Where human and animal health meet...
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Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:30:00 -0600
The Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) and the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) remind Iowans that in addition to protecting their families, friends and neighbors from the spread of the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus, it's important to remember to protect family pets from the illness, as well. People who are sick with H1N1 can spread the virus not only to humans, but to some animals.
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Geralyn Pezanoski (80 min., color, BetaSP, US)
Sunday, November 8, 7:30 pm
UW Cinematheque - 4070 Vilas Hall, 821 University Ave., Madison, WI 53706
Geralyn Pezanoski's powerful first feature film shines a light on a forgotten class of Hurricane Katrina victim - the Gulf Coast region's pets (and their owners). The film ably documents the immediate aftermath of the storm that killed or stranded over 100,000 animals and the valiant rescue efforts by volunteers from around the country. But Mine doesn't stop there. Instead, it wades into far deeper and more emotionally charged terrain, following the months of suffering and struggle since 2005 - as pets that were rescued and sent to animal shelters around the country become legally adopted by new families, even as their former families continue to search for them. There are so many tales here so skillfully and emotionally told. Victor has been desperately searching for his dog Max. Tiffany is smitten with him and couldn't imagine giving him back after rescuing him. Whose dog is Max? Gloria refused to be evacuated without her dog Murphy until finally she was forced to leave Murphy behind by the National Guard. Should she not be able to get her dog back now? Through it all hangs questions about what it means for an animal to "belong" to someone, what rights are animals entitled to, and why our relationships to animals are so powerful and yet so convoluted. A heartbreaking and powerful film, Mine clearly demonstrates how some of the greatest tragedies often emerge in the absence of villains and the presence only of good intentions and how often the simplest desire to love another being can be fraught with enormous obstacles. Winner of the Audience Award at the 2009 SXSW Festival in Austin. Filmmaker scheduled to be in attendance.
WI State Lab of Hygiene Scientific Seminar
Strengthening the Public Health Laboratory Network in Botswana
In Botswana, where an estimated 17% of the country’s 1.8 million people are infected with HIV, inadequate laboratory systems represented a major barrier to mounting a successful HIV control program. Since 2001, WSLH Epidemiologist John Pfister has been working periodically as a consultant to assist the CDC and the Botswana Ministry of Health strengthen the nation’s public health laboratory network. John will describe the challenges, accomplishments, and ongoing activities of this international partnership.
Tuesday, Dec. 8th, Noon – 1 PM
State Lab of Hygiene, Stovall Building, 465 Henry Mall (corner of Henry Mall and Linden)
VIEWPOINT William Karesh |
Geographic and environmental boundaries that once protected us from widespread disease outbreaks are no more, says William Karesh. In this week's Green Room, he calls for the West to adopt a "prevention is better than cure" approach to human and animal health.
Animal health is tightly linked to the conditions of its surrounding environment, and humans are increasingly changing or affecting those conditions |
During the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic that killed up to 100 million people worldwide, children sang a nursery rhyme: "I had a little bird, Its name was Enza, I opened the window, and in-flu-enza."
Today, the expanding human population and activity has opened the pandemic "window" even wider.
A major component of any strategy to protect ourselves must involve treating disease before it gets to us.
We are reminded by the recent World Health Organization designation of a H1N1 pandemic that infectious diseases have little regard for the Darwinian divide.
Humans share more than 60% of "known" infectious organisms with animals, and the majority of new or emerging diseases are linked in some way to wild animals; ebola, HIV/Aids, Sars, and Avian influenza are just a few examples.
But don't blame the animals; these diseases in humans stem from how we move about the planet, interact with animals and the environment, educate our citizens, provide or don't provide health services, and deal with poverty and hunger.
Going global
Animal health is tightly linked to the conditions of its surrounding environment, and humans are increasingly changing or affecting those conditions.
Boundaries that limited the spread of diseases are being broken down |
The trade in wildlife for food, traditional medicine, or pets, for example, has increased in response to human demand.
This flourishing trade - both legal and illegal - of domesticated animals, wildlife and wild animal parts is often marked by unsanitary conditions that can give rise to zoonotic diseases (those transmitted from animals to people).
As modern transportation is made available to more of the world, geographic boundaries that once protected us from remote disease outbreaks are nearly obsolete.
Viruses and bacteria long confined to living in a single species, or in one part of the world, can now quickly be moved to new areas and thrive in environments, animals or people unprepared for their arrival.
Other human-induced environmental conditions can have an effect as well, and are not predicated on human physical presence in a specific place.
