One Health Newsletter

One Health Newsletter: Volume 14 Issue 1

Micro-Editorial

Environmental Health

Authors

Snehal Gawhale, Jean-Paul Gonzalez, Helena Chapman, Paige Adams and Ellyn Mulcahy.

In this edition of the One Health Newsletter, we examine Environmental Health as an essential component of One Health. Globally, One Health has long been recognized as an effective approach to identify environmental health risks and develop novel solutions to respond to future global health threats. One Health describes the interconnection between humans, animals, plants, and the environment. Although the term One Health has been recorded in various forms since the early 1800s, its operational definition was formally defined in December 2021, after many years of dedicated work by the organizations represented in the Joint Tripartite (Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO; World Organization for Animal Health, OIE; World Health Organization, WHO; and the United Nations Environment Program, UNEP). These organizations make up the One Health High Level Expert Panel (OHHLEP). In this edition, authors Ryan Walker, Sierrah Haas, and Cheyenne Brunkow, briefly describe the organizations’ mission and history to frame their roles in defining One Health.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted many aspects of our lives, with the entertainment industry being no exception. One such exciting insight into the film industry’s One Health approach to tackle the pandemic situation and continue to serve the community with much deserving entertainment is shared by the author, Soukaina Gonzalez. Sharing her experience on set, she writes, “The focus of the film industry shifted to ensure that cast and crew members were safe on set, and to maintain safety with over one hundred people on a film set at once with an ongoing pandemic.”

COVID-19 is a great example of the increasing incidence of zoonotic diseases, and the expansion of the geographical scope of disease, host, and vector spread into new areas. Another illustration of an emerging zoonotic disease is the Mayaro virus (MAYV), a potentially emerging arboviral disease in South America. Author Julia Bourciquot-Gonzalez provides a brief introduction to MAYV, the implementation of the One Health approach, and her personal research experiences with MAYV.

In another vital topic of environmental health, when large pieces of plastic waste are disposed into the environment, they are degraded into smaller and smaller pieces and this extremely small-sized plastic debris is known as microplastics. Authors Julia Bourciquot Gonzalez and Edgar Dusacre ask and answer important questions about the use of plastics: Are the bacteria and viruses associated with microplastics? Do these microplastics interact with bacteria and viruses and have a direct effect on living organisms starting at the very primary producers of the food chain, with the autotrophic organisms (i.e., plankton), which produce organic matter from mineral matter and energy?

Lastly, our edition ends with a review of pathogen and agent information, clinical signs, and prevention measures for infectious diseases, in The Control of Communicable Diseases Manual (CCDM). Other resources including the Yellow Book, Red Book, and The Merck Veterinary Manual are efficiently discussed by our authors Justin Kastner and Jayden McCall.

Next story: Resourcefulness, resources, and the CCDM: An essential for practitioners of veterinary public health

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