Category: 8. Health

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University of California, Riverside-led team has made an advance in the basic understanding of Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite responsible for the deadliest form of human malaria, that could make novel, highly targeted anti-malarial therapies possible.

Led by Karine Le Roch, a professor of molecular, cell and systems biology, the team identified two key proteins inside the “apicoplast” — a unique, parasite-specific organelle found in P. falciparum — that control gene expression. These proteins belong to the RAP (RNA-binding domain Abundant in Apicomplexans) family of proteins. Far more numerous in parasites than in humans, RAP proteins play critical roles in regulating RNA molecules and translating them into proteins inside parasite organelles.

Using advanced genetic tools, the team created knockdown strains of P. falciparum to selectively deactivate the two RAP proteins, PfRAP03 and PfRAP08. The team found the loss of either protein led to parasite death, confirming their essential roles.

The researchers also discovered that PfRAP03 and PfRAP08 specifically bind to ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and transfer RNA (tRNA) molecules, respectively. These non-coding RNAs are fundamental to protein synthesis within the apicoplast.

“This is the first time anyone has shown how RAP proteins in the apicoplast directly interact with rRNA and tRNA,” said Le Roch, who directs the UCR Center for Infectious Disease Vector Research. “We’ve now shown mechanistically how these proteins regulate translation in an organelle that’s completely foreign to the human body.”

Le Roch explained that humans have six RAP proteins, but parasites like Plasmodium have more than 20.

“This evolutionary expansion suggests that RAP proteins may perform parasite-specific functions, making them exciting drug targets,” she said.

The study, published in Cell Reports, builds on the team’s previous research on RAP proteins in parasite mitochondria and represents the first detailed mechanistic analysis of their function in the apicoplast.

Unlike any structure found in human cells, the apicoplast is unique to apicomplexan parasites — a large group of single-celled organisms that includes Plasmodium, Toxoplasma gondii, and Babesia. This uniqueness makes it an ideal target for therapies that can eliminate the parasite without harming the human host.

“While the focus of our paper is malaria, the implications extend to other apicomplexan diseases like toxoplasmosis — dangerous especially to pregnant women — and babesiosis, a growing tick-borne threat in the United States,” Le Roch said. “This work exposes vulnerabilities across an entire class of parasites, revealing the molecular machinery these parasites rely on. If we can take it apart, we can stop these diseases before they take hold.”

Though no drugs currently target RAP proteins, Le Roch’s lab is working toward solving the 3D structure of these RNA-protein complexes, a crucial step toward structure-guided drug design.

“Our research is a step toward future therapeutic strategies,” Le Roch said. “By targeting essential, parasite-specific proteins that have no human counterparts, we can develop drugs that are both effective and have minimal side effects.”

Reference: Hollin T, Chahine Z, Abel S, et al. RAP proteins regulate apicoplast noncoding RNA processing in Plasmodium falciparum. Cell Rep. 2025;44(7):115928. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2025.115928

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As summer ushers in peak mosquito season, health and vector control officials are bracing for the possibility of another year of historic rates of dengue. And with climate change, the lack of an effective vaccine, and federal research cuts, they worry the disease will become endemic to a larger swath of North America.

About 3,700 new dengue infections were reported last year in the contiguous United States, up from about 2,050 in 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. All of last year’s cases were acquired abroad, except for 105 cases contracted in California, Florida, or Texas. The CDC issued a health alert in March warning of the ongoing risk of dengue infection.

“I think dengue is here with us to stay,” said infectious disease specialist Michael Ben-Aderet, associate medical director of hospital epidemiology at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, about dengue becoming a new normal in the U.S. “These mosquitoes aren’t going anywhere.”

Dengue is endemic — a label health officials assign when diseases appear consistently in a region — in many warmer parts of the world, including Latin America, India, and Southeast Asia. Dengue cases increased markedly last year in many of those places, especially in Central and South America.

The disease, which can spread when people are bitten by infected Aedes mosquitoes, was not common in the contiguous United States for much of the last century. Today, most locally acquired (meaning unrelated to travel) dengue cases in the U.S. happen in Puerto Rico, which saw a sharp increase in 2024, triggering a local public health emergency.

Most people who contract dengue don’t get sick. But in some people symptoms are severe: bleeding from the nose or mouth, intense stomach pain, vomiting, and swelling. Occasionally, dengue causes death.

