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A message from Dan Richardson, CEO of the Olathe Innovation Campus

June 16, 2008

K-State Olathe Innovation Campus programs are focused on three broad – and very important – areas: animal health, food safety and security, and plant sciences/alternative fuels.

One of these areas, animal health and its connection to human health, was the topic of a presentation given by Dr. Lonnie King, senior veterinarian for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta at the April "Corridor Conversations" meeting. Sponsored by the Kansas City Animal Health Corridor organization, this meeting was a gathering of interested individuals including representatives from schools of veterinary medicine and the numerous animal health companies that are headquartered in the corridor between Manhattan, Kansas and Columbia, Missouri. In 2007, these companies produced more than 1/3 of total global sales in the animal health market. This fact, coupled with the outstanding leadership provided by animal health researchers in this region, make the Kansas City Corridor the world’s leader in animal health and nutrition research and innovation.

Lonnie King is an internationally known expert in veterinary medicine who works alongside human medical researchers at the CDC. In his presentation, Dr. King expressed great concern about the threat of zoonotic diseases – those that can "jump" from animals to humans, such as avian influenza or HIV-AIDS. Other national organizations that share King’s apprehension about zoonotic diseases include the American Veterinary Medical Association, the American Medical Association, and the Association of Schools of Public Health. The following article details both Dr. King’s perspective on these threats and the mandate that the world must begin to view animal and human medical issues in a "one health" context.

In a ‘Collapsed Space’ World, Animal Health Affects Human Health

Animal Health CorridorA human being, according to Aristotle, is a "rational animal."

According to scientists today, we're also a microbe-sharing animal.

Sixty percent of the wide variety of pathogens that infect humans jump into our bodies from some other species, says Lonnie King.

In a world of "collapsed space," one that grows more interconnected every day, it makes sense for veterinary and human health experts to team up and take a “one health” approach to the threats we and our fellow animals face, King says.

King, senior veterinarian for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says the "one health" effort he is promoting on behalf of a newly formed Task Force on One Health is supported by the veterinary and human health professions and is aimed at attaining "optimal health of humans, animals and our environment."

During a recent visit to Kansas City, Mo., King praised the Kansas City Animal Health Corridor for forging links between animal and human health studies, saying that a “critical mass” exists in the corridor to make an impact on the one health movement.

The corridor runs from Columbia, Missouri, through Kansas City to Manhattan, Kansas. A good third of the world’s animal health and nutrition industries lie along the corridor.

King spoke at a corridor-sponsored "Conversations Conference" in late April, and those who attended the event, held at Union Station, learned of the threat to human and animal health posed by emerging global demographics.

  • Between 1900 and 2007, the proportion of people living in cities increased from 13 percent of the world’s population to more than 50 percent.
  • Ninety percent of the growth in world population today is occurring in less developed countries – up sharply since 1950.
  • People and animals are likely to be close neighbors in the world’s emerging urban areas.
  • Increasing numbers of international travelers – 1.6 billion annually by the year 2020 – increase the risk of swift disease transmission around the world.

King said the combination of these factors creates a "perfect storm" situation for disease transmission by microbes. Population movements are helping to create “new niches for microbes and their vectors” – that is, animal or insect hosts.

Warnings of the storm already are showing up on the radar. The same day that King spoke, "USA Today" reported a soaring rate of infection of an intestinal disease called Clostridium difficile.

The 14 most significant global epidemics of the last 15 years had their origin from another species to ours, King said.

Besides infectious disease, another tie exists between animal and human health: food-borne illness.

One in four Americans experiences this kind of illness every year, King told his audience, and 5,000 of those die. Today, 6 million food shipments arrive in the United States every year; a vanishingly small proportion of those undergo inspection.

In developing countries, an increasing demand for animal protein in the years ahead will amplify the risk of such illnesses worldwide. What's emerging is, in effect, "a Club Med for microbes," King said.

To help offset the threat, King recommended a shift in funding from intervention, after infectious disease strikes, to prevention. Today, the nation spends about 3 percent on disease prevention, 97 percent on treatment.

"We should put money into animal health and reduce the pathogen load there," he said, "rather than only focusing on treatments after an infection has occurred. Human and animal health are often just a continuum and good animal health interventions can become effective public health actions as well."

Research and development efforts related to human and animal health are separate today, but "they shouldn’t be," King said.

The animal corridor offers "remarkable possibilities for connection" between the two, King said.

- Roger Martin

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