Tropical zoonoses, veterinary zoonoses, and evolutionary patterns of disease.
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A descriptive epidemiologic study was conducted to quantitate the occurrence of zoonoses in pet animals (almost exclusively dogs and cats) at 30 Air Force bases in nine regions of the United States during 1980 and 1981. Reviews of reported cases of pet-associated zoonoses in humans at these bases were included. Occurrence of a zoonotic disease in dogs and cats was expressed as a ratio of reported cases per 100 rabies vaccinations (cs/Crv). Overall, the four zoonoses reported most frequently from these pets were hookworms, roundworms, tapeworms, and fleas. Annual ratios revealed geographic variations: for example, hookworms in dogs and cats in the southeast ranged from 12.3 to 9.4 cs/Crv; in the northern Great Plains, hookworms ranged from 0.9 to 0.4 cs/Crv. Dermatomycoses in the southeast ranged from 1.3 to 1.1 cs/Crv, and in Alaska from 0.3 to 0.2 cs/Crv. Quarterly zoonoses occurrence revealed seasonal variations in several regions. Reports of zoonoses in people from these bases indicated that five less frequent zoonoses in dogs and cats (Microsporum canis dermatomycosis, fleas, Sarcoptes scabiei var canis, Gram-positive bacterial infections, and rabies) presented greater acute threats to humans than did the four most frequent zoonoses reported from their pets.
The existence of diseases common to humans and animals has been known since the beginning of history. The disease transmission from animals to people was first observed on rabies ("the mother of all zoonoses") and later on in occupational diseases (anthrax, glanders, "mange"); in time, also certain food-borne infections were included in this category. The microbiological era has first brought along the concept of infection, then that of zoonoses, which has extended and now numbers some 200 infections. The World Health Organization has been interested in zoonoses since its foundation. Zoonoses represent an important issue for public health, fundamental in veterinary public health, whose functions are here listed. This discipline is concerned with all health problems associated with direct and indirect relationships between humans and animals, including also non-communicable ones. It has been proposed, therefore, to extend the term zoonoses as follows: "Any detriment to the health and/or quality of human life deriving from direct or indirect relationships with (other) vertebrate, or edible or toxic invertebrate animals". Contributors (e.g. Blancou) suggest to remove "edible or toxic "from the definition. Examples of zoonoses are provided according to the extended concept.
The following items are discussed: 1) Zoonoses with an urban cycle: a) Salmonellosis; b) Dermatophytozoonoses; c) Toxoplasmosis; d) Larva migrans visceralis; 3) Flea and tick infections; f) Zoonoses of cities located on lakes, rivers and the sea. 2) Animalization of the urban environment. 3) Zoonoses which may be transferred from the rural to the urban environment: a) Rural zoonoses transmitted to urban animals; b) Rural zoonoses transmitted to man in cities. 4) Zoonoses which may be transmitted from the urban to the rural environment.
Because animals are essential in the life cycles of zoonoses, veterinary public health is necessary in the control of such diseases. A review of different operational phases of zoonoses control is presented, including surveillance, control in animals, control of vectors and vehicles, prevention in man and strategy selection. A practical scheme for zoonoses control is proposed along with its different constituents: legislation and administration, knowledge of the territory, knowledge of zoonoses, identification of diagnostic facilities, programme formulation, implementation and evaluation. The motivations for zoonoses control programmes and for their commencement and/or extension are discussed, with reference to their role as indicators of the social and economic status of a country.
The eradication of bovine tuberculosis and brucellosis of domestic stock in Germany through the combined efforts of veterinary medicine, the agricultural section and the state was an historic achievement. Since the two diseases are zoonoses, their successful control can also be seen as a valuable contribution to public health. Both these zoonoses are classic animal diseases presenting themselves as clinical entities complete with gross pathological lesions. In contrast, today we are confronted with pathogens causing zoonoses characterised by latent, i.e. clinically inapparent herd infections that do not result in visible tissue changes. Nevertheless, through contaminated foodstuffs, these pathogens contribute to food-borne infections leading to the outbreak of genuine zoonoses in humans. It has been estimated that there could be as many as two million cases of food-borne infections annually in Germany. Among them are salmonellosis, campylobacteriosis, yersiniosis, infections with verotoxin producing E. coli, listeriosis and toxoplasmosis. While the national animal disease legislation only foresees the control of notifiable diseases, the basis for zoonoses control is laid down in the EU Zoonosis-Directive, which is presently awaiting its transposition into national law and into practice. In order, for instance, to combat the most important Salmonella infections of humans, Integrated Quality Systems (IQS) have been formulated as a means of implementing the proven HACCP concept in animal production units and ensuring animal health from the point of view of consumer protection. The aim of all measures must be to free infected herds of pathogens, to investigate and eliminate all sources with a potential for further pathogen introductions, to maintain pathogen-free herds--with a reduced pathogen challenge in mid-term time periods--, as well as to develop diagnostics capable of identifying pathogen carriers before slaughter. For the disinfection of stock, it is important to have epidemiological data collecting systems and information systems that allow complete diagnostic tracing from herd to slaughterhouse and vice versa. All sides, including research and surveillance, as well as producers are called upon to actively share in protecting the health of consumers as far as it is threatened by latent infections in domestic stock.
The present situation of parasitic zoonoses in Japan is reviewed. A total of 51 species, i.e., 6 species of protozoan parasites, 14 species of trematode parasites, 11 species of cestode parasites, 18 species of nematode parasites and 2 species of acanthocephalan parasites are potential zoonotic parasites. Most (11 species) of the zoonotic nematodes provoke larva migrans. Habitats of zoonotic parasites vary greatly depending upon individual species. Some parasites cause heterotopic parasitism (e.g., Paragonimus westermani) and metastasis (Entamoeba histolytica). In larva migrans, parasites migrate through various parts of body tissues, affecting multiple organs (gnathostomiasis and sparganosis mansoni). The majority of parasitic zoonoses are food-borne infections. Some of them are an arthropod-borne (or -mediated) infection (dirofilariasis, thelaziasis and moniliformiasis), or acquired by percutaneous infection with cercariae (schistosome cercarial dermatitis) or 3rd-stage infective larvae (hookworm diseases). The diagnosis of parasitic zoonoses, especially larva migrans, is difficult; although some unique clinical symptoms and the presence of eosinophilia and/or increased level of serum IgE antibody are frequently seen in larva migrans, the application of various immunodiagnostic methods is usually required. For the prevention and control of parasitic zoonoses, the ingestion of not only strange food (e.g., snakes, frogs, slugs, etc.) but also raw fish and cuttlefish (sashimi) must be prohibited. Fishes and the meat of wild animals (e.g., bear and wild boar) should be frozen or thoroughly cooked before eating. Pets and domestic animals play an important role as a direct or indirect source of infection with various parasitic zoonoses. The treatment of those animals and/or the eradication of intermediate hosts (or vectors) of the parasites are thus required.
The control of infectious diseases transmitted from animals to humans (zoonoses) was recently put on a new basis in the European Union when a new Zoonoses Directive entered into force. Brucellosis, campylobacteriosis, echinococcosis, listeriosis, salmonellosis, trichinosis, and the respective causative agents, tuberculosis due to Mycobacterium bovis, and verotoxigenic Escherichia coli must be included in monitoring. Additional zoonoses and zoonotic agents are to be monitored according to the epidemiological situation. Against this background, the current knowledge on important zoonoses transmitted from livestock and some wildlife animals to humans as well as the epidemiological situation in Germany with regard to these diseases is summarized.