One Health

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues across the globe, leaving governments and public health services in shock and disarray, calls have been made for the need to adopt One Health approaches to address the failure to predict and halt the emergence of COVID-19.

The novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 is widely suggested to have originated in Asia from a bat reservoir, possibly also involving other animal bridge species. As such, the focus of One Health on the human–animal–environment interface appears particularly compelling.

We concur, however, we warn that conceptual and institutional ambiguities that preclude the practical implementation and evaluation of One Health remain to be resolved.

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'Punch in the Gut' as Scientists Find Micro Plastic in Arctic Ice

Wed, 2019-08-14 23:20 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Microplastic found in ice core samples taken from the Northwest Passage is shown on a screen as part of an 18-day icebreaker expedition taking place in July and August 2019 in the Northwest Passage, in a still image taken from a handout video obtained by REUTERS on August 14, 2019. Northwest Passage Project/Camera: Duncan Clark via REUTERS

reuters.com - by Matthew Green - August 14, 2019

Tiny pieces of plastic have been found in ice cores drilled in the Arctic by a U.S.-led team of scientists, underscoring the threat the growing form of pollution poses to marine life in even the remotest waters on the planet . . .

. . . The team plans to subject the samples to further analysis to support a broader research effort to understand the damage plastic is doing to fish, seabirds and large ocean mammals such as whales . . .

. . . much of the large amounts of microplastic found in the Arctic in previous studies had probably been carried there through the atmosphere.

“Once we’ve determined that large quantities of microplastic can also be transported by the air, it naturally raises the question as to whether and how much plastic we’re inhaling,” Bergmann said in a statement.

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Earth’s Largest Freshwater Creatures at Risk of Extinction

Fri, 2019-08-09 19:43 — Kathy Gilbeaux

A manatee swims in blue-green algae, which has invaded Florida's waterways and put freshwater species at risk. PHOTOGRAPH BY PAUL NICKLEN, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION

CLICK HERE - STUDY - The global decline of freshwater megafauna

nationalgeographic.com - by Stefan Lovgren - August 8, 2019

SOME HAVE SURVIVED for hundreds of millions of years, but many of the world’s freshwater megafauna—including sumo-sized stingrays, colossal catfish, giant turtles, and gargantuan salamanders—may soon find themselves on the brink of extinction, according to a new study published.

For the first time, researchers have quantified the global decline of freshwater megafauna—including fish, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals—and the results paint a grim picture. In four decades since 1970, the global populations of these freshwater giants have declined by almost 90 percent—twice as much as the loss of vertebrate populations on land or in the oceans.

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The Rapid Decline Of The Natural World Is A Crisis Even Bigger Than Climate Change

Mon, 2019-03-18 10:13 — Kathy Gilbeaux

A three-year UN-backed study from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform On Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services has grim implications for the future of humanity.

CLICK HERE - IPBES - IPBES Global Assessment Preview

huffpost.com - by John Vidal - March 15, 2019

Nature is in freefall and the planet’s support systems are so stretched that we face widespread species extinctions and mass human migration unless urgent action is taken. That’s the warning hundreds of scientists are preparing to give, and it’s stark . . .

. . . The study from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform On Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), expected to run to over 8,000 pages, is being compiled by more than 500 experts in 50 countries. It is the greatest attempt yet to assess the state of life on Earth and will show how tens of thousands of species are at high risk of extinction, how countries are using nature at a rate that far exceeds its ability to renew itself, and how nature’s ability to contribute food and fresh water to a growing human population is being compromised in every region on earth.

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The Flu is Coming. Are We Ready for the Next Pandemic?

Sun, 2018-12-30 16:44 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Infectious disease experts have had plenty to worry about in recent decades, including HIV/AIDS, Ebola, and Zika. But one disease scares them above all others—influenza. That’s right, the flu.

news.emory.edu - by Martha McKenzie - December 2018

Even though many people dismiss and misunderstand it—calling everything from a cold to a stomach bug “the flu”— influenza actually claims 12,000 to 56,000 lives in the U.S. every year. And that’s in a normal flu season.

Every so often, a flu pandemic emerges. That’s when a new strain appears that is so different from what has circulated before that people have no immunity to it. A hundred years ago, the 1918 H1N1 pandemic swept the globe infecting about a third of the world’s population and killing 50 million to 100 million people. Since then, there have been three more pandemics, in 1957, 1968, and 2009.

The next pandemic, say experts, is a question of when, not if. Are we ready?

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