Zoonotic Disease

Although national surveillance systems are maintained for human health (CDC) and for livestock disease (USDA); there is no network or data repository in the area of wildlife disease surveillance. Because emerging and re-emerging diseases severely affect wildlife populations, impact domestic and agricultural animals, and are a reservoir for zoonotic transmission, it is crucial to have early notification and recognition of disease patterns in wildlife populations. Due to fragmented systems of wildlife management, inconsistent investigation into sudden mortality events, and limited laboratory availability, there is not a single entity that is responsible for reporting disease events in North American wildlife populations.

Objective

The USGS National Wildlife Health Center in conjunction with federal, state, tribal partners proposed an event reporting system with current and historic information on wildlife morbidity and mortality events in North America. The vehicle to accomplish this goal is WHISPers, the Wildlife Health Information Sharing Partnership event reporting system. This system depicts laboratory confirmed wildlife mortality events using geospatial mapping capability. Data are collected by multiple partners to collectively enhance the understanding of disease in wildlife populations.

Brucella spp., Coxiella burnetii, and tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) are believed to be enzootic in the Republic of Kazakhstan, and pose a particular public health risk due to their transmissibility in unpasteurized milk and dairy products. We established a milk surveillance methodology employing immuno and molecular assays to identify these agents, and applied this methodology to milk samples collected in western Kazakhstan in winter 2014-2015.

Anthrax is a globally distributed zoonotic disease caused by Bacillus anthracis, a soil-borne, Gram-positive, spore forming bacteria. Bacillus anthracis can infect people who slaughter or eat animals that are infected. Recent reports indicate the incidence of human anthrax has increased steadily over the last several years in Georgia (2007-2012). The Georgian National Animal Health Program has implemented an anthrax control program. The Ministry of Agriculture, the National Food Agency (NFA), and the Laboratory of the Ministry of Agriculture (LMA) are engaged in diagnosis and control of anthrax in animals. Epidemiological investigation and surveillance are used to determine the origin of anthrax affected animals and their route of migration, however, for successful implementation, proper animal traceability is required. Identification of cattle is one of the components of epidemiological investigation and has been ongoing in Georgia since 2012.

Rabies is a zoonotic disease caused by an RNA virus from the family Rhabdoviridae, genus Lyssavirus. Worldwide distributed, control of rabies has been considered to be particularly amenable to a “One Health” strategy (1). In Chile, rabies was considered endemic in domestic dog population until the late 1960s, when a surveillance program was established, decreasing the number of human cases related to canine variants until the year 1972 (2). Rabies is recognized as a endemic infection in chiropterans of Chile and prompted the surveillance of the agent in this and other species (3).

Objective

This study aims to analyze the evolution of the epidemiological behavior of rabies in Chile during the period 2003 to 2013, through the epidemiological characterization of a number of variables and description of spatial and temporal patterns of animal cases.

Zoonoses account for over 70% of emerging infectious diseases in humans. In recent years, global public health security has been threatened by zoonotic disease emergence as exemplified by outbreaks of H5N1 and H1N1 influenza, SARS, and most recently Ebola. The occurrence of a number of these zoonoses, and their spread to new areas, is related to globalization, environmental changes, and marginalization of populations. This phenomenon holds true for Latin American and the Caribbean countries (LAC), where 70% of the events public health emergencies reported to the WHO from 2007 to 2008 in the Americas were classified as zoonoses or communicable diseases common to humans and animals. Despite this record, there are no national or regional disease burden estimates in LAC for many zoonoses. To start filling this void, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) conducted a survey of LAC countries to collect information on priority emerging and endemic zoonoses, countries prioritization criteria and methodologies, and suggestions to strengthen countries capacities and regional approaches to zoonoses control.

Objective

To take the first step in identifying how American countries can strengthen their capacities to manage zoonoses risks by capturing information regarding their national zoonoses programs and priorities.

Zoonotic diseases are an important cause of human morbidity and mortality; around 75% of recently emerging human infectious diseases are zoonoses. Herein we report the first seroprevalence study to include a range of emerging or re-emerging zoonotic pathogens of economic concern (including: Bacillus anthracis, Coxiella burnetii, Francisella spp., Brucella spp., and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV)) affecting domestic animals (e.g., cattle, sheep, goat, and dog) in Georgia.

Objective

The purpose of this research was to study the seroprevalence of zoonotic diseases among farm animals in the Kvemo Kartli region of Georgia.

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a zoonotic, protozoal infection that is endemic in Georgia, which commonly affects young children. In recent years, the incidence of VL has increased sharply and the geographic distribution has increased. Recently, VL moved to highly populated areas as new foci appeared from 2010-2015, during which, 610 laboratory confirmed cases of VL were registered in Georgia. The majority of cases were found in East Georgia (94.2%) and 5.8% of cases in West Georgia (representing new foci of VL in Georgia).

Objective

The purpose of this study was to describe the epidemiology of visceral leishmaniasis in Georgia and to define new control measures.

Brucellosis is one of the most widespread zoonosis in the world. Only 17 countries informed WHO that their territory is free from brucellosis. About 500 thousand cases of brucellosis in humans are registered in the world each year. The problem of brucellosis has remained actual to agriculture and health care for many years. Almost all agricultural animals are highly susceptible to brucellosis. Socio-economic significance of brucellosis problem is determined by peculiarities of the course of the disease and the main contingent that can be infected, namely the working population that is connected with both professional factors and social reasons. Brucellosis is a chronic infectious disease. The disease in animals has the following signs: abortions and retention of secundines, orchitis, unviable litter and sterility. Brucellosis is included to the list of quarantine diseases due to its social threat. 

Objective

Analysis of brucellosis monitoring in agricultural animals in Ukraine to control epizootic situation and prevent possible brucellosis in humans.