California offers a case study in how dengue is spreading in the U.S. The Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes that transmit dengue weren’t known to be in the state 25 years ago. They are now found in 25 counties and more than 400 cities and unincorporated communities, mostly in Southern California and the Central Valley.

The spread of the mosquitoes is concerning because their presence increases the likelihood of disease transmission, said Steve Abshier, president of the Mosquito and Vector Control Association of California.

From 2016 through 2022, there were an average of 136 new dengue cases a year in California, each case most likely brought to the state by someone who had traveled and been infected elsewhere. In 2023, there were about 250 new cases, including two acquired locally.

In 2024, California saw 725 new dengue cases, including 18 acquired locally, state data shows.

Climate change could contribute to growth in the Aedes mosquitoes’ population, Ben-Aderet said. These mosquitoes survive best in warm urban areas, often biting during the daytime. Locally acquired infections often occur when someone catches dengue during travel, then comes home and is bitten by an Aedes mosquito that bites and infects another person.

“They’ve just been spreading like wildfire throughout California,” Ben-Aderet said.

Dengue presents a challenge to the many primary care doctors who have never seen it. Ben-Aderet said doctors who suspect dengue should obtain a detailed travel history from their patients, but confirming the diagnosis is not always quick.

“There’s no easy test for it,” he said. “The only test that we have for dengue is antibody tests.” He added that “most labs probably aren’t doing it commercially, so it’s usually like a send-out test from most labs. So you really have to suspect someone has dengue.”

Best practices for avoiding dengue include eliminating any standing pools of water on a property — even small pools — and using mosquito repellent, Abshier said. Limiting activity at dusk and dawn, when mosquitoes bite most often, can also help.

Efforts to combat dengue in California became even more complicated this year after wildfires ripped through Los Angeles. The fires occurred in a hot spot for mosquito-borne illnesses. San Gabriel Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District officials have worked for months to treat more than 1,400 unmaintained swimming pools left in the wake of fire, removing potential breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

San Gabriel vector control officials have used local and state resources to treat the pools, said district spokesperson Anais Medina Diaz. They have applied for reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has not historically paid for vector control efforts following wildfires.

In California, vector control agencies are often primarily funded by local taxes and fees on property owners.

Some officials are pursuing the novel method of releasing sterilized Aedes mosquitoes to reduce the problem. That may prove effective, but deploying the method in a large number of areas would be costly and would require a massive effort at the state level, Abshier said. Meanwhile, the federal government is pulling back on interventions: Several outlets have reported that the National Institutes of Health will stop funding new climate change-related research, which could include work on dengue.

This year, reported rates of dengue in much of the Americas have declined significantly from 2024. But the trend in the United States likely won’t be clear until later in the year, after the summer mosquito season ends.

Health and vector control researchers aren’t sure how bad it will get in California. Some say there may be limited outbreaks, while others predict dengue could get much worse. Sujan Shresta, a professor and infectious disease researcher at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology, said other places, like Nepal, experienced relatively few cases of dengue in the recent past but now regularly see large outbreaks.

There is a vaccine for children, but it faces discontinuation from a lack of global demand. Two other dengue vaccines are unavailable in the United States. Shresta’s lab is hard at work on an effective, safe vaccine for dengue. She hopes to release results from animal testing in a year or so; if the results are positive, human trials could be possible in about two years.

“If there’s no good vaccine, no good antivirals, this will be a dengue-endemic country,” she said.

Phillip Reese is a data reporting specialist and an associate professor of journalism at California State University-Sacramento.

This article was produced by KFF Health News, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation. 

This article was reprinted from khn.org, a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF – the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism.

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Although levodopa is considered the cornerstone treatment in Parkinson disease (PD), its long-term use may be limited by motor complications and the inability to slow neurodegeneration. Early in treatment, motor control is strong, but over time, striatal changes can cause dopamine levels to rely entirely on external sources, leading to OFF episodes. Current strategies aim to optimize dopaminergic stimulation to better mimic natural, tonic dopamine activity through pharmacologic, nonpharmacologic, adjunctive, rescue, and device-aided approaches.¹

At the recently concluded 4th Annual Advanced Therapeutics in Movement and Related Disorders (ATMRD) Congress, held by the PMD Alliance from June 27-30, 2025, movement disorder expert Cheryl Kyinn, PA-C, gave a talk about on-demand therapies that can help offer relief for OFF episodes in patients with PD and how to go about using them. In this session, Krinn, a physician assistant specializing in PD in Orange County, California, placed an emphasis on recent findings from clinical trials that documented the timing and optimal use of these medications.

