Tennessee Department of Agriculture Addresses the Link Between Humans and Animals
In partnership with: Tennessee Department of Agriculture
While volunteering her veterinary skills in Botswana, where she donated spay and neuter services and vaccines for companion animals, Samantha Beaty, D.V.M. saw firsthand the undeniable health connection between humans and animals. The tourism trade drives the local economy and is largely dependent on the safari business, but distemper poses a significant challenge, affecting animals such as lions and wild dogs. During her time there, a distemper outbreak spread among dogs, which residents of the underdeveloped country had purchased to protect their small farms.
“Unfortunately, all dogs with distemper were either euthanized or passed away, resulting in a disastrous outcome for owners,” says Beaty, state veterinarian and assistant commissioner for animal health with the Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA). “Botswana is a landlocked country where beef and poultry are important sources of food. The loss of guardian dogs led to the loss of livestock and that affected the people who subsist off the environment.”
Today, Beaty and her colleagues are channeling their expertise into the One Health Initiative (OHI), an integrative, global effort that seeks to better understand the links among humans, animals and the environment while improving the health and well-being of all species.
“The world is actually very small and people can easily move diseases on clothing, shoes, souvenirs or anything else brought from one country to another,” Beaty says. “We should all be more mindful of our actions and resulting consequences on the world.”
More Humans, More Contact
The groundwork for Tennessee’s role in the One Health movement was first laid in 2010 by veterinarians with TDA and doctors with the Tennessee Department of Health. In 2020, the same year OHI was officially launched worldwide, the state effort gained momentum with the designation of a TDA staff member to oversee the partnership with state and national agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
“The COVID-19 outbreak emphasized the importance of collaboration among environmental, animal and human health professionals when addressing emerging diseases,” Beaty says. “Humans are in constant contact with animals, including pets, livestock and poultry. As the human population grows, we impinge on areas where wild animals reside by narrowing their habitat. As a result, we will continue to see more interfaces between humans and non-domestic animals.”
“We should all be more mindful of our actions and resulting consequences on the world.”
– Samantha Beaty, state veterinarian and assistant commissioner for animal health with the Tennessee Department of Agriculture
See more: The Tosh Family Produces Top Hogs and Gives Back to Tennessee Agriculture
Eye on Emerging Diseases
This can lead to the spread of disease from wildlife to humans and vice versa.
The Department of Health is closely monitoring monkeypox and animals associated with those cases with the assistance of the CDC and TDA. Highly pathogenic avian influenza (commonly known as bird flu) is also of concern due to the potential impact on the food supply and the possibility the virus may change on the cellular level to affect other animals or increase the severity.
Other diseases on the watch list are brucellosis, most often found in cattle and cervids, and Theileria orientalis ikeda, a tickborne protozoon that causes anemia in cattle.
“Similarly, swine flu has been on state and federal radar for some time, and there are currently surveillance programs in place to monitor any flu detections in swine to prevent spread to humans,” Beaty says.
Of major concern is African swine fever, a fatal disease that could decimate the commercial swine population if introduced to the U.S.
“Thankfully, it doesn’t cause disease in people,” Beaty says. “We are working with state and federal partners, as well as industry and farmers, to have a plan to manage this should it happen.”