A Global Veterinary Medical Perspective on the Concept of One ...

Abstract
While globalization has yielded many benefi ts for society, it
also has created many new challenges, particularly with regard
to animal, human, and environmental health. Livestock
contribute signifi cantly to the livelihoods of hundreds of millions
of people worldwide and global demand for foods of
animal origin has been steadily increasing for decades. It is
therefore critical to recognize and understand the global dimension
of livestock production and its impacts. Despite the
clear benefi ts of livestock for humans, some livestock production
practices are associated with certain forms of environmental
degradation, and trade in livestock and livestock
products can contribute to the emergence and spread of new
animal and zoonotic diseases. This article provides a review
of the major global trends affecting livestock production
and trade, related implications for human, animal, and environmental
health, and reasons why veterinarians should
embrace a One Health approach in dealing with disease
problems in this era of globalization.
Key Words: animal health; emerging diseases; environmental
health; globalization; livestock; One Health; public health;
zoonosis
Introduction
A <strong>Global</strong> <strong>Veterinary</strong> <strong>Medical</strong> <strong>Perspective</strong> on the Concept of One Health:
Focus on Livestock
Livestock contribute signifi cantly to the livelihoods of
hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Many countries
count receipts from trade in livestock and animal
products as signifi cant contributions to their gross national
product. Moreover, global demand for foods of animal origin
is steadily growing and it is apparent that the livestock
sector will continue to expand accordingly (FAO 2009b).
In recent years, there have been notable increases in the
occurrence of emerging and reemerging infectious diseases,
many of them diseases of livestock with zoonotic potential.
David M. Sherman, DVM, MS, DACVIM, is an international veterinary
medical consultant and a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of
Environmental and Population Health at Tufts University Cummings School
of <strong>Veterinary</strong> Medicine in North Grafton, Massachusetts.
Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. David M. Sherman,
Department of Environmental and Population Health, Tufts University
Cummings School of <strong>Veterinary</strong> Medicine, 200 Westboro Road, North
Grafton, MA 01536 or email dmsherman@rcn.com.
David M. Sherman
These diseases have negatively affected animal and human
health around the world and caused considerable social disruption
and economic loss. In addition, livestock production
practices in both developed and developing countries are
increasingly associated with various forms of environmental
degradation, including global warming, deforestation, and
loss of biodiversity. As such, livestock must be a focus of attention
for health professionals who embrace the holistic concept
of One Health, which strives to integrate human, animal, and
environmental health management to achieve global health
and well-being.
Numerous global trends facilitate the development and
dissemination of zoonotic disease around the world and contribute
to environmental degradation. The next section provides
a brief review of these trends, followed by a discussion
of why the One Health approach is an appropriate response
to the emergence of animal and zoonotic disease and should
be embraced by the veterinary medical profession.
Major Trends Shaping <strong>Global</strong> Society and
Their Effects on Human and Animal Health
In simple economic terms, globalization can be defi ned as
the process of increasing the connectivity and interdependence
of the world’s markets and business. This is not a new idea
or process. About 750 years ago, Marco Polo set out along
the Silk Road to the court of Kublai Khan near present-day
Beijing with the intention of expanding markets and business
opportunities in Asia for merchants in Venice.
How is it, then, that the current period in history has
come to be known as the “era of globalization”? The answer lies
mainly in the enormous technological advances since the Industrial
Revolution, and particularly in the last 50 years. The
jet airplane, the computer, the Internet, and the cellular phone
have made the planet a smaller, more accessible, more interconnected
and interdependent place for people to visit, relocate,
conduct business, expand trade, exchange culture and
ideas, share information, and mobilize in support of common
interests. Thus globalization is now generally considered to
extend beyond the sphere of business and markets to encompass
technological, sociocultural, political, and biological
aspects of life as well.
While globalization has yielded many benefi ts for society,
it also has created many new challenges, a number of which
affect animal, human, and environmental health. For the
Volume 51, Number 3 2010 281

veterinary medical profession to optimize its usefulness in
these times, veterinarians must understand the important
global trends affecting health and disease and develop the
knowledge, tools, and skills to respond effectively to these
challenges.
