GRF 2nd One Health Summit 2013: Presentation by Peter W. Daniels, CSIRO Animal, Food and Health Science

1. What Can Be Done to Manage
Catastrophic Human Disease Threats
from Farmed Animals?
Peter Daniels
Deputy Director, Australian Animal Health Laboratory, Geelong, Australia
CSIRO Animal, Food and Health Science
Presentation to the 2nd GRF One Health Summit 2013
Davos, Switzerland, 17- 20 November, 2013

2. An aspirational proposition?
A Glimpse of the Future?
Where animals are farmed to meet the needs of
society, an informed society will require that the
farming of these animals will not result in a
health threat to people
Pandemic Threats and Animal Agriculture Page 2

3. The Role Call of Emerging Infectious
Diseases Problems - and “Near Misses”
•
•
•
•
•
Nipah Virus in Pigs in Malaysia ... 295 (120)
Highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 ... 630 (375)
Ebola-Reston in pigs in the Philippines several (0)
Pandemic H1N1 2009 globally .... ongoing
Variant H3N2 in North American pigs ... Several
hundred infections
• Avian influenza A(H7N9) in China ... 134 (43)
(Just examples where intensively farmed animals
have been a significant factor)

4. The Basics of Disease
and Disease Transmission
A shared understanding for
surveillance and control
Pandemic Threats and Animal Agriculture Page 4

5. Microbiologically speaking
The main determinant of animal
disease is the PATHOGENESIS of
the infectious agent
Pathogenesis determines the
route of excretion of a microbe
from an infected animal and the
route of infection of the next
susceptible animal:
The transmission pathway –
determines opportunities for
surveillance and control
Daniels et al (2007) Current Topics
Immunol and Microbiol, 315:113-131

6. BUT, realistically speaking
The main determinant of animal disease
management is …….
HUMAN BEHAVIOUR
Human behaviours (farming, marketing, etc)
allow the transmission pathway to succeed
(anywhere along the “value chain”)

7. Infectious disease is TRANSMITTED animal to animal,
aided by human value chain behaviours
Hence a holistic understanding of
TRANSMISSION is the basis of
managing the risks of animal disease
But the understanding is needed by each
society as whole: Farmers, traders, advisors,
industry managers, regulators, consumers
And the people at the critical control
points have to CARE enough to want to
manage the infection – to do it!
Pandemic Threats and Animal Agriculture Page 7

8. The Chatham House
Centre on Global Health Security
Project title: Tensions between Human and
Animal Health
Reviewing current policies and collaboration between the human,
animal and trade sectors to identify possible obstacles and
solutions
Often identification of an infectious agent occurs in
humans after human-to-human spread has begun, rather
than in the animal from which it comes, and
opportunities for control in animals and prevention of
human infection are lost
Chatham House (2010) Shifting from Emergency Response to
Prevention of Pandemic Disease Threats at Source

9. Does this call into question how
“surveillance” is done?
• Delivery on our over-arching proposition, responding to
Chatham House type concerns, requires a priori detection!
THE SOLUTION? THE VISION?
Managers of intensively farmed animals will know the
infection status of their enterprise, just as they know
the data of any production-related aspect of the
business,
and communicate findings
Pandemic Threats and Animal Agriculture Page 9

10. Surveillance has a reporting component
Test and tell!
Pandemic Threats and Animal Agriculture Page 10

11. Objectives (Benefits) of Surveillance
• Early detection of animal disease to facilitate control
• Early detection of genetic changes altering risks to
human or animal health
• Early detection of phenotypic changes (antigenic,
antiviral susceptibility) with implications for human or
animal health
• Management of control programs
• Improved knowledge of viral epidemiology and
disease pathogenesis
• Monitoring the performance of diagnostic tools

12. Reasons for inadequate surveillance
(under assessment and under reporting of disease)
1. Inability
Inability to detect
lack of awareness of benefits
lack of sampling and testing capacity
Inability to report
No effective reporting and response chain
2. Unwillingness
Cost
and lack of financial advantage or cost recovery
Negative consequences
trade restrictions, movement bans
compulsory slaughter/no compensation
Loss of reputation
No incentives
national (loss of tourism), local (victimization)
no positive feedback or response plan
World Bank 2010, “People, Pathogens and Our Planet”

13. Possible surveillance issues for producers
1. Who carries the cost?
2. What will be the response to findings?
• Regulatory issues affecting business continuity
• Public perception issues relating to profitability
There is too much uncertainty!
The informed debate is yet to be had,
The policy settings are yet to be developed.

14. But still, the fear of infectious diseases is very real
in our communities
Pandemic Threats and Animal Agriculture Page 14

15. A Glimpse of the Future?
Consequently there is a need for public-private
cooperation to deliver effective surveillance of animal
populations for emerging health threats:
Managing the Human Animal Interface
Monitoring the infections status of farmed
animals is a basic approach to risk management
“Understanding the complex dynamics that define the food animal
ecosystem of the 21st century is central to mitigating risks of
emerging zoonoses” (Leibler et al, 2009, Ecohealth)
Pandemic Threats and Animal Agriculture Page 15

16. Prerequisites for a new way of doing business
based on real time surveillance 1.
The human factor: farm owners and managers
have to be committed
Foreseeable impediments:
• Costs – who pays, and how?
• Negative repercussions following detections – threats to
business continuity – need informed and predictable regulations
Immediate needs:
• Advocacy for partnership between public and producers
• Social science/behavioural science research along the value
chain
• Communications strategies - but with what messages?
Pandemic Threats and Animal Agriculture Page 16

17. Prerequisites for a new way of doing business
incorporating real time surveillance 2.
The technological challenges and opportunities
New detection technologies are becoming available
• The challenge is to choose among them
• Investigate how best to use them
• Validate them
Which approach will be most cost effective?
(there’s work to be done!)
Pandemic Threats and Animal Agriculture Page 17

18. The unmittigated risk?
Animal Health Challenges and Climate Change, Page 18

19. Thank you
Thank you
CSIRO Australian Animal Health Laboratory
Peter Daniels, Deputy Director
t +61 3 5227 5014
e peter.daniels@csiro.au
w www.csiro.au
CSIRO Animal, Food and Health Science