At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the appearance and rapid spread of the disease across the world alarmed the public, scientists, and health professionals for its grave impact on human health. For those of us working in animal health, a different type of alarm bell was ringing. That of reverse zoonosis.  

Back in February 2020, the first case of the COVID-19 virus in a dog was reported. Most likely the dog caught the virus from close contact with an infected owner, a case of ‘reverse zoonosis’ meaning that the virus had been passed from a human to an animal. Since then, the disease has reshaped our health landscape and made us reconsider the animal-human interactions with a multitude of species.

WOAH has a list of diseases for which Members should notify our World Animal Health Information System (WAHIS) when they appear within their borders, so that we are better able to share transparent, global animal health information. SARS-CoV-2 in animals is considered an ‘emerging disease’ and was the 3rd most reported animal disease in 2021. Multiple times it crossed the species barrier, most often directly from humans to the affected species, impacting not only the health of our pets, but also farmed and zoo animals, and wildlife.  

These spillovers led to adverse impacts on animal health, and in a longer view, human health and livelihoods. In late 2021, scientific research showed a high prevalence of the COVID-19 virus within white-tailed deer populations in North America, the first time that the virus was detected at population levels in wildlife. While occasional occurrences of COVID-19 in domestic or zoo animals show little long-term consequence, infections at wildlife population levels indicates the possibility of further evolution of the virus in animals, and  a future reintroduction of the virus into humans at a later date.  A worrying possibility. Especially since initial deer infections have been hypothesised to be linked to deer exposure to human trash or even direct contact, over several occasions. Events that are difficult to monitor and prevent. 

Another notable reverse zoonosis example occurred with pet hamsters who were infected with the Delta strain of the COVID-19 virus, most likely from human contact. Unlike deer however, a hamster was confirmed to have transmitted  the virus back to humans. Besides mink, it is the only species that has been documented to do so.  Fearing it would increase the risk of transmission to humans, and in line with a zero COVID-19 policy in the place of infection, thousands of hamsters were culled to prevent further spread. As with other animals, such as white-tailed deer, the fear is that a new species could facilitate virus mutation and the emergence of new virus strains, threatening the health of possibly even more animals, and once again public health. However, currently, it is important to note that the main driver of international spread is still human-to-human transmission.  

So, the question remains, what can we do to protect ourselves from future reintroductions of the virus into the human population? A first step is to avoid reverse zoonosis in the first place. By following appropriate and effective biosecurity measures when interacting with animals, or simply stated, enforcing proper handwashing before and after handling animals. Avoid touching wildlife at all and avoid leaving belongings or trash for them to find. Furthermore, those who are suspected to have, or confirmed to be infected with, COVID-19 should avoid close or direct contact with animals, including their pets.  

Animals that are confirmed as having the COVID-19 virus should be reported to national authorities, and then to WAHIS, both of whom help keep our scientific understanding of animal cases factual and current. Only through monitoring the virus’s reach can we understand the full picture of animal and human health, and effectively predict and prevent future outbreaks of the disease. By taking these actions, we help ensure a more sustainable, healthier future for animals, and ourselves.  

Today the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) is celebrating Earth Day with communities and partners across the world. The health of animals, humans and plants are dependent on the health of our shared home, Earth. Only by safeguarding global health, can we ensure a sustainable future for all.

Investing in our planet, the theme of this year’s Earth Day, means investing ourselves in the protection of animal health and the biodiversity of a multitude of ecosystems around the world. The OIE supports countries to protect wildlife health through its Wildlife Health Framework, which encourages One Health solutions to the surveillance of diseases at the animal-human-environment interface. When professionals from across sectors, such as veterinarians, wildlife managers, environmentalists, scientists and medical doctors, work together, countries can develop better systems and protocols for diseases surveillance for wildlife, and recognise the complex inner functioning of ecosystems that are necessary for successful planetary, animal and human health.