Emerging Animal Diseases and Zoonoses
By the mid-20 th century, with the development of effective
antibiotics and vaccines well advanced, there was a prevailing
attitude among health professionals that the scourge of infectious
disease had largely been conquered and the focus of
medicine could be shifted to neoplastic, cardiovascular, and
other noninfectious categories of disease. Quite the contrary,
however, the current period is characterized by not only the
emergence of new infectious diseases of animals and humans
but also the reemergence of diseases previously thought to be
under control, such as tuberculosis.
Studies report that 64% of 1,400 known human pathogens
(Heeney 2006) and 73% of emerging human pathogens are
zoonotic (Woolhouse and Gowtage-Sequeria 2005). These include
many infections with global reach such as human immunodefi
ciency virus (HIV), severe acute respiratory syndrome
(SARS), West Nile virus, highly pathogenic avian infl uenza
H5N1, and the more recently identifi ed infl uenza virus, H1N1.
There are multiple, complex reasons for this emergence (Brown
2004; Morse 2004), including the movement of pathogens
through modern jet travel, landscape transformations that result
in closer contact between wildlife and humans, the intensifi
cation of livestock production, the raising of livestock
and poultry in close association with people, inadequate biosecurity
in livestock management, and the development of
antibiotic resistance in some bacterial diseases. Some of
these are described in the following sections; recent reports
provide further information (FAO 2009a, 75-93; Jones et al.
2008; Patz et al. 2004; PCIFAP 2008, 10-29; Snowden 2008;
Weiss and McMichael 2004; Wolfe et al. 2007).
High-Speed Transportation and
Communication
Modern jet travel now allows passengers to move from virtually
any place in the world to any other place within 36 hours—
less than the incubation period of many viral and bacterial
diseases. This means that infections can become globally
disseminated before clinical disease is recognized. The SARS
outbreak of 2003, which quickly spread to 29 countries, and
the ongoing, novel H1N1 infl uenza pandemic (see Pappaioanou
and Gramer 2010 in this issue) dramatically underscore this
point. As such, the notion of “foreign” or “exotic” diseases
has become less meaningful. A wide range of diseases now
have the potential to crop up unexpectedly anywhere in the
world and some may quickly become endemic; for example,
West Nile virus infection was unknown in North America
before 1999 but is now fi rmly established on much of the
continent.
As these examples indicate, health professionals, including
veterinarians, must be familiar with the epidemiology and
clinical signs of a broad range of infectious diseases that may
not be—for the moment—present in their countries. This of
course includes the highly contagious diseases of livestock
and poultry such as foot and mouth disease, peste des petits
ruminants, African swine fever, Newcastle disease, and highly
pathogenic avian infl uenza, to name but a few.
Modern communication has facilitated the rapid dissemination
of information, both scientifi c and journalistic, about
disease occurrence; the World Animal Health Information System
(OIE 2010) and the International Society for Infectious
Diseases’ ProMED-mail service (ISID 2010) are two examples
of such sources. This information allows regulatory veterinarians
to better understand emerging disease patterns and
act more quickly to initiate disease investigation and control
efforts. It also raises public expectations that offi cials will
move quickly to initiate control efforts. Intense media coverage
and high public expectations mean that regulatory veterinarians
must have effective disease control plans in place
that are adequately resourced and that they can communicate
risk to the public clearly and effectively. But such communications
can also have serious adverse effects on consumer
perceptions of the wholesomeness of animal source foods,
with disastrous economic consequences for producers. Such
extensive media coverage increases the need for proper, responsible,
effective risk communication by respected authorities
(also see Decker et al. 2010 in this issue).
Growth in International Trade
International trade has grown dramatically since World War II.
That growth has been facilitated by international efforts to break
down trade barriers and to create a level playing fi eld for all
trading partners through free market initiatives formalized
through the World Trade Organization (WTO) in the 1990s.
Growth in the trade of livestock and foods of animal origin has
been particularly robust as a result of several factors: the elimination
or reduction of tariffs associated with free-market
reforms; technological advances in containerized and refrigerated
shipping; and a steadily increasing global consumer
demand for foods of animal origin, associated with economic
growth and increasing prosperity, particularly in developing
countries. Since 1960, global meat production has more than
tripled, milk production has nearly doubled, and egg production
has increased almost fourfold. <strong>Global</strong> production and consumption
of meat will likely continue to rise, from 233 million metric
tons (Mt) in 2000 to 300 million in 2020, as will that of milk,
from 568 to 700 million Mt over the same period. Egg production
will also increase by 30% (Speedy 2003).
