An upcoming Ohio conference is aimed at helping public health officials earlier detect and recognize emerging diseases in animal populations that could affect humans. The June 16 meeting, “Public Health Surveillance Using a One-Medicine Approach,” is part of a new program in Ohio to help researchers catch natural and intentional animal disease outbreaks. They will use avenues such as animal hospital admissions and laboratory test orders, and their methods could eventually be applied on a national basis.

The conference, which will be held in The Ohio State University (OSU) Veterinary Teaching Hospital Auditorium, is designed for veterinarians, human physicians, public health professionals, and extension representatives (veterinarians currently make up the highest percentage of registrants at 75%). Presenters include veterinarians from the Centers for Disease Control and the USDA (from wildlife services and animal surveillance), a human disease surveillance expert from the University of Pittsburgh, and local health officials.

Bill Saville, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVIM, of Veterinary Preventive Medicine at OSU College of Veterinary Medicine, explained that he received a contract from the state’s Department of Health to begin developing the animal surveillance program.

“The system we have in place targets certain diseases, but we need to be able to have an early detection system for either a natural or an intentional start of an animal disease outbreak,” said Saville. “Nobody has the answers on how to diagnose and detect these diseases as early as possible, but we’re looking at different avenues, and it looks like the animal data may be useful