Disturbances, such as fluctuating precipitation levels and increasing temperatures brought about by climate change, can have far reaching consequences on ecosystems and animal health, and thus, ultimately drive changes in disease proliferation and redistribution.
Human well-being is dependent upon healthy ecosystems |
Not surprisingly, predicting outbreaks of zoonotic diseases is an increasingly complex, but critically important, undertaking.
It is a mistake to believe that stockpiling vaccines or drugs will be enough to ensure that we are protected from future pandemic threats.
The next pandemic may not come in the form of an influenza virus. There is no guarantee that in response to a viral threat, we will have time to modify a vaccine or that current drugs will remain effective.
Many of us have been actively promoting the concept of One World, One Health - a philosophy that dictates a comprehensive approach to pandemic preparedness that starts "upstream", and attacks disease at its origins.
That means working with people in the poorest areas of the world who have little access to health care for themselves or their livestock, or to proper hygienic provisions for raising and handling animals.
In many of these places, the order of the day is simply survival.
To really protect those of us "downstream", in places like the US and Europe, from emerging pandemic diseases, we must focus a portion of our efforts on collaborating with those upstream populations to create a safer and healthier future.
This means building capacity in the developing world to monitor wildlife, domestic animals and people for disease.
Potential pandemics needs to be tackled at source, not on our doorsteps |
It also means giving those living at the frontlines of an outbreak the ability to respond.
This may sound like an ominous task, but in the long run, preventing or solving a potential pandemic disease crisis at its source will prove far more cost effective than paying for the effects after its devastating impacts.
The nascent beginnings of such a comprehensive, global approach to pandemic disease have been initiated by the US government and a number of UN agencies.
Formal and informal networks of public health agencies, infectious disease scientists, veterinarians, conservation organisations and technology firms are sharing resources and enabling access to disease distribution data, sample analyses and outbreak information.
This is vital to predicting, identifying and responding to new emerging diseases in countries most in need of help and at the highest risk.
As with climate change, we are learning that what we do locally affects our global community, and that all nations both developed and developing, will play an important role in the future condition of our shared planet.
Working as partners within a One World, One Health philosophy is a critical approach to answering our environmental challenges - including minimising the impacts of a future pandemic.
Just as we share the planet's atmosphere, we share all of its infectious organisms.
Dr William B Karesh is vice president of the Wildlife Conservation Society and director of its Global Health Program
The Green Room is a series of opinion articles on environmental topics running weekly on the BBC News website
The MPVM program is a one-year program, but some students may require up to 2 years to complete all coursework requirements. For non-native English speaking students, a two-year program is highly recommended. A special part-time program is available for a limited number of students who are unable to leave their employment for three consecutive quarters of instruction. For more details, please e-mail the Program Director, Bruno Chomel or Donna Smith , Assistant to the MPVM Director.
WHO: Mexican Swine Flu has Pandemic Potential:
24 April 2009 -- The United States Government has reported seven confirmed human cases of Swine Influenza A/H1N1 in the USA (five in California and two in Texas) and nine suspect cases. All seven confirmed cases had mild Influenza-Like Illness (ILI), with only one requiring brief hospitalization. No deaths have been reported.
The Government of Mexico has reported three separate events. In the Federal District of Mexico, surveillance began picking up cases of ILI starting 18 March. The number of cases has risen steadily through April and as of 23 April there are now more than 854 cases of pneumonia from the capital. Of those, 59 have died. In San Luis Potosi, in central Mexico, 24 cases of ILI, with three deaths, have been reported. And from Mexicali, near the border with the United States, four cases of ILI, with no deaths, have been reported.
Of the Mexican cases, 18 have been laboratory confirmed in Canada as Swine Influenza A/H1N1, while 12 of those are genetically identical to the Swine Influenza A/H1N1 viruses from California.
The majority of these cases have occurred in otherwise healthy young adults. Influenza normally affects the very young and the very old, but these age groups have not been heavily affected in Mexico.
Because there are human cases associated with an animal influenza virus, and because of the geographical spread of multiple community outbreaks, plus the somewhat unusual age groups affected, these events are of high concern.
The Swine Influenza A/H1N1 viruses characterized in this outbreak have not been previously detected in pigs or humans. The viruses so far characterized have been sensitive to oseltamivir, but resistant to both amantadine and rimantadine.
The World Health Organization has been in constant contact with the health authorities in the United States, Mexico and Canada in order to better understand the risk which these ILI events pose. WHO (and PAHO) is sending missions of experts to Mexico to work with health authorities there. It is helping its Member States to increase field epidemiology activities, laboratory diagnosis and clinical management. Moreover, WHO's partners in the Global Alert and Response Network have been alerted and are ready to assist as requested by the Member States.
