There is only ‘one health’ — the health of all living organisms in a global ecosystem that, when rapidly altered and imbalanced, puts us all at risk for future pandemics.
(Canva)
One Health recognizes the interrelations between the health of humans, other animals, and their shared environments. It should be integrated in the international treaty on pandemics.
Scientists get up close and personal with deadly pathogens to give doctors the tools they need to treat people sickened by germs. The key is keeping the researchers – and everyone around them – safe.
The prevention of future pandemics requires examining viral family trees.
Stockcrafter/iStock via Getty Images Plus
A more coordinated effort by scientists, stakeholders and community members will be required to stop the next deadly virus that’s already circulating in our midst.
Eating less animal proteins may help reduce the risk of future zoonotic viruses.
(AP Photo/Seth Perlman)
Pandemic viruses arise from raising, harvesting and eating animals. Policy strategy for averting the next pandemic should include supporting those already seeking to make plant-based dietary changes.
Much has been said of the politics surrounding the mission to investigate the viral origins of COVID-19. So it’s easy to forget that behind these investigations are real people.
Albanian health department workers, wearing protective suits, collect chickens, in the village of Peze Helmes some 20 km from the capital Tirana, 23 March 2006, after the second case of H5N1 bird flu was discovered in Albania.
Gent Shkullaku / AFP
Ever since the 2001 SARS outbreak and H5N1 avian flu in 2003, we’ve developed tools to monitor diseases that transmitted from animals to humans. But what does a large-scale roll-out entail?
Behind the scenes, natural history museums store biological samples from the field.
Ryan Stephens
Specimen preservation means researchers don’t need to reinvent the wheel each time they ask a new question, making it critical for the advancement of science. But many specimens are discarded or lost.
Liz Minchin, The Conversation and Molly Glassey, The Conversation
Watch two of Australia and New Zealand’s top vaccine and virus experts answering questions about COVID-19. This was filmed at a Conversation reader event with Avid Reader bookshop.
A newly-hunted wild boar is taken back to a village in Borneo.
Paul Hasan Thung
Zoologists have known for decades that some of the most devastating viral infections originate from animals. Their data and research can be used in efforts to prevent pandemics.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, some critics say livestock farms promote diseases that spread from animals to humans. An animal scientist explains how well-run farms work to keep that from happening.
Wildlife markets, where live animals are sold and slaughtered, are an integral part of the global wildlife trade.
GettyImages
Ecological systems are at breaking point and a global economic collapse is under way. It’s time to invest in risk mitigation to prevent another COVID-type disaster.
When a new virus emerges and triggers a pandemic, it is important to trace its origins. Knowing more about how the virus jumped species in the first place can help curb future zoonotic diseases.
A Western lowland gorilla in a zoo enclosure in Prague, Czech Republic.
Benislav/Shutterstock
People can still learn a great deal about these mammals while keeping a safe distance.
Government officers seize civets in a wildlife market in Guangzhou, China to prevent the spread of SARS in 2004.
Dustin Shum/South China Morning Post via Getty Images
Wild animals and animal parts are bought and sold worldwide, often illegally. This multibillion-dollar industry is pushing species to extinction, fueling crime and spreading disease.