How can wildlife help detect emerging diseases?
Conservation medicine is an emerging field focused on the intersection of the environment, human and non-human hosts, and pathogens. At its core, conservation medicine champions the integration of techniques and partnering of scientists from diverse disciplines.
About three-quarters of emerging infectious diseases originate in wildlife, Dr Richard Jakob-Hoff, Senior Veterinarian – Conservation and Research at the Auckland Zoo-based New Zealand Centre for Conservation Medicine, told delegates at the Biosecurity Summit.
He said there was increasing recognition of wildlife’s important role in the maintenance and spread of diseases important to human and domestic animal health. This could be seen, for example, by the high media profile given to recent outbreaks of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and West Nile virus.
Wildlife acted as sentinels for human and domestic animal disease, he said. But there was insufficient baseline data on translocation disease risks, gaps in diagnostic capability and low level awareness of zoonotic diseases.
Dr Jakob-Hoff recommended:
- development of a cross-departmental five to 10 year plan for targeted wildlife disease surveillance and monitoring;
- realistic funding to support this research;
- an evaluation framework associated with the plan from the outset;
- continued building of diagnostic and field collection capability.
- Dr Jakob-Hoff has been working with wildlife for over 40 years, mainly in zoos in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, where he has worked as a zoo keeper, curator and veterinarian. He has been Senior Veterinarian at Auckland Zoo since 1996 and established the New Zealand Centre for Conservation Medicine’s new diagnostic, medical, research and teaching facility last year. Dr Jakob-Hoff has collaborated closely over many years with the Department of Conservation, MAF Biosecurity New Zealand, Landcare Research, universities and others he has worked with on wildlife disease surveillance projects.
Page last updated: 14 January 2009