Why is a global One Health approach necessary?
On June 7th, PREZODE hosted an online panel discussion to combine information and analyses regarding the recent spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). The current infection rates among animals are alarming.
HPAI’s high level of contagion and ability to cross species barriers threaten food safety, security, and environmental and global health. Its economic and social impacts significantly burden farmers and poultry consumers, especially in the poorest communities. HPAI also has an important impact on wildlife populations, causing substantial mortality and disrupting ecosystems. The panellists therefore discussed how we could better prevent outbreaks and tackle a potential pandemic risk.
Discussion
Dr Hinjoy Soawapak, Vice President of the PREZODE General Assembly, opened the session by introducing PREZODE and its activities related to the the theme of the webinar. The discussions were moderated by Dr Mariette Ducatez, research director at INRAE, and Dr Flavie Goutard, researcher and epidemiologist.
Dr Folorunso Fasina, Early Warning and One Health Intelligence expert at FAO, began the discussion by explaining that avian influenza is a highly contagious viral disease affecting both domestic and wild birds. Occasionally, these viruses also infect mammals such as cats, dogs, and more recently, sea mammals, and pose a potential risk to human health. The disease is caused by viruses divided into various subtypes and clades that evolve rapidly and tend to be highly pathogenic, as they can exchange genetic material with influenza viruses from other subtypes that infect different species.
Dr Diego Diel, Associate Professor at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University, added that this ability increases the risk of the virus crossing species barriers. This can occur through frequent contact with wild birds and domestic poultry, close contacts between farm animals, as well as mobility and trade.. Avian influenza can now jump from one mammal to another.
Recounting the HPAI spread that hit South America in 2022, Dr Victor Neira, avian influenza expert and professor at the University of Chile, explained that large populations of birds, especially seabirds, were affected, with high mortality rates. On the continent, more than 60 mammal species, including cetaceans, were known to be infected. This contagion places a heavy burden on biodiversity, especially for endangered species such as the California condor.
Dr Aspen Hammond, a technical officer at the Global Influenza Programme at WHO, highlighted the public health concerns associated with avian influenza. Thus far, the majority of human cases have been linked with close contact with infected birds or animals and contaminated environments. Even though the virus is not yet easily transmitted from person to person, the threat of an influenza pandemic is certain. The question is not if it will happen, but when it will happen. Just as it is difficult to predict when a pandemic influenza virus will emerge, it also is difficult to predict where it will emerge. Thus, all countries must have the core capacities to detect the virus and be prepared to respond to outbreaks in animals and infections in humans.
Studies on food security and food safety show that transmission to humans does not occur through the consumption of well-cooked infected poultry, but through the processes that take place before consumption, such as feeding, slaughtering, and cutting poultry, tasks that often involve women and children in developing countries. Dr Nguyen Thi Dien, Associate Professor of Sociology at Vietnam National University of Agriculture, mentioned the social and economic impacts of HPAI on the value chain: depopulation and loss of livestock and poultry, price distortion, fear of meat consumption, trade restrictions, and increased production costs. Fear of stigmatization can also deter farmers and breeders from reporting sanitary incidents.
Recommendations: the need for global prevention
through a One Health approach
The interconnection between animal, environmental, and human activities and health facilitates HPAI outbreaks and spillovers. All speakers agreed on the need for a One Health approach to limit new outbreaks and the emergence of new variants. They highlighted solutions to reduce risks and help change behaviour strategies when facing HPAI. Among their recommendations:
Prevent avian influenza at its source
- Enhance community engagement for early detection and close monitoring.
- Develop comprehensive dialogue and co-create monitoring and reporting tools.
- Establish complementary disease control tools based on sound surveillance and consider local factors such as circulating virus strains and risk assessment.
- Implement movement quarantine measures.
- Reinforce biosecurity measures on farms and poultry value chains to ensure good hygiene practices.
- Organise vaccination campaigns for high-risk and/or endangered animal populations.
Rapidly detect, early report, and respond to animal outbreaks
- Encourage countries to implement control strategies.
- Restore trust in sanitary and political authorities, particularly regarding vaccination campaigns.
- Promote early reporting to reduce the time required to produce effective vaccines.
- Share genetic sequence data of viruses from humans, animals, or their environments in publicly accessible databases quickly, even before peer-reviewed publication.
- Increase collaborative networks, labs, and research all over the world, with the FAO and WHO, the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS), the Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework (PIP), the OFLU (the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH)/Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) global network of expertise on animal influenza).
As a science community capable of reaching local, national, regional, and international decision-makers, PREZODE plays a crucial role in informing and sharing data to prevent HPAI outbreaks. Its primary missions are to encourage exchanges among community members, advance its knowledge and practice sharing efforts, offer guidance to policymakers, and raise awareness among a broad audience.