WHO acknowledges the United States and Mexico for their proactive reporting and their collaboration with WHO and will continue to work with Member States to further characterize the outbreak. http://www.who.int/csr/don/2009_04_24/en/index.html
GENEVA – An outbreak of swine flu in Mexico and the United States is a quickly evolving situation that has "pandemic potential," the head of the World Health Organization said Saturday before an emergency meeting of flu experts.
WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said the North American outbreak of a never-before-seen virus was a very serious situation.
She called Saturday's emergency meeting to consider declaring an international public health emergency over the outbreak, which is believed to have killed dozens of people in Mexico and sickened at least eight in the U.S.
The experts are also expected to recommend whether WHO should raise its pandemic alert to a higher level.
At least 62 people have died from severe pneumonia caused by a flu-like illness in Mexico, according to WHO. Some of those who died are confirmed to have a unique version of the A/H1N1 flu virus that is a combination of bird, pig and human viruses.
Mexico has closed schools, museums, libraries and theaters in a bid to contain the outbreak, which may have sickened about 1,000 people there.
"The situation is evolving quickly," Chan said at a telephone news conference in Geneva. "A new disease is by definition poorly understood.
"In the assessment of WHO, this is a serious situation which must be watched very closely."
"This is an animal strain of the H1N1 virus, and it has pandemic potential because it is infecting people," Chan said.
"However, we cannot say, on the basis of currently available laboratory, epidemiological and clinical evidence, whether or not it will indeed cause a pandemic," she added.
It is the first time Chan has convened such a crisis panel since the procedure was created almost two years ago, spokesman Gregory Hartl said.
The committee may decide Saturday that the outbreak constitutes a public health emergency, and if so, whether WHO should consider measures including travel advisories, trade restrictions and border closures.
The global body's flu pandemic alert level is now set to phase three — meaning there is no or very limited risk of a new virus spreading from human to human.
The committee "will be asked, 'should we raise the alert level to phase four or phase five,' depending on their appreciation of how far the virus has spread," Hartl said.
An increased alert level was considered likely, as initial evidence from the outbreak in Mexico indicates the virus has spread between people. Hartl said, however, that a decision would not be made Saturday.GINEBRA (Reuters) - Un brote de influenza porcina surgido en México y Estados Unidos tiene el potencial de causar una epidemia mundial, pero es muy pronto para afirmar que ello ocurrirá, dijo el sábado la directora de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS).
"Tiene potencial pandémico porque está infectando a las personas", dijo Margaret Chan, directora general de la OMS.
"Sin embargo, no podemos decir en base a la evidencia disponible de tipo clÃnico, epidemiológico y de laboratorio si causará o no una pandemia", indicó.
La nueva cepa, una mezcla de virus de influenza porcina, humana y aviaria que habrÃa causado la muerte de 68 personas de entre 1.004 casos sospechosos en México e infectado a ocho en Estados Unidos, es poco conocida y la situación evoluciona rápidamente, dijo Chan en una teleconferencia.
Un comité de emergencia conformado por expertos, que se reunirá a la brevedad, asesorará a la directora de la OMS sobre asuntos que incluyen la posibilidad de cambiar el nivel de alerta pandémica de la OMS, que es actualmente de 3 en una escala del 1 al 6.
Es "demasiado prematuro en este momento" que la OMS emita alguna alerta sobre viajes, debido a que aún se requieren los análisis de los casos y otros datos clÃnicos, aseguró.
"Aún no tenemos un cuadro completo de la epidemiologÃa o del riesgo, incluyendo posibles contagios fuera de las áreas actualmente afectadas", dijo Chan. "No obstante, según la evaluación de la OMS, esta es una situación seria", añadió.
También es muy pronto para que la agencia de Naciones Unidas aconseje a los laboratorios que empiecen a producir una vacuna contra la nueva cepa del virus, aparte de su tradicional producción de vacunas estacionales para la influenza, sostuvo. http://mx.news.yahoo.com/s/25042009/2/n-health-gripe-porcina-potencial-pandemico-jefa.html
Senior Clinical Training Scholarship in Veterinary Public Health
Applications are invited from veterinary graduates to undertake a three-year residency programme in Veterinary Public Health. The successful candidate will receive training in all aspects of veterinary epidemiology, including theoretical and practical aspects of epidemiological and statistical methods and their application to the study of animal disease and their control. The resident will undertake the well established MSc in Veterinary Epidemiology provided jointly by the RVC, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, DEFRA and the VLA during the first two years of the programme. At the end of the training programme, the resident will be eligible to sit the exam for the Diploma of the European College of Veterinary Public Health (www.ecvph.org).
