COVID-19 and One Health - One Health Commission

COVID-19 and One Health

Be sure to click previous years to fully appreciate the volume (over 270 found so far) of articles.  

 

While One Health has over the past 15 years established itself in the life sciences, veterinary medicine and biomedical sciences, it remains little known to the public.

Therefore, since January 2020 we have been compiling on this webpage popular media OpEds, Commentaries, Podcasts and other media (including some *scientific articles*) about the coronavirus pandemic that mention and/or call for One Health by name or theory 'because' popular media is read by the 'public'.  We believe that these carefully selected articles can help the public, especially law and policy makers, understand our urgent need to implement One Health.

If you know of additional articles that should be listed here, please send them to ohc@onehealthcommission.org.  Check back frequently.

To see peer reviewed scientific articles about the current pandemic visit:

See also:

Note: Links to external sources do not imply endorsement of content by the One Health Commission.

2020   2021   2022  
Select Year: 

December 2022

Dec 29
December 29
One Health Investigation of SARS-CoV-2 in People and Animals on Multiple Mink Farms in Utah

On farms sampled at multiple time points, mink tested rRT-PCR positive up to 16 weeks post-onset of increased mortality. Workers likely introduced SARS-CoV-2 to mink, and mink transmitted SARS-CoV-2 to other animal species; mink-to-human transmission was not identified. Our findings provide critical evidence to support interventions to prevent and manage SARS-CoV-2 in people and animals on mink farms and emphasizes the importance of a One Health approach to address emerging zoonoses.

 

October 2022

Oct 24
October 24
After 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic, translating One Health into action is urgent

Authors: Lefrancois T, Malvy D, Atlani-Duault L, Benamouzig D, Druais P, Yazdanpanah Y

In: The Lancet, October 24, 2022, doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(22)01840-2

Oct 8
October 8
The Lancet Commission on lessons for the future from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sachs JD, Karim SSA, Aknin L, et.al., Lancet. 2022 Oct 8;400(10359):1224-1280. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(22)01585-9. Epub 2022 Sep 14.

Oct 8
October 8
The Lancet Commission on lessons for the future from the COVID-19 pandemic

Page 1265    "It is certain that future pandemics will arise from interactions between humans and animals, and that research on viruses will continue with the potential for accidents. It is therefore imperative that society enacts measures to reduce the possibility of both natural spillovers and spillovers from research-related activities, and acts rapidly if these scenarios do occur. Countries must adopt rigorous surveillance over the trade of domestic and wild animals and over research. Calls for One Health approaches to address the risks of the emergence and transmission of zoonotic diseases are common among reports on pandemic prevention and preparedness,489,490,492,494 and many reports have called for greater global surveillance and monitoring of disease risks,….."

 

August 2022

Aug 18
August 18
What is the One Health approach - and how can it help pre-empt future pandemics?

Author: Arindam Basu    In: The World Economic Forum with  ‘The Conversation’

  • The World Health Organization has declared two public health emergencies of international concern within three years - and is urging countries to adopt the One Health approach.
  • The One Health approach integrates predictive modelling and surveillance used in disease control and climate change to fight infectious diseases.
  • Experts are warning that new pathogens, particularly those that jump between animals and humans, will become more frequent as habitats change in a warming world.
 

June 2022

Jun 18
June 18
Why One Health is Key To Address Future Pandemics

Authors: Craig Carter, Thomas Monath, Rohini Roopnarine    IN: IMPAKTER 

As future pandemics are likely to emerge from the coronavirus family of viruses and other zoonotic pathogens, an integrated approach to develop vaccines for zoonotic diseases is essential for success

Jun 10
June 10
Human-cat-human transmission of SARS-CoV-2 documented

Popular Media Author: Emily Anthes    In: The New York Times

People are far more likely to give the virus to cats than cats are to pass it to humans, experts stress.

See the Scientific Article by Sila et. al. that this OpEd is reporting on.

 

May 2022

May 20
May 20
Tracking coronavirus in animals takes on new urgency Inside the global hunt to identify mutations that might lead to more lethal variants.

