International experts today concluded a three-day international consultation on zoonoses, held by the
World Health Organization (WHO) together with the
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the
World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), in collaboration with the
Dutch Health Council. The experts agreed on numerous conclusions and recommendations for the control and possible prevention of future diseases transmitted from animals to humans (zoonoses).
Conclusions from the meeting and recommendations for public health and animal authorities include:
Conclusions:
- A recognition that human activities and behaviour drives the emergence of zoonoses, including: pet ownership, interaction with and movement of pets, air travel, food preferences, economic development, and the lack of compliance with recommended prevention measures.
- The importance of coordinating the response of doctors and veterinarians in outbreak responses to emerging zoonotic diseases.
- Recognizing that identifying future zoonotic diseases is extremely difficult, due to the complexity of the constantly evolving risk factors.
Recommendations:
- Encouraging research into surveillance data from non-traditional systems, i.e. insect populations, climactic changes, satellite land observation, and animal and human demographics to attempt to predict future zoonotic public health events.
- Integrating the early warning and alert systems of international organizations (WHO, FAO and OIE) to facilitate detection of potentially linked animal and public health events.
- Integrating animal and human health data at national and regional levels, including an inter-sectoral committee for zoonosis preparedness and control.
For WHO, together with FAO and OIE, the next step forward is to mobilize political awareness and support for the implementation of a public and animal health infrastructure. WHO will also begin coordinating an international network to support countries in analyzing their particular emerging zoonotic disease situation, as well as establish guidelines for the core capacities needed to assess the risk for emerging zoonoses.
Examples of recent zoonoses outbreaks
Avian Influenza
Avian influenza is a viral disease of wild and domestic birds that occasionally affects other animal species such as pigs. Human infection is rare. The first documented human outbreak of avian influenza H5N1 occurred in Hong Kong in 1997. During that outbreak, 18 people fell ill, of which 6 died. The source of infection in all cases was traced to contact with diseased birds in farms and in live poultry markets.
A new outbreak began in late 2003. Since December 2003, eight Asian countries have confirmed outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza caused by the H5N1 strain. Most of these countries were experiencing H5N1 outbreaks for the first time in their histories. In several, the disease was detected in poultry flocks in virtually every part of the country. Since December 2003, more than 100 million birds have either died from the disease or been culled to prevent its further spread. Human cases of H5N1 were reported in Thailand (12 cases, of which 8 were fatal) and Vietnam (23 cases of which 15 were fatal).
Monkeypox
Monkeypox was first identified in 1958 in laboratory monkeys. The first human case was detected in 1970 in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo). Before June 2003, it had never been documented outside of the African continent, when it was reported in prairie dogs and humans in the United States. Monkeypox is a viral disease with symptoms in humans similar to that seen in smallpox patients.
Most monkeypox cases occur in remote villages of Central and West Africa close to tropical rainforests where humans have frequent contact with infected animals. It is thought that monkeypox is transmitted to humans from infected squirrels or primates, via contact with the infected animal's blood or through a bite.