Veterinarians: Guardians Against Zoonotic Diseases and Champions of One Health

This episode of Veterinary Vertex features insights from Drs. Will Sander and Sulagna Chakraborty, as they dissect the complexities of zoonotic diseases. Our discussion unveils findings from a national survey, emphasizing how pivotal veterinarians are in the battle against these diseases. We discuss how veterinarians are critical in the One Health initiative, a movement acknowledging the interconnectedness of human, animal, and environmental health. Will and Sulagna draw from their experiences to illustrate the challenges and triumphs of educating clients about zoonotic risks, especially in homes with those most vulnerable to infection. Will and Sulagna shed light on the essential conversations that need to happen within the vet-client dynamic and the broader implications for public health as we know it. By tuning in, you'll gain a profound appreciation for the role of veterinarians in society and the critical importance of communication and education to safeguard the health of our communities.

JAVMA article: https://doi.org/10.2460/javma.24.02.0105

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

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Speaker 3: 0:33

To learn more, visit NextGuardPlusCliniccom. You're listening to Veterinary Vertex, a podcast of the AVMA Journals. In this episode we chat about how veterinarians can tackle zoonotic diseases with our guests Will Sander and Slagna Chakraborty.

Speaker 4: 0:49

Will Sander and Salagna Chakraborty. Welcome to Veterinary Vertex. I'm Editor-in-Chief Lisa Fortier and I'm joined by Associate Editor Sarah Wright. Today we will have Will and Salagna joining us. Will and Salagna, thank you so much for taking time out of your very busy schedules to be with us here today.

Speaker 2: 1:03

Yeah, really appreciate the opportunity.

Speaker 3: 1:07

Let's dive right in, will. Your JAVMA article discusses results from a national survey that shed light on how zoonosis-specific resources, collaborative networks and enhanced communication can help US veterinarians tackle zoonotic disease. Please share with our listeners the background on this study.

Speaker 5: 1:30

Sure happy to Sarah. So I mean there have been several regional studies that have been done through cross-sectional surveys in the last 15 years, you know, in states like Washington, michigan, arizona, but not a really great national snapshot across licensed veterinarians, and so the goal of the study was to try and get that better representative sample. And there's also obviously additional ongoing concerns. You know we just went through COVID-19 and the transmission possibilities there as a very real zoonosis and reverse zoonosis, I think, has heightened the attention to this too. So and then I think the final piece for me in approaching this research topic was I'm very interested in occupational exposures and risks in the veterinary profession, and so this is one of those places where you know we talk a lot about it, I think, in the veterinary medicine field, but often it's hard to quantify or get a good sense of what's really going on. So that's what drove us to look at this national survey.

Speaker 3: 2:21

It's a really timely topic. As we know, there's definitely a huge issue right now we have going on with influenza and various different species, so this is really good information to share with our listeners and with our readers.

Speaker 5: 2:31

Exactly.

Speaker 3: 2:33

Slagna and Will. What were some of the pivotal findings from the study?

Speaker 2: 2:36

were the fact that you know, we know that veterinarians know more about One Health than maybe human health professionals, but the knowledge regarding zoonotic diseases. That's maybe not translating as much and the fact that there's not enough communication happening between veterinarians and their clients regarding zoonotic diseases and there were no overlap in some of the diseases that clients were talking about or the vets were talking about with their clients. So I think that was an important gap. And then the lack of communication between veterinarians and human medicine and other public health professionals, which is definitely a missed opportunity for collaboration and more communication on this topic.

Speaker 5: 3:36

Yeah, I mean I think it's a lot to capture a lot of the really salient points there. I mean we've known from other studies too that you know, veterinarians don't develop a lot of relationships with physicians or other healthcare professionals, and that goes both ways. It's the same from the physician side too, and so we've known this for a long time. But we've had a trouble bridging that gap, and so I think this study helps highlight the reasons why that's important. And then I think that disconnect between veterinarians and clients. Clients really want to talk about raw foods and external parasites, and we love to talk about lepto and rabies, right, and so there's certainly overlaps that happen there around you know ticks and disease prevention that way. But we need to try and be on the better page there and understand what the clients want to hear, not necessarily what they want to hear, but also how to make that connection.

Speaker 4: 4:20

Really great point and I think Sarah too, you know talking about influenza, this is just a pivotal time for veterinarians to really stand up and demonstrate all that we know about zoonotic diseases.

Speaker 5: 4:33

Yeah, I agree and I think you know, as Laga mentioned, one Health is very well known. You know, more than 80% of the practitioners knew about the One Health concept in our study, the One Health concept in our study but very few know what zoonotic diseases to report, right? So we know a lot about these zoonotic diseases in many cases and we were taught about them in school and in continuing education, but we still have a gap about, well, what do we actually need to report and who needs to know. I think is a piece that we can do better on.

Speaker 4: 4:59

Really great point, something you took in your accreditation in vet school.