In an effort to support biodiversity and overall ecosystem health, the OIE partnered with IUCN to publish Guidelines for Wildlife Disease Risk Analysis. By doing so, the OIE helped create a standard approach to disease risk analysis for wildlife, which had previously been conducted with ad hoc frameworks. These guidelines help not only public health authorities, economic development planners and government agencies, but also conservation organisations who can use them to help design wildlife protected areas, to investigate wildlife population decline, and to manage animal translocation or reintroduction activities.

By protecting wildlife health, we are investing in biodiversity and a healthier and safer planet for all.

To learn more about how the OIE is helping professionals protect wildlife health and biodiversity, visit our wildlife health page.

Given that we live in a world of interconnectedness, the importance of data and improving datasets is paramount to achieving evidence-based policy-making at international and national levels. The Global Burden of Animal Diseases (GBADs) programme will act as an essential piece of a bigger digital transformation at the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and it will act in complementarity with other OIE datasets and workstreams such as the Training Platform, Observatory and PVS Pathway.

The PVS Pathway is an OIE flagship programme which aims to assess the capacities of Veterinary Services to carry out their missions. The PVS Pathway is a step-by-step process: after an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of a country’s Veterinary Services, the following steps aim to evaluate the resources needed to fill the gaps identified. This requires a critical prioritisation step that hinges on the ability to understand the impact of the disease on the country’s economy including the well-being of animals, humans and the environment.

The consequence is that veterinary expertise exclusively is not sufficient, and the consideration of socio-economic data is important, to enable us to efficiently achieve several of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

It is obvious to all that animal health and public health are linked and crucial for a sustainable and healthy planet. Thus, the links that GBADs is making with human disease burden studies at the World Health Organization and the Global Burden of Disease are of great interest when one remembers the critical role of animal-sourced food for human nutrition and that very many animal diseases are transmissible to people.

The OIE has an important role in creating the institutional structures that will underpin the programme. This began with Resolution no. 35 adopted in 2016, creating a mandate for the ‘development and testing of a methodology to determine the global burden of animal diseases in order to address deficiencies in economic information on national and world impact of animal diseases’.

Next, in 2018, the signing of a formal letter of intent between the University of Liverpool and the OIE enabled the launch of a partnership that led to the operationalisation of the project and to the subsequent roll-out thanks to generous funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the European Union, Brooke, the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), and the University College Dublin. Then, eight additional academic and institutional partners actively committed to GBADs have formalised their engagement. The expertise generated by the programme will be shared through the establishment of Regional OIE Collaborating Centres for the economics of animal health, a competency package in the OIE’s training framework, and ultimately by a chapter in the Terrestrial and Aquatic Animal Health Codes.

Finally, let me express my gratitude to all the contributing authors of this wide-ranging issue that explores the vision, methods and impact of this ambitious programme. To be very frank with you, many of us have been waiting for this programme for a long time because we have been looking forward to benefiting from its expertise. So it is in our interests to put effort into making GBADs successful.

Monique Éloit
Director General
World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE)

An article from the OIE Bulletin: read the original

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that infectious disease outbreaks – whether natural, accidental or deliberate – have the ability to paralyse the planet and cause unparalleled, whole-of-society impacts. It is therefore imperative to mitigate biological threats.

As the international community comes together to fight COVID-19, it must also heed the warning issued by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, that ‘the weaknesses and lack of preparedness exposed by this pandemic provide a window onto how a bioterrorist attack might unfold – and may increase its risks’.

Bioterrorism and bio-weapons threats are daunting but not new. And therein lies the good news: as an international community we know how to meet them. For nearly two decades, Canada’s Weapons Threat Reduction Program (WTRP) and other members of the G7-led Global Partnership against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction (GP) have been working at the health−security interface to deliver capacity-building programmes and mitigate global biological threats.

We are pleased that the programming implemented by Canada and other members of the 31-country GP is currently supporting the global response to COVID-19. This includes a long-standing partnership between Canada’s WTRP and Ghana’s Veterinary Services Directorate, supported by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which has paved the way for COVID-19 testing in Ghana.