The increased movement of live animals and animal products
corresponds to an increased risk in the spread of transboundary
diseases of animals as well as zoonotic diseases,
particularly foodborne diseases. As such, the WTO has actively
promoted the development of regulations and policies to ensure
that animal health and food safety are considered and
282 ILAR Journal

protected as core elements in international trade. The World
Organization for Animal Health (OIE) provides scientifi c
expertise to WTO for regulating trade in livestock while the
Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations
(FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO), through the
Codex Alimentarius (www.codexalimentarius.net), provide
guidelines for the regulation of food products, including foods
of animal origin.
War and Terrorism
In the past 30 years, the dominant form of armed confl ict has
shifted from wars between nations to confl icts within nations,
or civil wars. At the beginning of 2008, for example, there were
26 active armed confl icts worldwide, all of them civil confl icts
between the government of a state, on the one hand, and at least
one internal group on the other (Hewitt et al. 2010, 19).
War is a disruptive force on animal health. It can lead to
the breakdown of specifi c disease control programs, as has
been documented in Zimbabwe (Lawrence et al. 1980), or
the collapse of the veterinary medical infrastructure itself, as
in Afghanistan (Sherman 2005). Confl ict also produces refugee
populations, and in agricultural societies refugees often
fl ee with their animals, bringing livestock diseases to new
areas of their own countries or into neighboring countries.
Attempts to maintain disease control efforts in times of
war or insecurity can be daunting and may require novel approaches.
It is noteworthy that rinderpest was successfully
eliminated from areas of confl ict in the Horn of Africa in part
through the recruitment and training of community-based
animal health workers who were trusted by local populations
and who used novel, heat-stable rinderpest vaccine to carry out
effective vaccination campaigns under dangerous and diffi -
cult conditions (Mariner et al. 2002).
The specter of bioterrorism adds a new and troubling
dimension to the challenge of controlling animal and human
disease because of its unpredictability and malevolent intent.
Bioterrorist events may not necessarily evolve as naturally
occurring disease outbreaks might evolve. For example, terrorist
operatives may use multiple pathogens and multiple
sites of introduction, confusing the clinical picture and severely
taxing the resources of disease control authorities. Furthermore,
the majority of potential bioterrorist agents are zoonotic
disease agents (Davis 2004a,b), meaning that animals and
humans may be affected concurrently during outbreaks. In
fact, animal populations may well serve as important sentinels
for early detection of bioterrorist threats (Rabinowitz et al.
2006).
Climate Change and Other Environmental
Perturbations
There is a two-way relationship between livestock production
and environmental health. On the one hand, livestock contribute
to climate change and other environmental problems,
and at the same time livestock health and productivity can be
adversely affected by these same environmental perturbations
(Sherman 2002, 170-244; Steinfeld et al. 2006). Ruminant
animals contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and global
warming by eructation of methane. The clearing of forests for
cattle ranching is a major cause of deforestation and associated
loss of biodiversity, particularly in Latin America. Intensive
livestock production often produces manure in excess of
what the surrounding land can accommodate and runoff of
manure into waterways results in pollution and alterations in
the balance of aquatic life. Overgrazing contributes to rangeland
degradation, particularly in semiarid regions.
At the same time, patterns of disease in animals and
humans are infl uenced by environmental and climatic change.
<strong>Global</strong> warming is associated with the northward spread of
bluetongue disease in Europe (Purse et al. 2005). Outbreaks
of Rift Valley fever in East Africa are linked to El Niño
Southern Oscillation events (Linthicum et al. 1999) as are
hantavirus infections in North America (Yates et al. 2002),
malaria outbreaks in Africa and South America, dengue fever
in Asia, and cholera in South Asia (Anyamba et al. 2006; WHO
2002).
Landscape transformation is another environmental factor
contributing to disease. The fragmentation of forests in North
America into segments of less than 2 hectares has changed
the ecology of the forest fauna and led to increased transmission
of Lyme disease to companion animals and humans
(Allan et al. 2003). Increased settlement with a high
density of domestic dog populations adjacent to Serengeti
National Park is likely to have led to the unexpected species
crossover and emergence of canine distemper in lions in the
park (Cleaveland et al. 2000). The creation of logging roads
into deep forest in west Africa has facilitated the hunting of
primates for meat (the “bushmeat trade”) and has led to the
emergence of new human infections derived from butchering
and eating primates, including T-lymphotropic virus (Wolfe
et al. 2005b), Ebola virus, and HIV (Wolfe et al. 2005a).