The residency is jointly conducted at the RVC, DEFRA and the VLA. The resident will spend time at each organisation and conduct collaborative research. The resident will be involved in small group teaching, seminars, research and epidemiological support.
The tax-free stipends for Senior Scholarships start at £ 14,902, increasing by annual increments to
£16,222 and are continued subject to satisfactory annual assessment.
For informal inquiries, please contact Prof. Katharina Stärk on 01707 666 333 ext 6025, kstaerk@rvc.ac.uk.
For an application form and further details of this scholarship, please visit: www.rvc.ac.uk/cts or email: jobs@rvc.ac.uk quoting ref: SCTS/VPH/09
Please note Short-listed candidates will normally be notified at least one week before the interview date.
Dear Friends of Global Health,
What a successful Global Health Symposium we had last week! Many thanks to all of you who participated, and a special “thank you” to all of the students who worked so hard to make this event happen. We had well over 300 people attend the inspiring keynote address given by Tony Goldberg, and a large number of people attended the panel presentations as well. If you were unable to attend the event, missed a speaker that you wanted to hear, or would just like to revisit any of the talks, go to http://videos.med.wisc.edu/
Please feel free to visit the Center for Global Health website. We have a number of terrific speakers that will be presenting this spring, and you may view that schedule at http://www.pophealth.wisc.edu/
Thank you for your support of the Center for Global Health! We look forward to seeing you at future events.
Sincerely,
Center for Global Health Staff
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are working together to provide important information about the recall of certain peanut butter and peanut-containing products that are associated with the recent Salmonella Typhimurium outbreaks.
The latest resource is the new HHS, FDA and CDC social media Web page at http://www.cdc.gov/
The social media site makes it easy to obtain automatically updated information on the outbreak and the product recall. The site provides resources for both consumers and partners, including:
Many of these resources are available in both English and Spanish.
Sign up to receive email updates when new information is added to the Social Media Tools page.
Information about the Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak and the product recall is also available at:
Call 1-800-CDC-INFO (1-800-232-4636), 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for up-to-date information about the recalls and hundreds of other health and safety topics.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) · 1600 Clifton Rd · Atlanta GA 30333 · 800-CDC-INFO (800-232-4636)
The Human Rights Initiative at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison
SPRING Lecture Series
Monday, February 9, 2009
4pm-5:30pm
206 Ingraham Hall,
1155 Observatory Drive
“War and Human Rights in Africa:
Insights from Darfur/Chad, DRC, and Liberia”
Professor Jennifer Leaning
Jennifer Leaning is Professor of the Practice of International Health at the Harvard School of Public Health and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She also co-directs the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and co-founded Physicians for Human Rights.
She is the author and or editor of numerous articles and books, including Humanitarian Crises: The Medical and Public Health Response.
To learn more about the Human Rights Initiative at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, log on to our website and join our mailing list: www.humanrights.wisc.edu
This event is co-sponsored by Global Studies, the International Institute, the Center for Global Health,
CALS, WAGE and the Division of International Studies
Would you like to develop or enhance your skills in the area of global health? The UW-Madison Center for Global Health invites graduate and health professions students and mid-career professionals to consider applying for the Certificate in Global Health, a collaborative offering of UW faculty from the Schools of Medicine and Public Health, Nursing, Pharmacy, Veterinary Medicine, and the Division of International Studies. Through a 9-credit program that includes a global health field experience, the certificate prepares candidates to address health issues that transcend national boundaries, with an emphasis on health and disease in developing countries. The program is based in the Department of Population Health Sciences of the UW School of Medicine and Public Health and is administered by the Center for Global Health. Applications are now being accepted.
Available as a Graduate Certificate to professional students in the health sciences and graduate students in health-related fields, and available as a Capstone Certificate to health care practitioners and persons who have a BA or BS in a health-related field, the Certificate in Global Health program meets the needs of both traditional and non-traditional students with an interest in global health. Recognizing that candidates may want to develop global health skills while continuing with full-time employment, the core courses are offered outside of the workday and are web-enhanced for easy access to course materials and increased opportunities to interact with faculty and students. To read about our current students and graduates from the Certificate program, go to http://www.pophealth.wisc.edu/
A detailed description of the certificate and an application form are available on the Center for Global Health website, http://www.pophealth.wisc.edu/
Questions? Contact Betsy Teigland, Network and Resource Coordinator, Center for Global Health, teigland@wisc.edu.