Commitment and awareness on the One Health concept with Joaquim Segalés
Translation of article from PorciNews, September 27:
With Joaquim Segalés, we review the importance of commitment and awareness of the One Health concept in the context of pig production.
The One Health concept is already part of our daily vocabulary, being a fundamental pillar for guaranteeing human, animal and environmental health. What are the implications of adopting a One Health approach to pig production?
We discovered it with Joaquim Segalés, veterinary professor at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and researcher at the Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (IRTA-CReSA).
The One Health concept in the context of pig production
First of all, let's look at the importance of the One Health concept in pig farming and the fundamental role of the veterinarian as guarantor of animal and human health, particularly in controlling the spread of zoonotic diseases (which can be transmitted between animals and humans).
Joaquim Segalés points out that adopting a multidisciplinary approach is more important than ever to guarantee public health, with the areas of work on zoonosis control, food safety and antimicrobial resistance being particularly relevant, and that in each of them the veterinarian plays a central role.
The importance of zoonoses research
As part of the One Health concept, research into and monitoring of zoonoses is essential. For this reason, at the IRTA-CReSA, Joaquim Segalés and his team of researchers are studying numerous zoonotic diseases such as hepatitis E (pigs), tuberculosis (ruminants), campylobacteriosis (birds), salmonellosis (various species) and the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (birds). In addition, Joaquim Segalés explains that thanks to the entomology department, they study a multitude of insects that transmit pathogens that infect humans.
Thanks to the availability of biosafety level 3 (BSL3) facilities, they are also carrying out essential work on research into SARS-CoV-2, the zoonotic virus that caused the COVID pandemic.
Commitment and awareness on the One Health concept
The importance of the One Health concept is very present in the minds of veterinary professionals who do daily work controlling diseases, many of which have zoonotic potential. However, Joaquim Segalés points out that it is the joint effort of the entire scientific community, farmers, political decision-makers and society in general that will enable us to successfully meet the health challenges of the future.
What did we learn from the SARS-CoV-2 study?
Previous work on MERS-CoV played a decisive role in the study of SARS-CoV-2. In fact, it enabled Júlia Vergara Alert and Joaquim Segalés to join the WHO's COVID19 animal model working group, which meets every Thursday to keep abreast of the latest research on SARS-CoV-2 from around the world.
Pandemics: past, present and future
Looking back, Joaquim Segalés reminds us that humanity has faced many pandemics throughout its history, and that today we have more resources than ever to prevent and combat them, even if globalisation has also led to an increase in their spread.
This is why research, anticipation and disease prevention, taking into account the influence of anthropogenic factors (climate change, deforestation, human colonisation of the wild world, animal trafficking, etc.) must be at the heart of our economic and political efforts to preserve our health and that of our animals.
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