LAUSR

THE World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) is creating a special register of ‘climate-sensitive’ vectorborne diseases, the distribution of which it is hoping to better map as the world heats up. The global organisation is heightening surveillance and monitoring around certain diseases, and wants to harness the power of big data and artificial intelligence to make predictions about the future spread of climate-assisted pathogens. This, it hopes, will allow countries to adapt their food systems and subsequently reduce their vulnerability to starvation arising from climate change. Matthew Stone, the OIE’s deputy director general of international standards and science, told World Veterinary Association (WVA) congress delegates last month that Rift Valley fever, West Nile fever, bluetongue and avian influenza were among the diseases classified as ‘climate sensitive’ by the OIE. Threats to livestock from these diseases, and the knock-on impact this could have on food availability, is a key risk that has been identified by the OIE. The organisation is now hoping to encourage standardised methods for logging the agricultural and economic impact of different animal diseases around the world, to help countries undertake bespoke resilience planning before it is too late. Stone said he hoped ‘that we can move from the sort of crude ad hoc single disease, single point in time impact that we currently have...to a much richer environment of data akin to what’s currently serving public health internationally [in relation to Covid-19]’. He cited several ‘exotic’ diseases that he said were becoming progressively less exotic in traditionally temperate parts of the world, such as parts of Europe. ‘At some stage it would have been easy to imagine that vectorborne diseases were focused around tropical and subtropical areas,’ Stone said. ‘But we know more and more that we’re seeing, in temperate zones, incursions of invasive species. What’s driving this? There are a range of environmental, sociological and economic factors. And this, of course, is driving disease emergence.’ As global temperatures rise, the Mediterranean region was ‘now demonstrating its first occurrence of West Nile fever’, Stone said. ‘It [West Nile fever] is very well distributed around the world but is still spreading into new zones.’ Meanwhile, bluetongue is also expanding its range, while the distribution of avian influenza, which is spread via migrations of wild birds, is similarly being influenced in part by changes to the climate. Stone said: ‘The climatic impacts that potentially affect [birds’] wintering and breeding zones, and their behaviour in terms of flyways, means that this is another disease where the OIE is ensuring that we’re producing regular up-todate situation reports tracking this disease, and of course we’re bringing to bear the scientific network through our collaboration with [United Nations] Food and Agriculture Organization scientists.’ On aquaculture, Stone added that ‘disease emergence is so strong [in this sector], and it’s such a concern – over the past few years numerous diseases have emerged in aquaculture’. The sector, which has overtaken wild harvest fisheries in terms of provision of food and is important in many developing parts of the world, requires support to deal with the impact that climate change could have on coastal and aquatic areas and their animal disease situation. ‘We know that climate change creates risks for human health, animal health and food security, but it’s just one of many adaptive challenges facing veterinary services,’ Stone said. ‘It does set up a complex and dynamic international epidemiological situation, and that requires ongoing research and focused effort. ‘Right now we have some predictive capacity, but the complexity and the uncertainty affect our understanding and the likely scenarios that are going to play out. ‘Strengthening health services is a key enabler of risk mitigation and management, and veterinary services face capacity challenges in many parts of the developing world. Veterinary services need our support, encouragement and training to fully understand their role in addressing threats and opportunities. ‘This requires ongoing commitment to development support, collaboration, regulatory convergence and harmonisation around international standards.’ ●