Author: Ariana Eunjung Cha      In: Washington Post

“We really have to highlight the concept of one health. It’s not only about human health. We have to consider health in animals and the environment. And if you don’t look after these areas, we are the one that suffer at the end.” ..............  "Right now, such efforts are being conducted mostly piecemeal, often added to non-covid work that is already funded. She and other scientists say a more coordinated global surveillance approach that will target a range of species during different seasons and in different geographic areas is needed to stop a potential new generation of variants."

May 18
May 18
Why preparation for the next pandemic needs One Health approach implementation in letter and spirit

Author: Dr Sindura Ganapathi    In:  FirstPost.com

May 14
May 14
COVID-19 and zoonoses in Brazil: Environmental scan of one health preparedness and response

Authors: Wakimoto MD, Menezes RC, Pereira SA, Nery T, Castro-Alves J, Penetra SLS, Ruckert A, Labonté R, Veloso VG, COVID    In:  Journal One Health

May 12
May 12
Want to prevent pandemics? Stop spillovers

Authors: Vora NM, Hanna L, Lieberman S , Vale MM, Plowright RK, Bernstein AS     In: Nature

Decision-makers discussing landmark agreements on health and biodiversity must include four actions to reduce the risk of animals and people exchanging viruses.

May 1
May 1
Global Warming Puts Us on the Verge of Virus Spillover

Author: Alba MacGillivray     In: IMPAKTER

New research finds that climate change accelerates the spread of viruses among species causing increasingly frequent disease outbreaks. Moving forward: What is needed to prevent rising zoonotic infections – the One Health approach.

May 1
May 1
Global Warming Puts Us on the Verge of Virus Spillover

Author: Alba MacGillivray     In: IMPAKTER

New research finds that climate change accelerates the spread of viruses among species causing increasingly frequent disease outbreaks

 

April 2022

Apr 21
April 21
Wilson Smart Take: How Mitigating Climate Change Will Help Us Avoid the Next Pandemic

Video recording for Earth Day 2022  Speaker, Alex Long    On:  Wilson Center Smart Takes

Apr 13
April 13
Links between climate change and animal diseases that spread to humans.

Authors: R. Rupasinghe, B.M. López, T. Wibawa      In: COSMOS

The World Health Organization recently launched a roadmap to address the urgent issue of the threat of animal-to-human diseases known as zoonosis, particularly neglected tropical diseases, as humans increasingly encroach on environments previously only inhabited by animals.

 

March 2022

Mar 20
March 20
After battling Covid-19: How future virus research in humans as well as in anima .. Read more at: https://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/after-battling-covid-19-how-future-virus-re

Editorial in Economic Times Healthworld

Top virologists in India inform virus research in India needs to improve. A concept called One Health has gained momentum after the outbreak of the pandemic, even as scientists across the globe are struggling to pre-empt incidents of infectious agents jumping species.

Mar 4
March 4
The Next Virus “Hotspot”, the Arctic: Why a One Health Response is Needed

Author: Richard Seifman   In:  IMPAKTER

“We need collective recognition of these public health dangers, and all Arctic Circle states should address them with greater urgency and specific mitigation and adaptation plans. And to be effective, they require a coordinated and collaborative multidisciplinary preventative approach that involves the widest range of epidemiologists, virologists, human and animal health specialists, social scientists, and other specialists. ……In sum, a One Health approach must be part of the solution. Once adopted, it will move us from good intentions to concrete action.”

 

February 2022

Feb 18
February 18
Invest in primary healthcare and public health for the pandemic and beyond

Authors: Lopes H, McCallum A,Martin-Moreno JM, Middleton J  In:  the bmj

"Governments and health administrations need to invest more in primary healthcare. This has become increasingly apparent as the covid-19 pandemic has progressed and changed with the current omicron wave, but it is also an investment for a post-pandemic future.................... [W]e must build approaches that are more sustainable, less wasteful, and which give due attention to the protection of local and global ecosystems and the environment, in accordance with the “One Health” philosophy."

