In the January issue of the Microbe, J. Michael Miller and Patricia M. Griffin wrote an article on the need for collaboration of many scientific disciplines to give us all a better understanding of infectious diseases.  “One Health throught the Eyes of Clinical and Public Health Microbiology,” is about the benefits of bringing together different people with varying specialties, scientific backgrounds, and skills to find ways to combat infectious disease, both human and veterinary. The concept, One Health, was summarized below by the authors, it offers a variety of different collaborations and investigations into understanding and preventing infectious diseases.

Summary
● The One Health concept integrates human, animal, and environmental health to provide valuable insights when dealing with infectious agents.
● Investigating emerging pathogens benefits when the skills and knowledge of those specializing in human and animal infectious diseases are brought together, thus increasing the likelihood of identifying ways to prevent such illnesses.
● The One Health concept is illustrated well by approaches to dealing with foodborne diseases because many agents have zoonotic sources.
● Recognizing that fluoroquinolone use in poultry led to fluoroquinolone-resistant Campylobacter infections in humans, officials at the FDA in 2005 withdrew approval for the use of these antimicrobial agents in the drinking water of poultry.
● Several case studies trace how investigations of bacterial isolates from patient specimens, when sent from clinical laboratories to public health laboratories for serotyping and subtyping, can provide critical insights for those analyzing public health problems. Read More…