HUMAN and ANIMAL medicine working TOGETHER? cool!

[ladycolorado]

this is a series of articles on this subject here is one i found: Veterinarians and physicians: Working together for one medicine
The AMA and the American Veterinary Medical Assn. are collaborating on the One Health Initiative as human and animal medicine join forces to fight existing and emerging zoonotic diseases.
Editorial. Aug. 13, 2007.


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About 60% of all human pathogens are zoonotic, transmissible between animals and people. Even more striking, approximately 75% of recently emerging infectious diseases affecting humans are of animal origin.

These Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics underscore just how important a new partnership being forged between the worlds of human and animal medicine is to public health. The American Medical Association and American Veterinary Medical Assn. are taking the lead.

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Last September, Roger Mahr, DVM, newly elected as AVMA president, announced his intent to launch an effort to unite human and veterinary medicine to improve animal and public health. Then in June, the AMA voted at its Annual Meeting to increase collaboration with the veterinary community to better recognize, monitor and treat zoonotic diseases, and more broadly collaborate in medical education and biomedical research. Just a month later, AMA President Ronald M. Davis, MD, offered his support to Dr. Mahr's project, dubbed the One Health Initiative.

The One Health concept is not new. Dr. Mahr pointed out in a 2006 address that physician Sir William Osler, founder of the modern medical teaching concept, wrote in the 1800s that "veterinary medicine and human medicine complement each other and should be considered as one medicine." In the 1960s, veterinary epidemiologist Calvin Schwabe, DVM, MPH, ScD, took up the cause using the phrase "one medicine." But the concept didn't catch on in either medical community, despite the prevalence of diseases shared by humans and animals.

Zoonotic disease has an exotic ring to it. It brings to mind rare, remote and deadly ailments. "Ebola mystique" is the term Frederick Murphy, DVM, PhD, professor of virology in the University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine, has used to describe this perception.

In reality, zoonotic disease is usually more familiar than it sounds. It could strike in the backyard, in the case of rabies, or at the dinner table, in the form of salmonella.

Ironically, West Nile disease's emergence in 1999 and rapid spread to most U.S. states helped give the One Health concept traction. The spread of the virus from Africa and Asia to the U.S. brought the need for collaboration between the human and veterinary medical communities home, literally.

West Nile showed how global societal changes have increased the stakes by making the spread of zoonotic disease easier than it was in Dr. Osler's era and even Dr. Schwabe's day. The growth of global travel and trade indeed do mean that existing and emerging conditions in far-away places can affect human health here. Poor sanitation and the proximity of animals and humans in an Asian village have the potential to give rise to pandemic influenza or a version of avian flu that is more easily spread by human-to-human contact.

Meanwhile, more than 38,000 animals are transported into the U.S. each day, Dr. Mahr noted. The nation imports produce from around the world. This adds the risk of zoonotic foodborne illness from other countries to the existing home-grown threat of such ailments. Each year, foodborne pathogens cause an estimated 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths in the U.S, the CDC says.

Trends in livestock farming here and elsewhere also can affect human health -- from the feeding of bovine offal to cattle, resulting in the emergence of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, to the worry that widespread use of antibiotics to increase animal productivity is leading to drug resistance among bacteria that infect humans.

The threat of bioterrorism poses new danger. The CDC is studying the potential that terrorists might weaponize such zoonotic diseases as anthrax, tularemia or plague.

The budding collaboration between the human and animal medical communities means that physicians and veterinarians will be better prepared for and better able to identify and respond to zoonotic disease outbreaks, whatever their source.

As the preamble to the resolution that became the new AMA policy states, "The challenges of the 21st century demand that these two professions work together."

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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Weblink
National Center for Zoonotic, Vector-Borne and Enteric Disease (www.cdc.gov/nczved)

AMA Resolution 530, "Collaboration Between Human and Veterinary Medicine" (www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/467/530.doc)

American Veterinary Medical Assn. (www.avma.org)

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[ladycolorado]

HERE IS A RELATED ARTICLE ON THE SUBJECT: Effort aims to enhance teamwork to improve human, animal health
A task force of physicians and veterinarians is finding common ground for their professions.
By Susan J. Landers, AMNews staff. Aug. 13, 2007.


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Washington -- Animal and human health intersect in numerous ways, and a new collaborative effort by the American Medical Association and the American Veterinary Medical Assn. is setting out to explore them.

The line separating animal diseases from human ones is continually blurring. Think of the ongoing avian influenza watch and recent outbreaks of severe acute respiratory syndrome and monkeypox, said AVMA Immediate Past President Roger Mahr, DVM. In the past 25 years, he noted, 75% of emerging human diseases have been zoonotic in origin.