Speakers biography
Dr Soawapak Hinjoy: Vice President of the PREZODE General Assembly and Director of the Office of International Cooperation, Department of Disease Control, Ministry of Public Health of Thailand.
DVM, MSc, MPH, she serves on the Scientific Advisory Committee of the School of Global Health in the Faculty of Medicine of Chulalongkorn University, as an academic advisor of the Field Epidemiology Training Program, as a member of the Committee on Centers of Rabies Control and Prevention in Thailand, and of the local committee of International Health Regulation. She has been a speaker in various international programs.
Dr Mariette Ducatez, Virologist, Researcher at INRAE
Dr Flavie Goutard, Epidemiologist, Researcher at CIRAD and PREZODE Coordinator in South East Asia
Dr Diego Diel, Associate Professor and interim department Chair, DVM PhD, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University
Dr. Diego Diel earned his DVM from the Federal University of Santa Maria, Brazil, in 2004. He completed his MS in Virology and initiated his PhD at the same institution, later conducting PhD research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he graduated in 2010. He completed post-doctoral training at the USDA Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory in 2011 and the University of Illinois in 2013. In 2014, Dr. Diel joined South Dakota State University as an Assistant Professor, becoming the Virology Section Leader at the ADRDL in 2016. In 2019, he moved to Cornell University as an Associate Professor and Director of the Virology Laboratory at the Animal Health Diagnostic Center College of Veterinary Medicine, and in 2020, he helped establish and direct the Cornell COVID-19 Testing Laboratory which tested over 2.1 million samples during the pandemic. Dr. Diel’s research focuses on vectored vaccine development and the pathogenesis of emerging viral pathogens affecting both animals and humans, including picornaviruses, poxviruses, coronaviruses, influenza A viruses and African swine fever virus. Dr. Diel has been recently involved in the identification of the spillover of HPAI in dairy cattle in the US.
Dr Folorunso Fasina, Early Warning and One Health Intelligence Expert. DVM, Epidemiologist, Food And Agriculture Organization
Folorunso Fasina is a veterinarian with significant work experience in Africa. He previously worked at the Emergency Center for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) as a Country Team Leader in Kenya and Tanzania between 2016 and 2023. He works as an Early Warning and One Health Intelligence Expert with FAO in Rome Italy. He holds a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, and PhDs in molecular and classical epidemiology from the University of Pretoria, South Africa, and the Utrecht University, the Netherlands respectively, focusing on transboundary (ASF) and zoonotic influenza (HPAI H5N1). His areas of interest include Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Health Economics, and Disease Ecology and Modelling using the One Health approach. His works also explore One Health approach at the interface of zoonoses, antimicrobial resistance and epidemiologic basis of transboundary animal diseases.
Dr Haspen Hammond, Influenza Surveillance Systems Expert, DVM, MPH, World Health Organization
Dr Hammond trained as a veterinarian and in public health, joined WHO in 2012 and has worked in WHO’s Global Influenza Programme since 2015. Her responsibilities are focused on surveillance and risk assessment of zoonotic influenza, supporting the rapid detection and response to outbreaks and risk reduction efforts of WHO and its Member States. In addition, she works on assessing global influenza epidemiologic and virologic surveillance data, developing guidance on influenza and other respiratory virus surveillance methods and standards, and supporting the implementation of guidance and tools in WHO Member States.
Dr Victor Manuel Neira Ramirez, Associate Professor, Animal Virology, DVM, Virologist, Universidad De Chile
DVM, PhD, with specialization in animal diseases, in particular those caused by viral agents and zoonotic pathogens. Leads research projects focused on the diagnosis and characterization of animal diseases, contributing valuable insights into the field of animal health and virology. Engages in comprehensive studies of major zoonotic pathogens affecting livestock and wildlife, including investigations within the unique Antarctic ecosystem.
Dr Nguyen Thi Dien, Associate Professor, Sociology, Vietnam National University of Agriculture. Grease Network – One Health Poultry Hub
Associate Professor Nguyen Thi Dien serves as the Co-coordinator of GREASE network (CIRAD) and National research manager of GCRF One Health Poultry Hub in Vietnam. She has completed her PhD in Sociology and Rural Development from Liège University, Belgium. She works as a lecturer and researcher at the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Vietnam National University of Agriculture. She led and participated in several research projects on AMR surveillance, antibiotic use in aquaculture production, antibiotic supply chain, mapping chicken value chain and epidemiological significance, financial relations in chicken production, and gender relations in the chicken value chain. Dr Dien Nguyen’s research has made a significant contribution to identifying the socio-economic and cultural factors affecting disease introduction and transmission which are the foundation for further technical research on improving disease management, especially avian influenza and other diseases on chicken