In a new iteration of NeuroVoices, Kyinn discussed her clinical approach to selecting on-demand therapies for patients with PD experiencing OFF episodes. She highlighted the importance of considering comorbidities, patient preferences, and proper administration education to ensure treatment efficacy. Kyinn also underscored the advantages of therapies that bypass the gastrointestinal tract and the value of open-label data supporting options like inhaled levodopa. Additionally, she advocated for early adoption of extended-release levodopa to help reduce motor fluctuations and stressed shared decision-making to optimize patient quality of life.

NeurologyLive: How should clinicians approach determining which on-demand therapy may be best suited for a patient experiencing OFF episodes?

Cheryl Kyinn, PA-C: It’s very similar to how you would make any medication choice for a patient. The first thing is the baseline characteristics of a patient. Do they have other comorbidities? Because, let’s say, the 2 options are quite different and have different adverse effect profiles, so you want to first look at that.

For instance, if you’re doing an apomorphine subcutaneous injection, that might have a little bit more susceptibility to hypotension and nausea. If someone’s already hypotensive, like many of our patients with PD, you probably wouldn’t go for that one. But let’s say a patient has a comorbidity of COPD, you’re probably not going to go with inhaled levodopa powder, because they probably can’t inhale it. That’s 1 key factor.

Of course, you also have patient preference. Maybe patients are needle-phobic, or maybe patients honestly, they can’t get over the administration adverse effects. I think the number one thing is patient choice. First of all, I get a lot of needle-phobic patients, so that’s easy off the bat. And then again, their comorbidities as well.

What findings have maybe most influenced decision-making when it comes to on-demand treatment for PD-related off periods?

The key thing is that we know all of our oral medications run into the gastrointestinal dysfunction issues. Of course, seeing how these are delivered and that they bypass the GI tract that’s a huge thing.

I think one of the most interesting studies was the open-label study for morning akinesia. I mean, that’s huge. We don’t have a lot of stuff—actually hardly anything—that helps with that, right? I actually tell my patients, just put your first pill on your bedside, and as soon as you get up, just reach over and swallow it. But again, you have the gastrointestinal dysfunction. The study with morning akinesia was very helpful and great for us clinicians to know that there is an option for this very tough symptom that patients experience.

For the inhaled levodopa powder, I think it’s a little bit easier to use because you don’t have to do a needle. I did make a joke that it’s kind of similar to smoking but it kind of is. When I’ve seen patients do it, I’m like, it kind of looks like that. But I think the ease of use is helpful, and you see the improvement in the UPDRS score quickly, within 10 minutes. But I guess that’s the other point:, both of them show that T-max concentration within 10 to 20 minutes, and that’s a big factor in wanting to use these on-demand therapies for OFF times.

In your experience, what key factors could help with ensuring effective and consistent use of these on-demand therapies for patients?

I think education, education, education, and setting expectations. For instance, if you don’t tell a patient that they might have the cough issue with the inhaled levodopa powder, they will—when they first encounter that cough. First, they’re going to do it wrong, and they’re going to assume it’s like any other inhaler that they’ve seen like an asthma inhaler where you take a big puff and they’ll cough it all out. Not only, 1, do they have the adverse effect, 2, they’re going to cough it all out and not even get the therapeutic effect of the medication.

Same thing with apomorphine. I think if you set the precedent that, yes, there’s a possibility you can have hypotension and nausea, especially because there’s no current antiemetic therapy that we can give to counter that, at least if they know about it and it happens. They’re not going to be completely caught off guard and then just choose to discontinue either of the medications.

Setting good expectations, educating the patient on what could happen, and letting them know that if it happens, it’s okay it’s not going to be permanent. It’s going to be very short and brief and mild to moderate, I guess, based off of clinical trials. You’ll get over it, and if you don’t like it, then you don’t have to do it again. That’s the first part of it. And luckily, the companies also I think send nurses to the patient’s home to educate them about that as well, and to help them administer their first couple of doses. So hopefully there’s that continuity of care.

What clinical signs would prompt you to consider switching a patient with PD to a different levodopa formulation?

Honestly, I think from the get-go, based off all the clinical data that we have now, the preference is showing that ER formulations are much preferred. All the data suggests that, unfortunately, even though IR levodopa is great and cheap and effective, long-term use of this volatile pulsing of the medication is going to cause issues over time.