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As one example of the teamwork needed to combat such illnesses, consider that the 1999 arrival of West Nile virus in the U.S. was detected by a persistent pathologist at the Bronx Zoo in New York City. Cases of West Nile virus, never before seen in the United States, had been incorrectly identified as St. Louis encephalitis.

In addition to infectious diseases, there are chronic diseases that are plaguing humans and their pets, said AMA President Ron Davis, MD. He helped launch the joint endeavor, called the One Health Initiative, at the AVMA's annual meeting last month in Washington, D.C. The AMA adopted policy in June pledging its support for the initiative.

Efforts by the nation's physicians to curb the epidemic of obesity among their patients is mirrored by the efforts of veterinarians to combat the increasing weight of pets, Dr. Davis said. One in every four dogs and cats in the Western world is obese, stated a 2005 National Academies of Science. The causes are too much food, too little exercise and too much junk food. "Sounds familiar to me from taking care of humans," Dr. Davis noted.

But help may be on the way, because the Food and Drug Administration has just approved a diet drug for dogs, he noted with humor. Despite the new medication, "We do want our humans to go out and walk their dogs," he said. Both would benefit.

Smoking and pets
Secondhand smoke is also a risk factor for lung diseases and other ills that affect pets and humans. Dr. Davis received a grant last year to study whether people can be persuaded to quit smoking for their pet's health if not their own.

Although studies point to the deleterious health effects of smoke on animals, "It is not known whether knowledge of these effects can prompt pet owners to quit," he said. Some early findings suggest that it can.

75% of emerging human diseases originated in animals.
Of the more than 3,300 pet owners surveyed for the study, 21% of dog owners and 24% of the cat owners reported that they smoked. Both groups said they smoked in their homes, thus potentially exposing their pets to secondhand smoke. When asked whether they would try to quit, 32% said they would and 33% said they wouldn't allow smoking in the house.

"The findings suggest that getting the word out could actually get a lot of smokers to quit or at least not smoke around their pets," Dr. Davis said.

Some groups are already spreading the word. A Michigan group, for example, has developed a brochure with the message, "Do it for doggie."

Dr. Davis pointed to another memorable joint human-animal public health effort. In 1925, teams of sled dogs transported desperately needed diphtheria antitoxin, or serum, to Nome, Alaska, which was experiencing a lethal outbreak of the disease. The dogs were able to negotiate the 700 miles of rugged terrain to deliver the goods. That trail is traversed today in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Although the benefits for working together are clear, challenges lie ahead for both professions in trying to implement the new project, Dr. Mahr said. Getting all relevant government agencies on board could be difficult. And there will be logistical challenges in bringing the colleges of veterinary medicine together with the schools of medicine, he added.

A 13-member task force of physicians and veterinarians has been established to help smooth the way.

(LC)

[ladycolorado]

AMA meeting: Overlap seen in human, animal medicine
Physicians hope closer ties between the disciplines will improve global health.
By Victoria Stagg Elliott, AMNews staff. July 16, 2007.


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Annual Meeting 2007
Meeting Notes
Access to care
Medical education
Medical ethics
Medical practice
Public health
Other actions
Resources
Full section PDF
Meeting guide (June 11)
Meeting archives
AMA meeting site

Chicago -- As part of providing care for cancer patients, neuropsychiatrist Carol Tavani, MD, walks the wards of the Christiana Care Health System in Wilmington, Del., with a registered therapy dog. Patients have benefited from the canine's presence. But when the animal developed cancer, it benefited from the same technology -- interventional radiology, thoracic surgery and chemotherapy -- used to treat human carcinomas.

"[The dog] is now a cancer survivor seeing cancer patients," Dr. Tavani said.

This example is one of the many connections between human and animal medical care that improve the health of both. In recognition of this intersection and in hope of gaining even more from it, the AMA adopted policy at its June meeting committing to work with the American Veterinary Medical Assn. and calling for more collaboration.

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"We can accomplish more to improve health worldwide than we can alone," said AVMA President Roger K. Mahr, DVM.

In addition, the AMA will support joint educational programs between veterinary and human medical schools and cross-species disease surveillance. The organization also endorses the development of diagnostic methods, medicines and vaccines to control diseases that jump species.

"You think of all the diseases that affect us both. There's such a great need for this kind of relationship," said Raymond Dieter Jr., MD, a surgeon.

Meeting attendees said stronger ties were important for several reasons. Knowledge gained from animal medicine can improve human health and vice versa. Most notably, many outbreaks, such as pandemic influenza, originate in animals, and detection of pathogens in various species can be key to tracking and control of outbreaks in humans. Animals are often the source of food-borne outbreaks.

"With threats of cross-species disease transmission and pandemic in our global health environment, the time has come for the human and veterinary medical professions to work closer together for the greater protection of the public health in the 21st century," said AMA Trustee Duane M. Cady, MD.

