Building the road to a regional zoonoses strategy: A survey of zoonoses programmes in the Americas

Abstract

BackgroundIn recent years, global public health security has been threatened by zoonotic disease emergence as exemplified by outbreaks of H5N1 and H1N1 influenza, SARS, and most recently Ebola and Zika. Additionally, endemic zoonoses, such as rabies, burden countries year after year, placing demands on limited finances and personnel. To survey the baseline status of the emerging and endemic zoonoses programmes of the Latin American and the Caribbean (LAC) countries, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) conducted a survey of priority emerging and endemic zoonoses, countries´ prioritization criteria and methodologies, and suggestions to strengthen countries capacities and regional approaches to zoonoses control.MethodsA fillable online questionnaire was sent to the zoonoses programme managers of the Ministries of Health (MOH) and Ministries of Agriculture (MAg) of 33 LAC countries from January to April of 2015. The questionnaire comprised 36 single, multiple choice and open-ended questions to inform the objectives of the survey. A descriptive exploratory analysis was completed.ResultsFifty-four ministries (26 MOH, 25 MAg, and 3 combined responses) in 31 LAC countries responded to the survey. Within the ministries, 22 (85%) MOH, 5 (20%) MAg, and 2 (67%) combined entities indicated they had specialized zoonoses units. For endemic zoonoses, 32 of 54 ministries responded that they conduct formal prioritization exercises, most of them annually (69%). The three priority endemic zoonoses for the MOHs were leptospirosis, rabies, and brucellosis while the three priorities for the MAgs were brucellosis, rabies, and tuberculosis. Diagnosis for rabies and leptospirosis were cited as the capacities most in need of development. The most needed cross-cutting capacity was coordination between stakeholders. For emerging zoonoses, 28 ministries performed formal prioritization exercises. The top prioritization criteria were probability of introduction into the country and impact. The three priority emerging zoonoses for the MOHs were Ebola viral disease, avian influenza, and Chikungunya while for the MAgs were avian influenza, bovine spongiform encephalopathy and West Nile virus disease. Surveillance for avian influenza and Ebola, and diagnosis for BSE were quoted as the capacities most needed. For all zoonoses, the majority of respondents (69%) ranked their relationship with the other Ministry as productive or very productive, and 31% minimally productive. Many countries requested a formal regional network, better regional communication and collaboration, and integrated surveillance.ConclusionsThe survey is the first comprehensive effort to date to inform the status of zoonoses programmes in LAC. The information collected here will be used to develop a regional strategy for zoonoses (both endemic and emerging), increase efforts, advocacy, and promote prompt identification and management of EIDs and improvement of endemic programmes.

The Bibliometric Landscape of Infectious Disease Research in Panama (1990 - 2019): An Evaluation of the Country’s Capability on One Health

“…3). In fact, 60% of the infectious diseases classi ed as priorities for LAC, have not been studied in Panama whatsoever [15,16]. Generally, these outcomes mirror the low publication record seeing in this study by MINSA, MIDA and the Agriculture Research Institute (IDIAP), which are the governmental agencies in charge of investigating these topics, or they may just be due to the recent emergence time of some of these pathogens.…”

“…Malaria, Chagas disease, and leishmaniasis have been equally and greatly investigated in the country, re ecting the persistence of these neglected tropical diseases in poor rural settings and isolated indigenous communities [6, 32-37, 44, 54, 55], but also SENACYT's steady motivation to sponsor research projects about vector-borne infectious diseases [56]. The Ministries of Health and Agriculture from LAC have recognized some of these zoonoses as endemic or emerging priorities, including Chagas disease and leishmaniasis [15]. However, other zoonoses with spillover potential have received relatively less attention by the Panamanian scienti c community thus far [16].…”

“…Our ndings underline the limited inter-sectoral research between academia and MINSA/MIDA in Panama during the last three decades. Future efforts will have to align the needs among local academic and governmental institutions, and between them and those from the Ministries of Health and Agriculture in LAC [15,57,58].…”

“…In the case of the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID- 19), the new human illness caused by SARS-CoV-2, the overwhelming epidemiological scenario is characterized by collapsed public health systems that could no longer cope with the abrupt escalation of human morbidity and mortality [11,12]. Surprisingly, even though emerging infectious diseases are likely to continue rising in the future [13,14], research about local zoonotic agents (i.e., animal origin) that can become pandemic is rare in most countries, meaning that nobody is preparing to contain or confront future threats [15]. This is a major concern for countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), with fragile health systems and poor medical infrastructure, which depend on regional research efforts to predict disease transmission and spread within their unique context [16,17].…”

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“…[3,4] As a lethal anthropozoonotic infection, rabies causes significant economic damage, resulting from the costs of specific prevention among wild and farm animals [5] and diagnostic tests. Therefore, to increase the effectiveness of antiepizootic measures, it is necessary not only to conduct extensive monitoring studies [6] but also to improve methods for diagnosing rabies, [7,8] in particular, ELISA-based test systems using highly purified specific components -antigens and globulins. However, the existing test systems are characterized by insufficient sensitivity and specificity, which are determined by the degree of purification of their components.…”