Loss of Biodiversity
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN
2006) has reported that 1 in 3 amphibian species, 1 in 8 bird
species, and 1 in 4 mammalian species globally are threatened
with extinction and that the rate of extinctions is increasing,
not slowing. The current situation represents a mass extinction
that is unparalleled in Earth’s history. Paleontologists
believe that this is the sixth mass extinction since the fi rst
was identifi ed as occurring 440 million years ago. It differs
from previous extinctions in its magnitude and velocity and
in the fact that it is primarily the result of human impacts rather
than from physical events unrelated to human activity. The current
rate of species extinctions is estimated to be 100 to 1,000
times greater than prehuman levels and could reach a rate that is
on average 10,000 times greater (Pimm et al. 2008, 18).
The importance of biodiversity for human health has been
well described (Chivian and Bernstein 2008). There are numerous
reasons—aesthetic, spiritual, philosophical, scientifi c,
Volume 51, Number 3 2010 283

and economic—why the loss of biodiversity should be of
concern to humanity in general and to veterinarians in particular.
Mass extinction at the current rate could lead to the
distortion or collapse of ecosystems with dramatic negative
consequences that are not yet fully understood but that will
no doubt directly affect the health and well-being of humans
and animals, both domestic and wild. As mentioned above,
some livestock production practices directly contribute to
the loss of biodiversity and veterinarians need to be involved
in mitigating these effects through improved livestock management,
education, policymaking, and research.
Impacts of Poverty and Prosperity on
<strong>Veterinary</strong> Care and Training
Poverty remains widespread around the world. Based on 2005
World Bank fi gures, up to 1.37 billion people live on less than
$1.25 per day and an additional 2.56 billion on less than $2
per day (World Bank 2008). A large proportion of the world’s
poor still live in rural areas. Many rural people, including the
landless and pastoralists in particular, depend on livestock
for their livelihoods. Because poor livestock owners often
have little or no access to preventive and curative veterinary
medical services (IFAD 2004), their animals suffer considerable
morbidity, mortality, and reduced productivity. These
livestock may also serve as a source of transmissible diseases
for livestock populations at large and for the spread of
zoonotic diseases such as tuberculosis and brucellosis (WHO
2006).
Regrettably, in many developing countries veterinary medical
professionals, for economic or other reasons, are not willing
or able to provide services to the poor, yet oppose efforts
to sanction paraprofessionals who could provide such services.
Following the lead of the OIE (Vallat 2004), the veterinary
medical profession needs to recognize those situations in
which paraprofessionals can and indeed must participate in
the delivery of effective veterinary medical services (such as
the control of rinderpest in the Horn of Africa, as discussed
above) and fi nd ways to benefi t from their participation rather
than viewing them as usurpers or competitors.
In developed countries, and increasingly in many developing
countries, a growing, prosperous middle class has embraced
the ownership of companion animals as a social norm
and has come to expect a high level of veterinary medical
service for dogs, cats, and other animals kept as pets. The veterinary
medical profession has responded enthusiastically, with
increasing numbers of graduates entering companion animal
practice and pursuing medical specializations in support of
individual animal care. The veterinary medical curriculum has
evolved accordingly, with less time available for subjects aimed
at food supply veterinary medicine and public health. One
example is the diminished time spent on teaching veterinary
students in the United States about foreign animal diseases
that potentially threaten the health of US livestock (Thurmond
et al. 2003). At the same time, the demographic of veterinary
medical school entrants has become increasingly urban and
suburban and less rural. These factors, along with shifting
market forces and changing patterns of livestock production,
are resulting in shortages of veterinary medical graduates
willing or able to engage in clinical food animal practice in
rural areas of the United States (Prince et al. 2006) and elsewhere,
as well as veterinarians ready to work in public health
and food supply veterinary medicine (Hird et al. 2002; Hoblet
et al. 2002). In response to this situation, many schools of
veterinary medicine are now developing innovative incentive
programs to recruit and train students committed to food animal
practice and/or public health (AAVMC 2008).
