One Health Research Papers

One Health is the concept that human health is interconnected with the health of animals and the environment. It is an approach the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) uses with a broad spectrum of health professionals to control public health threats through learning about how diseases spread through these areas. One Health is an important idea in understanding the spread of disease and is a concept that must be utilized to further the understanding of the environmental health paradigm. Zoonotic diseases are one major potential vector for the cause of disease in humans, and One Health is vital in investigating the movement of environmental contaminants and disease from the source to its receptor. One Health is not a new concept; as early

As mentioned earlier, this area accounts for 70% of all diseases that emerge and affect human health. One such example follows the outbreak of Rift Valley fever (RFV) that occurred in East Africa during 1997. While the recent Ebola outbreak is fresh in many people’s minds regarding disease that is thought to be zoonotic in nature, the RFV outbreak sickened 90,000 people with nearly 500 deaths in a three month period. RFV is a virus that is transmitted by mosquitos and can cause severe illness in both animals and humans. The One Health initiative can be a valuable tool in both predicting and tracking where possible disease outbreaks will occur based on environmental factors. For mosquito-borne diseases, this can encompass monitoring areas after extensive rainfall where standing water will be present as a breeding ground for the vector. Recognizing that the disease affects animals and humans, and can be transmitted between them was important behind the CDC developing a vaccine that can protect animals from RFV, reducing the potential pathways for the virus to infect humans and protect the animals and economic development.

Crises can serve to jump-start international governments into following the One Health concept. Such an event occurred in Vietnam when a strain of highly-infectious avian flu began decimating the poultry population in a country that is highly dependent on the animals for their economy and as a food source. This avian flu was even able to make the jump to humans working in close proximity to the foul. The disease was not overly wide-spread, but the prospect of such a highly infectious organism making a stronger jump to causing illness in humans spurred the government of Vietnam into action. The crisis forced all aspects of government to work with health officials under the One Health concept to control the outbreak and from this Vietnam has emerged as a global leader behind One Health.