Feb 17
February 17
Deer, mink and hyenas have caught COVID-19 – animal virologists explain how to find the coronavirus in animals and why humans need to worry

Authors: Vandewoude Sue, Bosco-Lauth Angela, Mayo Christie   In: The Conversation

How are so many animals catching the coronavirus? And what does this mean for human and animal health?....The list of infected animals so far includes more than a dozen species. But in reality, infections may be much more widespread, as very few species and individual animals have been tested. This has real implications for human health. Animals can not only spread pathogens like the coronavirus, but also can be a source of new mutations.

Feb 17
February 17
Looking Beyond COVID: New Vaccines Needed to Prevent Other Outbreaks

Author: Richard Seifman     In: IMPAKTER

Prevention is major lesson from current pandemic and the Nipah virus vaccine now under development shows the way forward.

"While the world and much of the medical and scientific community focus on dealing with COVID using effective vaccines and medications, other virus killers lurk in hiding which can become epidemics or pandemics, many emerging from the interface of the human/animal/ecosystem, One Health."

Feb 13
February 13
How to Save our Common Future: The Global One Health One Welfare Approach

Author: Ulrich Laaser   In:  Impakter

Global One Health and Welfare is the only way to save our future: Public and non-public voices must speak out and make the interface between the environment, human, animal, and plant health a priority.

Feb 7
February 7
Considerations on the sidelines of the second principle of the Rome Declaration: The challenge of the One Health concept on the health of the future

The COVID-19 pandemic represented a global earthquake that made the review of health policies aimed at strengthening common governance necessary. The paper analyses the reasons for which the One Health approach has become fundamental in the control of pandemic phenomena, by arguing the necessity to place it at the basis not only of health policies but also of intersectoral policies. The documents of the world organizations published before and after the pandemic were analyzed and studied in order to unpack the close relationship between new lifestyles and the increase of health risks. It emerged that the One Health approach is a paradigm that has been advanced for more than 30 years, but due to the inadequacy of local and world health policies, this approach was never translated into concrete actions to protect health, feeding problems at the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic. Having ascertained that the adoption of a One Health approach can no longer be postponed, this must be insisted on several interconnected sectors that establish the new concept of healthcare which, in addition to being interdisciplinary, necessarily takes on a global perspective.

Feb 4
February 4
Failure to prevent pandemics at source is ‘greatest folly’, say scientists

Author: Damien Carrington   In: The Guardian

 

Feb 4
February 4
The costs and benefits of primary prevention of zoonotic pandemics

Bernstein et. al., Science Advances4 Feb 2022Vol 8, Issue 5 • DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abl4183

"The need for more veterinarians - 

Veterinarians have had a principal role as sentinels for disease emergence. They have been the principal proponents of the One Health concept that integrates human and animal welfare broadly and infectious diseases in particular (42). A country with few veteri-narians, many reservoir species, and many people who consume or trade wildlife will be at greater risk for zoonoses. Figure 4 shows the ratio of veterinarians to nonveterinarians against the geographical size of a nation."

Feb 1
February 1
Why the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in Canadian wildlife matters

Authors: Samira Mubareka, Claire Jardine  Joe Copper Jack     In: The Globe and Mail

" One Health recognizes that human health is connected to the health of other animals and the environment and stresses the need for a collaborative approach. This requires that multiple disciplines and stakeholders work together to investigate challenges like SARS-CoV-2- from the molecular level to the level of populations. "

 

January 2022

Jan 31
January 31
The One Health Framework

Author: Olivia Box

A policy framework proposal seeks to elevate the needs and rights of all living organisms in the environment. Piece on Journal Article: "One Health, COVID-19, and a Right to Health for Human and Nonhuman Animals".

Jan 31
January 31
How to beat viruses and other biothreats

Author: Major General Partap Narwal (Retd)

Last September, health ministers from G20 nations, including India, met in Rome to discuss pandemic threats from nature. Biological Weapons Convention experts, meanwhile, gathered in Geneva, deliberating on rising threats from terrorists misusing microbes.

 
© 2024 One Health Commission. All rights reserved.