As the coronavirus crisis continues, a consortium of veterinary scientists has been set up to practice a new generation of “animal disease detectives” in Southeast Asian and Pacific countries.
“A year after African swine fever wiped out more than a quarter of the world’s pig population and more than 200,000 people who died from COVID-19,” it has never been more important to provide veterinarians with the equipment needed to investigate and monitor outbreaks. Associate Professor Navneet Dhand said of the University of Sydney School of Veterinary Sciences and the Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity.
The clinical consortium includes more than 40 veterinary experts in Australia, New Zealand and Asia-Pacific.
“The coronavirus epidemic underscored the urgency of this work,” associate professor Dhand said. “Most emerging infectious diseases, such as coronaviruses, are zoonotic: from animals to humans.
“For humans of these diseases, we want to look for pathogens and diseases” upstream “in domestic animals and wildlife before they spread to the human population.”
Associate Professor Dhand said the consortium will conduct paintings with the animal education government and educators in the Asia-Pacific region to strengthen the ability to detect, respond, control and save outbreaks of animal diseases that may be just human fitness, animal fitness and farmers’ livelihoods.
The program is funded through the Indo-Pacific Centre for Health Safety at the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Associate Professor Dhand said, “Our program will help our neighbors’ efforts to address these emerging threats and, in doing so, Australia’s biosecurity, fitness and economy.”
The researchers note that while this coronavirus originates from a transfer of animals, there is no evidence that the COVID-19 virus can be transmitted through domestic animals or other animals.
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