We definitely see that with our patients who’ve had long-standing PD where we feed into the motor fluctuations. I think presenting patients with that data, if we can, we should start them on an ER formulation. But let’s say they are on an IR formulation then, when they start experiencing these motor fluctuations because we know it’s a question of when, not a question of if that, for sure, is a reason. If accessibility wasn’t an issue and cost wasn’t an issue, for sure, as soon as they start experiencing motor fluctuations, we should switch to an ER formulation if possible.

How do you go about the decision-making process with the patient for treatment?

I always try to tell my patients when we’re together, I’m here to provide you with the information, and I will guide you on what I think might work best for you but ultimately, they’re in the driver’s seat. It’s a full-on conversation that we’re having. It’s not a one-sided, “I tell you what to do” situation. I’ll even tell patients, “I’m not your mom—I can’t make you do anything,” It’s all up to you. This is your life, the life that you’re living. But it is an open discussion between clinical provider and patient. And I tell them, we’re trying to optimize your quality of life. And the decision-making process is 2-fold. I provide information, and then we, together, pick what’s best for your life, what fits into your lifestyle, with the ultimate goal of improving quality of life.

Transcript edited for clarity. Click here for more coverage of ATMRD 2025.

REFERENCES
1. Masood N, Jimenez-Shahed J. Effective Management of “OFF” Episodes in Parkinson’s Disease: Emerging Treatment Strategies and Unmet Clinical Needs. Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. 2023;19:247-266. Published 2023 Jan 25. doi:10.2147/NDT.S273121
2. Kyinn, C. Conquering Off Episodes With On-Demand Therapies. Presented at: ATMRD; June 27-30, 2025; Washington, DC.

The patient: A 77-year-old man in China

The symptoms: Seven hours before being admitted to a hospital, the patient developed shortness of breath, abdominal pain and “obvious” abdominal distension, meaning his belly appeared very bloated and stretched out, doctors wrote in a report of the case. He’d had trouble urinating and defecating for about four days, and one week prior to admission, he’d been given antiviral and pain-relieving medicines for a case of shingles that was affecting his lower back, around the sacrum, or the base of the spine.

In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Dr Sharmila Tulpule, orthopaedic surgeon, regenerative medicine specialist, and founder and director of Orthobiologix Biotech Pvt Ltd, said that osteoarthritis, long thought of as a ‘wear-and-tear’ disease, has become incredibly complex, especially for women.

The prevalence of osteoarthritis, a type of joint disorder that occurs due to cartilage breakdown in the joints, is expected to increase with ageing populations and rising rates of obesity and injuries. By understanding the causes, symptoms, and treatment options for OA, you can take steps to manage the condition and improve your quality of life. 

According to Dr Tulpule, below are the factors concerning osteoarthritis in women:

Hormonal changes and menopause

● Estrogen decline during menopause accelerates cartilage degradation, increasing OA risk.

● Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) may offer some benefits but requires careful consideration due to potential risks.

Obesity and metabolic factors

● Obesity is a significant risk factor for OA, particularly in weight-bearing joints like the knees.

● Excess weight increases joint stress and systemic inflammation, exacerbating OA symptoms.

● Even modest weight loss can reduce OA risk and improve joint function.

Physical activity and joint health

● Regular, moderate physical activity strengthens muscles around joints, enhancing mobility and reducing pain.

● Conversely, sedentary lifestyles contribute to joint stiffness and muscle weakness.

Mental health and quality of life

● OA can lead to depression and anxiety, particularly in women, affecting overall well-being.

● Addressing mental health is crucial for effective OA management and improving quality of life.

What to know about regenerative therapies

Dr Tulpule said, “Regenerative therapies offer a more holistic approach by addressing the underlying causes of OA rather than merely alleviating symptoms. They are particularly beneficial for women seeking alternatives to invasive surgeries and medications.”

According to Dr Tulpule, stem cell therapy holds promise as a regenerative treatment for knee osteoarthritis, offering potential benefits in pain reduction and functional improvement. 

Explaining platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy, Dr Tulpule said it utilises growth factors from the patient’s own blood to stimulate tissue repair and reduce inflammation. “Studies indicate that PRP can provide longer-term pain relief and functional improvement compared to traditional treatments like hyaluronic acid (HA) injections,” she said.