The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) has played an instrumental role in enabling successes like this. For more than a decade, the OIE and GP have collaborated to strengthen global biosecurity. Together, we have worked to maintain global freedom from rinderpest, to convene global conferences on biological threat reduction, to protect countries from agro-terrorism and to design more sustainable laboratories.

The veterinary and security sectors have accomplished much together, but much more remains to be done to achieve our common goal of preventing, detecting and responding to all manner of disease threats.

An article from the OIE Bulletin: Read the original here

Resilience is the ability to adapt to adverse situations

Around the world, Veterinary Services are continuing to play their essential role in society, protecting animal health and welfare and public health, while also responding to the challenges posed by the pandemic. We have seen that Veterinary Services can play an important role by providing direct support to the public health pandemic response, through:

• testing of human specimens for SARS-CoV-2
• engaging in scientific research at the human–animal interface
• donating essential equipment
• contributing epidemiological expertise to public health services.

Veterinary Services are also:

• working to manage animal health implications of COVID-19, including SARS-CoV-2 infections of companion animals and outbreaks in farmed fur animals
• conducting research to understand the susceptibility of different animal species to SARS-CoV-2;
• using risk communication to avoid inappropriate actions being taken against animals, including wildlife;
• undertaking risk management to avoid the establishment of new reservoirs in susceptible species.

In addition, Veterinary Services need to work to ensure business continuity, and particularly to ensure food safety and food security through the continuation of the safe trade of animals and animal products.

In these challenging times, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) has demonstrated that, with the support of information technology platforms, it can maintain business continuity, at Headquarters, in the Regional and Sub-Regional Representations, and with its global community of Members. The OIE is continuing to share expertise and foster solidarity between Members and experts, host scientific discussions, take decisions and optimise collaboration with partners.

Resilience also includes learning from an event to be able to prepare for the next emergency

To strengthen preparedness against all hazards (including ‘One Health’ emergencies like COVID-19), the OIE is developing and sharing scientific- and experience-based guidance with its Members to inform the development of risk-based emergency plans and procedures. As well as having sufficient trained personnel, equipment and resources, to be fit-for-purpose, plans should be tested regularly through simulation exercises.

With the strong support of its Members, the OIE is well placed to play its role in strengthening global governance mechanisms and structures to respond effectively to future emergencies and avoid disasters. We have seen first-hand the strong commitment from the highest levels, including from the G20 Agriculture Ministerial Meeting in April 2020 that called for the strengthening of the One Health approach to preparedness and response to zoonotic diseases.

Today’s challenges highlight the need to incorporate wildlife in One Health strategies

Balanced ecosystems are a key component of resilience, and disease threats (including the risk of disease emergence) can be reduced by ensuring healthy balanced ecosystems. Today’s challenges also highlight the need to incorporate wildlife in One Health strategies. The OIE is engaging its Members, its wildlife experts and key partners in developing a long-term strategy to ensure that wildlife health is fully integrated into the OIE’s One Health and animal health strategies.

That is why the OIE supports the Franco–German initiative to set up a One Health High-Level Expert Council aiming to assist the Tripartite (FAO–OIE–WHO), with which the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) will be associated, in their respective responsibilities to address future crises.

Together we must take a multilateral, interdisciplinary and multisectoral approach

The OIE stands ready to play an active role in global dialogue and engage with the international community to ensure comprehensive resilience. Together we must take a multilateral, interdisciplinary and multisectoral approach to prepare and respond to all hazards and emergencies facing Veterinary Services in a holistic and sustainable fashion.

This edition of Panorama provides you with information on some of the projects, initiatives and programmes of the OIE and its partners that support the emergency preparedness and resilience of OIE Members. I wish to thank the authors for their contributions and hope you find this issue useful and informative.

Monique Éloit
Director General
World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE)

An article from the OIE Bulletin: read the original