Multidisciplinary approach essential against zoonoses

Zoonotic infections threaten us like never before and a One Health, multidisciplinary approach – linking humans, animal and environmental health – is needed to tackle the problem, Professor Tom Solomon will tell U.K. vets this month.
Speaking at the British Veterinary Association (BVA)’s Members Day, to be held on September 24, Solomon, Director of the Institute of Infection and Global Health at the University of Liverpool, will argue that, by working together, veterinarians and medics play a vital role in preventing infections passing from animals to humans.
Better surveillance and disease recognition, improved diagnostics, and clinical care and widespread vaccination have been helping to reduce the burden of zoonotic and other emerging disease as part of a multidisciplinary approach, he will argue.
His talk will be echoed by outgoing BVA president John Blackwell, who will note that veterinary surveillance was paramount in identifying and containing the U.K.’s recent outbreaks of avian influenza.