Monitoring animal health has led to the discovery that certain environmental contaminants, such as lead or mercury, can be unhealthy for humans. AMA President Ronald M. Davis, MD, for instance, is investigating the effect of secondhand smoke on pets. Dr. Davis will be a keynote speaker at the "One Medicine" focus session at the July AVMA convention in Washington, D.C.

The AMA's action is the latest move toward strengthening the ties between those who work on animal and human health issues. The AVMA launched the "One Health Initiative Task Force" in April. The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, which has had veterinarians on staff for many years, also created the National Center for Zoonotic, Vector-Borne and Enteric Diseases, in order to bring experts in animal medicine under one roof.

"The CDC has long embraced this approach," said Abigail Shefer, MD, who represented the U.S. Public Health Service at the Annual Meeting. "Joint AMA and AVMA tactical and strategic planning will greatly enhance public health communications and education."

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(LC)

[ladycolorado]

here is a tropical medicine vetrinary website talking of this same goal and why: “One Health”

A Resolution of the Society for Tropical Veterinary Medicine to promote collaboration between

veterinary and medical professionals and scientists.

Whereas:

The Society for Tropical Veterinary Medicine promotes animal health globally;
The STVM recognizes that man’s actions towards domestic and wild animals influence human health and disease in dramatic ways, especially in tropical regions markedly affected by man’s interventions;
The majority of the emerging infectious diseases, including the bioterrorist agents, are zoonoses;
Zoonoses can, by definition, infect both animals and humans;
Conservation medicine is the science integrating animal and human health with the health of ecological systems, including that affected by man’s actions (G. Tabor, in Conservation Medicine: Ecological Health in Practice. Oxford University Press, New York, Aguirre, A. A., R. S. Ostfeld, G. M. Tabor, C. A. House and M. C. Pearl (eds.). 2002. 407 pp.);
By their very nature, the fields of human medicine and veterinary medicine are complementary and synergistic in confronting, controlling, and preventing zoonotic diseases from infecting across species;
Collaboration and communication between human medicine and veterinary medicine have been limited in recent decades and is needed to address among others animal-transmissible spongiform encephalopathies in humans, protection against avian influenza, non-therapeutic use in animals of antimicrobials that are also used in humans, policies on the use of animals in research, medical education, product safety testing, and xenotransplantation;
The challenges of the 21st century demand that human and veterinary medical professionals work together;
STVM members are advocating for an initiative to promote collaboration between human and veterinary medical health professionals globally, especially those working in tropical regions of the world;
An initiative, often called “One Health,” has been developed to improve the lives of all species - human and animal - through the integration of human and veterinary medicine (J. Zinsstag, et al. Lancet 2005; 366: 2142-2145 and E.P.J. Gibbs. Veterinary Record 2005; 157: 673-679); and
"One Health,” previously coined as “One Medicine” by Calvin Schwabe, aims to promote and implement via comparative biomedical research the meaningful collaboration and communication between human medical, veterinary and allied health professionals and scientists, with the goal of hastening public health efficacy and of advancing health care options for humans and animals.


Therefore,the membership of the Society for Tropical Veterinary Medicine resolves in their global actions:

To promote collaboration between human and veterinary medical professionals and scientists;
To take action to foster joint educational efforts between human and veterinary medical schools;
To encourage joint efforts in clinical care through the assessment, treatment, and prevention of cross-species disease transmission;
To support cross-species disease studies, surveillance, and control efforts in tropical veterinary medicine, conservation medicine, and public health;
To support efforts for the development and evaluation of new diagnostic methods, medicines, and vaccines for the prevention and control of diseases across species; and
To engage in a dialogue with colleagues in tropical medicine, public health and ecological health in order to enhance collaboration in medical education, clinical care, public health, and biomedical research.

[unclear]

LC great info why don't you write to some of these vets and ask about Morgellons and for me parrots. I think that is important to get it out there to the animal docs as well as our own. There is a high percent of families that own pets, so the risk is there. Just a FYI. Feeling better with my bath's. Have a good day, can't talk on the phone I got a infection in the ear that I put the phone to no matter how much I cleaned it I still got the infection. Aloha Unclear

[ladycolorado]

i understand the ear that is okay. one of the vets i will show you he is head of cdc division, with four subdivisions that our morgellons disease a.k.a unexplained dermapathy is under. his name is lonnie j. king, dvm , yes a vet i did a search on him, and found these articles he seems like one of the good guys , but hope rest of cdc not weighing him down. here is the dept our investigation is under: http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/ .as long as beuracracy not mess things up good news to me. here is more about the vet in charge: http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/director.html think a link on one of my posts in here might have link to more vets wanting to team up with human medicine as zoootic infectious diseases growing at a alrming pace, as we both unfortunately know, (LC). zoonotic means animal diseases jumping to humans, (LC).