zoonoses and communicable diseases common to ... - PAHO/WHO

PROLOGUEZoonoses and communicable diseases common to man and animals continue tohave high incidence rates and to cause significant morbidity and mortality.Infections and parasitoses of cattle can reduce meat or milk production and can leadto the death or destruction of the animals, all of which diminishes the supply ofavailable food for man. These diseases are also an obstacle for international trade,as well as a serious financial drain for cattle farmers and, more broadly, for a community’sor a country’s economy, which can have wide repercussions for a society’shealth.With the aim of helping to solve these problems, the Pan American HealthOrganization (PAHO)—an international public health organization that has devoteditself to improving the health and living conditions of the people of the Americas fornearly one hundred years—established the Veterinary Public Health Program. TheProgram’s overall objective is to collaborate with PAHO’s Member Countries in thedevelopment, implementation, and evaluation of policies and programs that lead tofood safety and protection and to the prevention, control, or eradication of zoonoses,among them foot-and-mouth disease.To this end, PAHO’s Veterinary Public Health Program has two specializedregional centers: the Pan American Foot-and-Mouth Disease Center (PANAFTOSA),created in 1951 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the Pan American Institute for FoodProtection and Zoonoses (INPPAZ), established on November 15, 1991 in BuenosAires, Argentina. INPPAZ’s precursor was the Pan American Zoonoses Center(CEPANZO), which was created through an agreement with the Government ofArgentina to help the countries of the Americas combat zoonoses, and which operatedfrom 1956 until 1990.Since its creation in 1902, PAHO has participated in various technical cooperationactivities with the countries, among them those related to the surveillance, prevention,and control of zoonoses and communicable diseases common to man andanimals, which cause high morbidity, disability, and mortality in vulnerable humanpopulations. PAHO has also collaborated in the strengthening of preventive medicineand public health through the promotion of veterinary health education in learning,research, and health care centers. An example of this work is the preparation ofseveral publications, among which the two previous Spanish and English editions ofZoonoses and Communicable Diseases Common to Man and Animals stand out.Scientific knowledge has progressed since the last edition. Also, the countries ofthe Americas have modified their livestock production strategies in recent years,which has affected the transmission of zoonotic infections and their distribution. Thepublication of this third edition is an attempt to address these changes. The third editionis presented in three volumes: the first contains bacterioses and mycoses; thesecond, chlamydioses, rickettsioses, and viroses; and the third, parasitoses.We believe that this new edition will continue to be useful for professors and studentsof public health, medicine, and veterinary medicine; workers in public healthand animal health institutions; and veterinarians, researchers, and others interestedin the subject. We also hope that this publication is a useful tool in the elaborationof national zoonosis control or eradication policies and programs, as well as in riskvii