Speaker 5: 5:12

So really good information Will, while I have you, what sparked your research interest in zoonotic diseases? Well, I think this has been an interest of mine since veterinary school. I think you know there's a continual emergence of diseases that we've seen over the last several decades, and it seems like more and more of those emergent diseases are zoonotic in nature. And so and I think the other thing in the US is we have such a close relationship with companion animals in our households too, and so there's a lot of unexplored areas of where those disease interface can happen right, and we don't always understand what that risk is in some cases.

Speaker 5: 5:43

And we're also veterinarians, we're unique experts in this area and we're good communicators. That's what we get to do every day most of the time in clinical practice is interact with our clients and try and convey very complex scientific topics to them, and often five or 10 minute increments, and so how can we be more knowledgeable and effective? I think is one of the pieces that I really am focused on and looking to talk to veterinary students here at University of Illinois is how can we actually improve our communication style? There's a lot of challenging communication topics, from antimicrobial resistance to zoonotic diseases to climate change. How can we try and be better communicators around those challenging topics and make sure clients take away what we hope that we want them to take away?

Speaker 4: 6:24

Yeah, it's an important topic. It's not just in the clinic itself, it's at the horse barn, it's at the grocery store, at the gym, at a cocktail party, and sometimes you just have to walk away with the misinformation here behind you.

Speaker 5: 6:38

Anytime you have veterinarian on your shirt or somewhere on you, you immediately get tagged. So yes, it's true.

Speaker 2: 6:49

So, Lagna, what inspired your passion for research, interest in zoonotic diseases? Yeah, so I'm not a veterinarian by training I have done. I just did my PhD in disease ecology and epidemiology and then way, way, way back I did a master's in public health and microbiology. So I was always interested in diseases and, like you, know what makes people sick. But I think through my research working on vector bone and tick bone diseases, I started getting really interested by how this really big world of zoonotic diseases and the fact that COVID happened in our lifetimes and the impact that it had in all our lifetimes, that was something that just made me realize that for me this was a really great field to be in, not just to do research but also to do a lot of outreach and scientific communication with different groups that I get to work with. So, and I was always interested in how, like Will said, occupational exposures and seeing that firsthand through this study was really an eye opening opportunity.

Speaker 4: 8:03

Well you were talking. It reminded me of a kind of creepy but book you might like. It's called Get Well Soon by Jennifer Wright. It talks about major plagues and epidemics and like historical over time and how they were handled and weren't handled. So maybe you and I share a little creepy interest in yeah, I'd have to check that out and a little self-serving for us Will. We're very grateful for this, but why did you choose to submit this manuscript to JAVMA?

Speaker 5: 8:38

Sure. So I mean we debated several different journals. You know, as Lagna mentioned, she comes from a different background. That's not veterinary medicine either, and although this was a survey of veterinarians, there's lots of other places we thought about putting this, but we really wanted the audience to be general practitioners and getting a wide range of those types of practitioners who had eyes on this study too. And so for that reason, I think JABMA is one of the best journals to put it in front of for those folks, because it is something that's widely read. Anybody who's an AVM member, you know, generally has Javma, and so it's a great piece to do that. And then I think for me I mean I've worked with Javma in previous iterations and this has been a really enjoyable experience working with Javma too Been very responsive from the editorial team, and I think it's been really useful how quickly this has been turned around and then featured, moving forward, useful how quickly this has been turned around and then featured moving forward.

Speaker 4: 9:29

Great Thank you for the pitch A little prompted, but that's okay. Yeah, I would add, we now probably have 105,000 members and we just did a journal survey. We're still iterating some of the responses, but 87% of AVMA members read print Javma still. It's really, really impressive. So it is the right place to put something like this that's important across all species. So thank you again for sharing it with us.

Speaker 5: 9:57

Yeah, happy to.

Speaker 4: 9:59

So Lagmir. Earlier Sarah asked you what were some of the most pivotal findings, and that might be different from this question. What were some of the surprising findings from your study?

Speaker 2: 10:09

Yeah, I think for me again, coming as an outsider in this research, it was a learning curve because I had to understand some of you know working with veterinarians what it entailed. But looking through the results, what I find surprising was we've seen that in some of the studies that were done from the cross-sectional work in some of the states and studies that have been done across the globe as well, that veterinarians tend to not follow always the best infection control measures. They were probably not wearing PPE always and I was surprised to see that because I know this is such a great highly educated group of you know professionals and you know this group is not following the you know the guidelines that they know. And then there was also that piece where they were actively also diagnosing zoonotic diseases in their clinics. So they are at risk as well. So like that disconnect was something that I was really surprised to see.