Dr Tulpule added that gold-induced cytokine therapy is a novel regenerative treatment that involves incubating the patient’s own blood with gold particles, enhancing the anti-inflammatory and reparative properties of platelets. Studies have shown that it can lead to significant improvements in pain and function in patients with knee OA, with minimal adverse effects, she said.

Management and prevention

“For women, osteoarthritis is not just a joint issue — it intertwines with hormonal health, body weight, lifestyle, mental wellness, and occupational context,” Dr Tulpule said. 

According to her, a nuanced approach means:

1. Advocating early detection especially during menopause.

2. Promoting preventive strategies combining diet, weight management, and exercise.

3. Considering hormone-based therapies for symptomatic relief when appropriate.

4. Supporting women’s mental health alongside physical care.

5. Raising community awareness on how everyday activities shape OA risk.

Dr Tulpule concluded, “By addressing the unique facets of OA in women, clinicians can shift from reactive interventions to proactive, personalised care. This not only delays disease progression, but preserves mobility, dignity, and quality of life for millions of women worldwide.”

Note to readers: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your doctor with any questions about a medical condition.

NEED TO KNOW

• A man in his 50s has been hospitalized in critical condition after contracting the Australian bat lyssavirus (ABLV) in New South Wales, Australia

• This is the first confirmed case of the virus in the state and fourth overall in Australia, NSW Health announced

• NSW Health Protection director Keira Glasgow called this case “a very tragic situation” in a statement following the diagnosis

A man is in critical condition after contracting a rare bat virus in Australia.

The first confirmed case of Australian bat lyssavirus (ABLV) has been reported in the state of New South Wales, involving a man in his 50s. He fell ill after being “bitten by a bat several months ago,” New South Wales Health announced in a release on Wednesday, July 2.

“This is a very tragic situation. The man had been bitten by a bat several months ago and received treatment following the injury,” said NSW Health Protection director Keira Glasgow. “Further investigation is underway to understand whether other exposures or factors played a role in his illness.”

ABLV is closely related to the rabies virus and is found in flying foxes, fruit bats and microbats. It is transmitted by bites from bats to humans, causing a potentially fatal illness that affects the central nervous system, according to NSW Health. The symptoms are flu-like, including a fever, headache and fatigue, which can develop into delirium, paralysis and death.

In 2024, 118 people required medical assessment after being bitten or scratched by bats. ABLV was first identified in 1996 and there have since been four confirmed cases in Australia, NSW Health reported.

NSW Heath is urging Australians not to handle or touch any bats after the first confirmed case of ABLV in the state in order to prevent the spread of the virus, as there is currently no cure.

“It is incredibly rare for the virus to transmit to humans, but once symptoms of lyssavirus start in people who are scratched or bitten by an infected bat, sadly there is no effective treatment,” said Glasgow, per the release.

The NSW Health director advises that if anyone is bitten or scratched by a bat to seek urgent medical assessment.

“You will need to wash the wound thoroughly for 15 minutes right away with soap and water and apply an antiseptic with anti-virus action, such as betadine, and allow it to dry,” said Glasgow. “You will then require treatment with rabies immunoglobulin and rabies vaccine.”

NSW Health said that if a bat appears to be in distress, injured or trapped “do not try to rescue it [and] instead, contact trained experts WIRES or your local wildlife rescue group.”

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This update comes as twenty new bat viruses have been discovered in China, posing serious risk to humans.

According to a study published by the Public Library of Science (PLOS), researchers tested ten different species of 142 bats in China’s Yunnan province and discovered 20 new viruses, a new species of bacteria and a new type of parasite.

Two of the viruses are similar to the deadly Hendra and Nipah viruses, the former of which causes a rare, flu-like reaction that can be fatal in humans and horses, according to the World Health Organization.

Read the original article on People

Prevention and preparedness play central roles in global health security, with the EU’s Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (DG HERA) now working with third-country governments to strengthen cooperation on medical countermeasures for preparedness and response to serious cross-border public health threats. The recently published WHO Pandemic Agreement also represents a significant step forward in strengthening the global health architecture to better address future pandemics.

While timely access to critical medical resources, such as vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics often take centre stage in preparedness discussions, a crucial dimension remains underappreciated: animal health. Yet, history tells us that this is precisely where the next global health emergency may begin.

