One Health Seminar Series - 2010
SEPTEMBER 29, 2010
JÜRGEN RICHT, DVM PhD
CEEZAD Project Director‘Walk the Talk: CEEZAD and One Health’
Dr. Richt is a veterinary microbiologist, whose work focuses on a number of animal and zoonotic disease pathogens. His presentation opened with an overview of current One Health challenges before delving into specific examples including BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) and influenza A subtype, H1N1. The numbers of emerging infectious disease (EID) outbreaks in animals rose precipitously in the 20th century, a trend that spurred the establishment of CEEZAD (Center for Excellence for Emerging and Zoonotic Animal Diseases). CEEZAD conducts research on pathogens that have the potential to significantly impact U.S. agriculture or public health in order to develop new diagnostic testing methods, vaccinations, and emergency response strategies. Zoonotic outbreaks frequently start at the interface between livestock/wildlife and humans and can develop into a localized emergence. From a localized emergence, an outbreak can further develop into a global emergence, otherwise known as a pandemic. According to Dr. Richt, “if we find a zoonotic disease in humans, we have failed.”
NOVEMBER 29, 2010
RYAN SADLER
DVM Candidate 2012
‘Gorillas (And a Vet Student) In the Mist’
Ryan spent last summer conducting a research project in Uganda in collaboration with the non-governmental organization, Conservation Through Public Health. His study focused on giardia and cryptosporidium transmission between humans, gorillas, and lifestock, specifically examining how these pathogens affected human and animal health. The bulk of his talk, however, explored how students can organize and undertake similar research projects of their own. While trying to narrow down a topic, the student should seek out people, who have worked on parallel topics of interest. His advice was to pick something you are passionate about and clearly outline what it is you hope to achieve. Once you have a project in mind, you can start working on securing funding to support your research needs. If your project takes you overseas, it is important to be open-minded and be able to adapt to new situations. Ryan emphasized that there are a lot of opportunities out there, whether around here or further afield.
NOVEMBER 29, 2010
BARBARA VANGILDER
DVM Candidate 2012
‘One Health: From the Savannah to the Tundra’
Project 1 – KenyaBarbara worked with the Maasai people in Kimana examining their use of veterinary pesticides. She reported that the most commonly used pesticide was amitraz and discovered that the way the Massai people were using this product was cause for concern. Animals were dipped in the pesticide in the people’s homes and pesticide containers were often re-used for other unsanitary purposes. Further compounding the problem was the fact that those using the pesticides were unable to read the precautions on the container labels, nor did they have a clear understanding of drug withdrawal times. Barbara worked with the people to educate them about the safe use of this pesticide.
Project 2 – AlaskaBarbara worked with Dr. Cheryl Scott to surgically implant satellite telemetry devices into Spectacled Eider. Biologists can use this information to study migration patterns for environmental impact of oil field development, habitat preservation, and implications for disease spread.
FEBRUARY 18, 2011
FREELAND DUNKER, DVM
Staff Veterinarian at the Steinhart Aquarium, California Academy of Sciences
‘Management Challenges of a Rainforest Exhibit’
The rainforest exhibit at the California Academy of Sciences is a 90 foot glass sphere which houses insects, fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals from four geographical regions (Borneo, Madagascar, Costa Rica, and the Amazon Basin). Before animals could even be introduced into this simulated rainforest environment, the exhibit needed to be carefully managed so that temperature, humidity, and lighting could all be maintained at levels which support plant growth and animal health. One challenge was vertical stratification, where air becomes hotter and drier as it move upwards, so several creative strategies were employed in order to maintain a constant temperature and moisture level. Once the sphere was ready, biologists carefully selected animal species, which could cohabitate peacefully. Probably the biggest challenge was to meet the unique requirements of certain animal species without compromising the needs of others.
MARCH 11, 2011
PETER RABINOWITZ, MD
Associate Professor, Yale University School of Medicine
‘From Some Health to One Health – An MD Perspective”
The One Health concept has a lot of traction in veterinary medicine, but it has been harder to engage doctors and environmental health experts. Dr. Rabinowitz, author of the new Human-Animal Medicine textbook, discussed with us three barriers to One Health, which may account for this. The first of these barriers is due to an “Us vs. Them” attitude when the issue of animal health comes up in the context of human health. The human medical communities should move away from this mindset towards a “shared risk” mentality instead, embracing the understanding that animals and humans share the same environmental health hazards and can serve as sentinels for one another. To this end, there needs to be increased dialogue between physicians and veterinarians in order to provide better patient care. The second barrier is the question of finances – in a clinical setting, who pays? Currently there is no insurance infrastructure to deal with veterinarians as a component of a complete human health team. However, finding strategies to reimburse One Health care is very important – prevention and early diagnosis will decrease morbidity from zoonotic diseases in addition to being more cost effective. The third barrier is neglect of animal worker occupational health. The risk for a veterinarian to acquire a disease while fulfilling the duties of his or her job is 30x higher than that for a human medicine worker.
APRIL 27, 2011
PETER DASZAK, P.H.D.
President of EcoHealth Alliance
‘Bats, frogs, and Fungi: Understanding the Ecology of Emerging Diseases in Wildlife and People’
Dr. Daszak, P.H.D., President of EcoHealth Alliance and renowned disease ecologist, discusses the rise in emerging infectious diseases that originate in wildlife. He explains how these epidemics may impact species survival, ecological integrity, and global health and explores the collective roles that wildlife trade, global travel, population growth, and land-use change may play in influencing pathogen emergence and transmission.
MAY 16, 2011
JONATHAN PATZ M.D., M.P.H
Director of Global Environmental Health University of Wisconsin-Madison
‘Disease Resurgence From Climactic and Ecological Change’
Dr. Jonathan Patz examines the health effects of global warming and environmental change. He provides an overview of how human activities have contributed to climate alterations and goes on to explore the ways in which climate change will impact the health of humans, animals, and ecosystems. He pays particular attention to the predicted rise in rise in vector borne diseases, and the resurgence of malaria in the Amazon.