The Need for a One Health Approach
In the 1960s, scientist James Lovelock developed and articulated
the controversial Gaia hypothesis, which suggests that
the Earth’s biosphere, atmosphere, oceans, and soil act together
in a feedback system that seeks an optimal physical
and chemical environment for life on the planet (Lovelock
1995). In other words, he proposed that the living and nonliving
parts of the earth form a complex, interacting system that
functions as a single, living, self-regulating superorganism.
Viewing photographs of Earth taken from space, one can
at least emotionally, if not scientifi cally, accept the underlying
concept of the Gaia theory. Floating in the universe, surrounded
by its atmospheric cell wall, with its oceanic cytoplasm
and terrestrial organelles, the image of Earth as a
unifi ed organism seems real enough and it is easy to imagine
how serious insults to its functional integrity can disrupt planetary
life. This view underscores the interdependency of the
physical environment of earth and the living things that reside
on and in it. Scientists are now beginning to see and
understand how disruptions such as global warming, widespread
deforestation, and chemical pollution of marine environments
can adversely affect the health and well-being of
the earth’s fl ora and fauna, including humans and domestic
animals.
Gaia theory aside, numerous examples (some presented
in this article) make it increasingly clear that many new diseases
are emerging as a result of environmental perturbation
and increased contact between humans and domestic and
wild animals in disturbed environments. Full understanding
of the natural history of emerging diseases and effective
strategies for their control therefore require collaborative,
interdisciplinary efforts of human, animal, and environmental
health specialists. In other words, a proper response to
the current situation of emerging disease is the One Health
approach.
Veterinarians at the Wildlife Conservation Society (Cook
et al. 2004) articulated this concept quite perceptively in the
Manhattan Principles on One World, One Health:
It is clear that no one discipline or sector of society has
enough knowledge and resources to prevent the emergence
or resurgence of diseases in today’s globalized
world. No one nation can reverse the patterns of habitat
loss and extinction that can and do undermine the health
284 ILAR Journal

of people and animals. Only by breaking down the barriers
among agencies, individuals, specialties and sectors
can we unleash the innovation and expertise needed to
meet the many serious challenges to the health of people,
domestic animals, and wildlife and to the integrity of
ecosystems. Solving today’s threats and tomorrow’s
problems cannot be accomplished with yesterday’s approaches.
We are in an era of “One World, One Health”
and we must devise adaptive, forward-looking and multidisciplinary
solutions to the challenges that undoubtedly
lie ahead.
The Role of Veterinarians in One Health
In the context of the Manhattan Principles statement, a reasonable
case can be made that veterinarians are particularly
well prepared by virtue of their training and professional experience
to embrace and work effectively in the One Health
paradigm, and indeed to take a leadership role in moving it
forward from concept to practice.
Veterinarians are the only health professionals whose
formal training is based in comparative medicine, with indepth
studies of the health and diseases of multiple species
across a wide taxonomic range. Veterinarians are also trained
in population health as it pertains to livestock production and
they routinely incorporate environmental assessments in their
workups of animal health problems on farms and feedlots,
assessing such elements as water, feed, and air quality to arrive
at a proper diagnosis. While admittedly more challenging
in the execution, the same approach, already familiar to veterinarians,
applies to assessments of ecosystems as well as
farming systems.
Furthermore, veterinarians are already active in public
health, working closely with physicians, other health professionals,
and disaster response specialists on disease investigation,
disease surveillance, and effective outbreak response.
Veterinarians in the zoo and wildlife sectors are gaining
valuable experience in the evolution of disease in wild animal
species and populations and are developing productive,
interdisciplinary relationships with wildlife biologists, ecologists,
and other relevant specialists. Companion animal veterinarians
can also play an important role in detecting newly
emerging zoonotic diseases since companion animals, including
exotic pets, can serve as sentinels for such diseases.
The monkeypox outbreak in the United States in 2003, in which
staff at a veterinary medical clinic were affected by contact
with infected pet prairie dogs, is a case in point (Croft et al.
2007).
Support for One Health in Organized
<strong>Veterinary</strong> Medicine
For the reasons outlined above, the veterinary medical profession
is poised to become actively engaged in the One Health
approach to human, animal, and environmental well-being.