The term “Disease X” a kind of placeholder name adopted by the WHO in 2018 refers to an unknown pathogen with the potential to cause a serious international epidemic or pandemic. Although Disease X is hypothetical, the concept is very real, and one fact is consistently reaffirmed by scientific evidence: pandemics predominantly originate in animals. Zoonotic pathogens (those that can jump from animals to humans) are the likeliest culprits for future pandemics, as SARS, MERS, Ebola, avian influenza, and mostly recently, COVID-19, have all been linked to animal origins. This reality places animal health systems on the front line of prevention, long before the first human case emerges.

The WHO Pandemic Agreement reflects a notable shift toward integrated approaches that span across sectors. A few articles within the text touch on the need to reduce risks of interspecies transmission, strengthen surveillance, and promote the One Health approach, a framework that recognises the interconnectedness of human, animal, and environmental health. The animal health sector is uniquely positioned to play a central role in helping to turn these ambitions into concrete outcomes.

Tackling disease outbreaks in livestock and wildlife at their source prevents them from spreading to other animals, and more importantly to people.

Animal health professionals, including veterinarians, epidemiologists, researchers, and medicines manufacturers, are already deeply engaged in surveillance, prevention, and management of animal disease outbreaks. But continued threats from infectious diseases and evolving pathogens influencing disease distribution and severity have reinforced the need for robust surveillance, early warning systems, and preparedness planning. A recent report from the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) shares some key facts on how animal health impacts human health:

• Animal diseases are migrating into previously unaffected areas and half (47%) of these diseases have zoonotic potential.
• Between 2005 and 2023 68% of the notifications to WOAH for emerging diseases were considered to have zoonotic potential.
• Outbreaks of bird flu in mammals more than doubled in 2024 compared to 2023, increasing the risk of further spread and transmission to people.

Tackling disease outbreaks in livestock and wildlife at their source prevents them from spreading to other animals, and more importantly to people. Moreover, taking bird flu as an example, aside from the devastating loss of poultry, HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza) is causing unprecedented mass die-offs in wild-bird populations. This can seriously disrupt ecosystems and threaten biodiversity. And, although in this case the risk of human infection remains low, the more animals are affected, the greater the possibility for the virus to jump from mammal to mammal, and potentially also to people.

It’s clear that decreasing the burden of animal diseases will mitigate the risk of zoonotic disease transmission. Preparedness actions must begin before a pathogen reaches human populations, so investing in disease surveillance, vaccine development, and healthcare infrastructure for animals is not a luxury but a necessity.

Despite their importance, animal health systems often face chronic underfunding. This leaves significant gaps in pandemic preparedness planning, particularly in developing countries where disease emergence risks are high and surveillance capacity is limited. For example, a key vulnerability globally is the inadequate number of trained veterinarians, and Europe is not a stranger to this phenomenon either. An insufficient vet-to-livestock ratio not only means less prevention of zoonotic diseases, but it also means less effective surveillance and a higher likelihood of diseases crossing borders.

The path to pandemic prevention runs not only through our hospitals and laboratories, but also through the world’s ecosystems, our farms, food markets, and veterinary clinics.

By directing greater resources and political attention toward animal health, promoting the development of joint training programmes for the workforce at the human-animal-environment interface, and developing integrated disease surveillance systems the global community can close these gaps and better protect itself from future disease emergencies, while also creating more resilient health systems overall.

The WHO Pandemic Agreement offers a framework to facilitate this shift, as its emphasis on international cooperation, technology transfer, and capacity-building opens the door to greater collaboration between human and animal health sectors. One of the key challenges ahead lies in making sure these ideas are not only endorsed on paper but implemented in practice, which means ensuring that veterinary services are embedded within European and national pandemic preparedness plans and that animal vaccines producers are consulted before a disease outbreak reaches crisis scenario. DG HERA and the EU Preparedness Union Strategy published earlier this year set a good basis for addressing emerging health threats, but the role for animal health is not clearly defined, nor mentioned in the latter.   

It is important that decision-makers understand the value of One Health action, i.e. involving all the health sectors. preventive action over reactive measures, while also fostering a regular dialogue between the public and private sectors, including Chief Veterinary Officers, to ensure strategies are informed by real-world experience and scientific expertise.

The path to pandemic prevention runs not only through our hospitals and laboratories, but also through the world’s ecosystems, our farms, food markets, and veterinary clinics. Ultimately, the global health community must recognise that animal health is public health and that by enhancing animal health systems today, we can reduce the risks and impacts of tomorrow’s pandemics.

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