Veterinary epidemiologist Dr. Donald Noah isn’t surprised that a novel zoonotic virus is responsible for the current pandemic.
“Something like this was going to happen, and it will happen again,” said Dr. Noah, an associate professor of public health and epidemiology at Lincoln Memorial University College of Veterinary Medicine.
Prior to his academic career, Dr. Noah held senior leadership positions with the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, where he served as deputy assistant secretary for biodefense against weapons of mass destruction. As acting deputy assistant secretary of defense, Dr. Noah was part of the government response to the 2009-10 pandemic of swine flu, or H1N1 influenza, that killed some 12,000 Americans.
“Even when the COVID-19 pandemic is over, we’re not going to be able to wash our hands of this, literally or figuratively,” Dr. Noah said. The ongoing expansion of human populations into wildlife habits, he explained, means more frequent human-animal interactions that make exposure to a new zoonotic disease more likely.
Dr. Noah is hesitant to use the phrase “silver lining” about an ongoing pandemic, but he hopes Congress will be compelled to be proactive about preventing these public health crises before they begin by enacting one-health legislation.
“Zoonotic pathogens don’t perceive species differences. They don’t perceive geographic boundaries,” he said. “The problem is disease surveillance and response systems are siloed between the human, veterinary, and environmental communities.
“Federal agencies have no choice but to merge their efforts against these pathogens. The alternative is to continue to accept unchecked disease emergence.”
“There’s not a lot we can do about disease emergence,” Dr. Noah concluded, “but what we can do is be better prepared to respond quicker, more effectively, and in a more collaborative way that minimizes the loss of life and economic hardships.”
Dr. Saif said veterinarians should be involved in all aspects of zoonotic infections, in concert with a one-health approach.
“Veterinarians need to be part of identifying the animal reservoirs and the intermediate hosts for these diseases,” she said. “This may focus on wildlife medicine, such as understanding the habitats and diversity of bat species as reservoirs for coronaviruses and multiple other viruses.”