Recognizing the value and importance of such an approach,
the American <strong>Veterinary</strong> <strong>Medical</strong> Association in 2007 established
a One Health Initiative and created a One Health
Initiative Task Force to “study the feasibility of an initiative
that would facilitate collaboration and cooperation among
health science professions, academic institutions, governmental
agencies, and industries to help with the assessment, treatment,
and prevention of cross-species disease transmission
and mutually prevalent, but non-transmitted, human and animal
diseases and medical conditions” (AVMA 2008).
The task force concluded that the One Health approach
had become a critical, strategic need for addressing the emerging
disease problems associated with the globalization of contemporary
society, but that there were many barriers to its
implementation. Among these were the needs for key leadership
to embrace the concept; buy-in from human medical,
veterinary medical, industrial, and environmental partners; and
implementation of a program of change on a global basis.
Other perceived barriers includ ed the diffi culty of changing
the mindset of healthcare providers from one of “disease care”
to one of preventive medicine, the increased specialization
and fragmentation of the veterinary fi eld, and the diffi culty of
get ting busy practitioners on board. While recognizing barriers,
the task force also proposed concrete recommendations
and actions for moving a One Health agenda forward.
The full task force report is available online (www.avma.org/
onehealth/).
A further notable barrier, for veterinarians and veterinary
medical students, is the identifi cation of career pathways and
employment opportunities for working on One Health issues
in a global context. In addition to technical competence, other
important attributes are strong leadership abilities, teamwork,
foreign language profi ciency, improved communication skills,
cross-cultural experience, adaptability and fl exibility, and even
advanced training in other medical specialty areas such as
epidemiology, toxicology, or virology, or in nonmedical fi elds
such as agricultural economics or business administration. A
wide range of potential employers does exist, including government
agencies, academic institutions, private industry,
international or intergovernmental institutions, nongovernmental
organizations, and private consulting or contracting
fi rms. Information on preparation for international work in
veterinary medicine and potential employers is available
(Sherman 2002, 417-462).
A Different Supporting <strong>Perspective</strong>
According to the biblical story of Noah, God became frustrated
with the wickedness of humans and decided to obliterate
all life on Earth by causing 40 days of rain and global
fl ooding. But then God recognized Noah as a righteous man
and offered him the chance to survive the deluge by building
an ark and taking aboard his family and breeding pairs of all
the world’s animals, thus creating the opportunity to reestablish
life on Earth after the fl ood. Noah was given the responsibility
of stewardship of all the living things on Earth and he
performed his task admirably. There is no mention in the
story of Noah having lost any animals to coccidiosis, kennel
cough, shipping fever, or any of the other myriad diseases
Volume 51, Number 3 2010 285

one might expect to develop when thousands of animals are
crowded together in a small ship and subjected to over a
month of rain and dampness. Rather, all disembarked in good
health at Mount Ararat when the fl ood subsided. Noah, it
seems, was a pretty good veterinarian.
Today, humankind, through the awesome power of technology
and the ever expanding use of the Earth’s resources,
is capable of threatening the existence of life on Earth without
divine retribution. Indeed, global warming may produce
the contemporary equivalent of the biblical fl oods without
the 40 days of rain!
With the world facing such global challenges to health
and well-being, veterinarians must see themselves as the new
Noahs, embracing stewardship for all the world’s creatures
and working with other scientists and citizens across disciplines
to promote global health and well-being through the
One Health approach.
Conclusion
Through modern technology, the world has become a smaller
place and local events increasingly have global ramifi cations.
This is particularly true in the area of health and disease. The
current era of globalization is associated with an unexpected
increase in infectious diseases, many of which are zoonoses
that spread rapidly among human and animal populations
around the world through increased travel and trade. The origin
of many emerging zoonoses can be traced to increased
contact between human beings, wildlife, and domestic animals
as human populations and their livestock increasingly
penetrate areas inhabited by wild animals and transform
landscapes in ways that disrupt natural ecosystems.
Because emerging infectious diseases represent a complex
interaction of human, domestic, and wild animal populations
in conjunction with ecosystem perturbation, it is clear
that the effective understanding and prevention of disease
evolution require a multidisciplinary or One Health approach
involving veterinarians, physicians, wildlife biologists, ecologists,
and environmental scientists, among others. Veterinarians,
by virtue of their formal training in comparative medicine
and population medicine, are well positioned to embrace the
concept of One Health and take a leadership role in moving it
forward as a rational approach to addressing issues of health
and disease in today’s complex, global society.
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