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Researchers confirm link between schistosomiasis and HIV acquisition
A comprehensive review of secondary data sources has confirmed a long-suspected link between female genital schistosomiasis (FGS) and HIV infection for women in southern Africa. Researchers confirmed the link in Mozambique, finding that exposure to schistosomiasis, combined with HIV prevalence, increases the odds of HIV infection by three times. Researchers also conclude that treating young girls for schistosomiasis could avert millions of new cases of HIV infection at far less cost than treating HIV infection once it has occurred.
Researchers in Nepal confirm first case of TB in a rhino
Researchers at a wildlife conservation preserve in Nepal’s Chitwan National Park, have announced the first confirmed case of tuberculosis (TB) in a young female Asian One-horned rhino. This discovery is the first infectious disease discovered in the rhino population and a crucial step in the fight for rhino conservation.
The discovery has been published in a paper in Emerging Infectious Disease and is the result of research that began in 2012. The research called on experts and organizations that included the Veterinary Initiative for Endangered Wildlife (VIEW), the National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC).
Anthropological musings on animal-human interactions and zoonotic disease
Anthropologically, bats are anomalous and liminal animals. They are not easy to categorise: they look like mice but fly like birds; they are social but occupy the night. I had one of the best times in my anthropological career when I was invited to spend a night catching and tagging bats in Ghana.
Working with an interdisciplinary team, I came to learn much more of the many diseases harboured by bats (perhaps I will never again have the opportunity to go bat catching and to handle bats with the same naked enthusiasm). In the social science research on bats and zoonotic diseases (as I did actually have to do some anthropology and wasn’t able to convert to a full-time bat catcher), we focused on bat-human interactions and the policy implications thereof.
One Health strives to unite human, animal medical care
This past December, a team of professionals from different scientific fields, led by coauthors from NC State, won a competition to have their new case study published in the Association of American Veterinary Medical College journal last Friday.
The competition, as a part of the AAVMC One Health initiative, brings attention to connections between the health of humans, animals, and the environment.
“The One Health initiative is a program that understands the connections between animal, human and environmental health. So it seeks to promote collaborations between those disciplines,” said Erika Rost, a co-lead author of the case study.
The Philippines Rabies vaccination campaign: a One Health success story
Rabies still causes the death of tens of thousands of people every year. Knowing that dog bites are responsible for more than 95% of all human rabies cases, the eradication of canine rabies is the only way to end the disease’s animal-human transmission cycle. It is estimated that vaccinating 70% of dogs in zones where rabies is present can dramatically reduce human cases.
One Health Case Studies Now Online
The concept of One Health is taught at institutions such as Midwestern University, which operates a veterinary college in Glendale, Ariz. Tom Boggan/Midwestern University
he Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges has teamed up with another organization to publish 15 case studies on One Health topics.
The material, produced by researchers and available here, may be used by instructors in fields such as veterinary medicine, human medicine and public health.
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