One Health

Although One Health has come a long way since Rudolf Virchow, MD, in the 1800’s stated “Between animal and human medicine there are no dividing lines—nor should there be. The object is different but the experience obtained constitutes the basis of all medicine,” and coined the term “zoonosis” to indicate an infectious disease that is passed between humans and animals, it is still having difficulty in connecting in the transition between animal and human infectious disease, the “No Man’s Land”, until the crossover occurs. In 1947, James H. Steele, DVM, MPH, founded the Veterinary Public Health Division at CDC. He became the Veterinary Father of One Health. His lead produced nearly 70 years of Annual James Steele Conferences on Diseases in Nature Transmissible to Man (DIN) which have pursued the One Health concept in infectious disease. The COVID-19 experience and the apparent surprises it has given to the medical community and the isolation of the veterinary profession or at least its sideline position (my opinion) indicates we have a long way to go. I worked for 22 years in the USAF AFRL in the no man’s land between outbreaks of zoonotic diseases in the little supported, some consider impossible, field of attribution of both natural and nefarious sources of infectious disease. However CDC and other organizations are making active efforts spurred by COVID-19 to re-invigorate the One Health Effort. https://www.cdc.gov/onehealth/basics/history/index.html

“In 1885, Louis Pasteur administered the first rabies vaccine in a person, marking an important turning point in public health. Today, zoonotic diseases continue to be one of the biggest threats at the human-animal-environment interface. A One Health approach, with involvement from experts across sectors, is key to preventing and controlling zoonotic diseases that can have global consequences.

• 60% of existing infectious diseases are zoonotic
• At least 70% of emerging infectious diseases come from animals (Ebola, HIV, influenza, and COVID-19)
• 80% of agents with potential bioterror use are zoonotic.”

@CDC_NCEZID and #WorldZoonosesDay on social media.