity and mortality rate in animals and human, key points in the control of zoonosis, susceptible hosts and role of vectors or any environmental factors for its transmission and so on for a particular zoonotic disease. Human and animal waste management is the key factor for the environmental health in terms of pollution to air, water and food. One health approach involves experts from medicine, animal health, epidemiology, wild life, agriculture, ecology and more to understand how the disease is getting transmitted and how to control it in a better way. Food safety, animal trade, animal and human health protection, protection of environment in terms of reducing all types of pollution. One health approach also guides to reduce the indiscriminate usage of herbicides and pesticides which are potential hazard to environment, animal and human health. One health approach will helps in identification of a zoonotic disease, factors for its transmission and control of the zoonotic disease under multidisciplinary approach. One health and one globe is the best approach for future problems in the globe.

Conclusion

Due to deforestation, urbanization, change in climate, global warming, increase in pollution, increase in population and increased industrialization causing disturbances in ecological balance leading to increase in zoonotic disease pattern causing pandemics in the globe. Veterinarian and One Health concept are the two keys for the control of zoonosis in the globe with systemic multi-disciplinary approach.

References

1. One Health Concept- WHO Website 2021
2. Zoonosis- WHO Website 2021
3. One Health Approach to Address Zoonotic Disease Divya Aggarwaland Anandhi Ramachandran Indian J Community Med. 2020 Mar; 45(1): S6–S8.
4. Wikipedia -One Health concept
5. Manual on Zoonotic diseases of public health importance, Zoonosis division national centre for disease control, Govt of India, 2016

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