Speaker 3: 11:17

Yeah, I feel like sometimes we just almost get too comfortable in a way like, oh, I've been safe before, I'm going to be okay now. But it's a really good reminder for our listeners to always utilize the best biosecurity practices. We also strive for that, too, whenever we are promoting manuscripts. So when I'm selecting images to use, I always try to make sure that if people are touching animals, they're wearing gloves, et cetera. So I'm just trying to make sure that we're promoting the highest standards of care that we can.

Speaker 2: 11:41

Yeah, I spoke to some veterinary friends and I was talking to them about the study and they're like oh yeah, ringworm, oh yeah, we get it. All the time I was like okay.

Speaker 3: 11:55

Yeah, it's normal. You talk to your friends that aren't veterinarians about that and they're like what are you talking about? Like you did what today? And for those of you just joining us, we're discussing zoonotic diseases with our guests Will Sander and Slagna Chakraborty joining us. We're discussing zoonotic diseases with our guests Will Sander and Slagna Chakraborty. So now transitioning more to the personal side of things Will, how did your advanced training prepare you to write this manuscript?

Speaker 5: 12:18

Well, I mean, I have an MPH on top of my DVM, and so that public health training I think helped give me some of the background for survey design too. On top of that, I directed DVM-MPH program here, so the original initiator for this study was actually Annalisa Fama, who is a DVM-MPH student here at Illinois since is now a practicing veterinarian down here at Champaign-Urbana, and so I think those things really drove a lot of the study design. And how do we pull some of this literature together, and then also how to disseminate these surveys. I think we all get barraged by surveys all the time, and survey response rates are pretty low these days, which is fair enough. So how do you actually get it in front of the people that you want it to be in front of? So I mean, we utilize the Network of National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians, and having that connection there to disseminate across the 50 states, at least in some form or fashion, was at least one outlet to do that.

Speaker 3: 13:11

Yeah, lisa and I have learned a lot about survey research, just doing our own surveys for the journals to inform our next steps, to make sure everything's evidence-based. So it's been a steep learning curve, but a very, very useful one. And, slagna, how did your advanced training prepare you to write this manuscripts?

Speaker 2: 13:29

um, like I mentioned, I learned quite a lot about the veterinary world through this project, uh, but I have had some experience writing manuscripts, uh, while I was doing my phd and uh, I really like doing survey research and behavioral work because um brings to the forefront, like you know, human behaviors and perceptions of, specifically in diseases, because there might be risks already that we might not be able to control too much, but it's your behavior. If, if we can have some idea about behavior that can be modified and can have a protective effect, I think that is really remarkable. So I've worked with farmers and extension workers in Illinois regarding their beliefs on tick-borne diseases, so this was a great opportunity to learn about veterinarians' risk perceptions about zoonotic diseases. So that really came in handy while working on this manuscript.

Speaker 3: 14:32

Now this next set of questions is going to be really important for our listeners, Will. What is one piece of information the veterinarian should know before discussing zoonotic diseases with a client.

Speaker 5: 14:43

Yeah. So I think one of the big things I try and talk to whenever I give zoonotic disease talks at continuing education seminars, things like that is trying to ensure the client knows that they can have their physician contact, whoever their primary care provider is. Reach out to you as a veterinarian. I think that's a great way to try and encourage that opening of the dialogue between our two professions is going through the client professions is going through the client. And then I also really talk to people about. You know, if anyone in their house is under five years of age or potentially has some immune compromised situation, just be extra cautious because we don't always know about some of the disease risks that can happen with interacting with animals, even for a brief period of time, or they're in their house 24 seven. So I think those are the two big pieces that I would take away from from this and I was born out and looking at the study too.

Speaker 3: 15:32

I remember during our diagnostic medicine rotation they made us watch this really horrifying video. It's like called Animal FBI or something and it was about the small child getting roundworm from their puppy and then like going blind or something. It was meant to scare you into always talking about zoonotic potential of diseases when you're actually seeing clients and their patients. So that definitely stuck out to me during my veterinary training and really made us think about communicating zoonotic potential for certain ailments that you may treat. And on the other side of the relationship, salagna, what's one thing the general public should consider around zoonotic diseases?

Speaker 2: 16:09

I think, as a general public person myself, I don't have pets, but I'd like to have one day. But I think COVID has definitely, you know, brought to the forefront that you know you could get something from your companion animals and you could give it to them. So, like the whole concept of One Health it's. It is so like visibly evident that when we get sick, we need to be conscious about protecting ourselves as well as our animals, and vice versa. If our animals were to get sick, I think making sure that they receive the right and prompt care and also taking care of everybody who's close just goes to show that it's really important for, you know, reducing the overall burden of potential zoonotic diseases that can occur.

Speaker 4: 16:58

Well, thank you. We've certainly learned a lot from both of you, from your manuscript and even more today. So just learning a little bit about you as people. Salagna, what is the oldest or the most interesting item on your desk or in your desk drawer?

Speaker 2: 17:14

on your desk or in your desk drawer. So the most interesting item that I have is so. I write poetry sometimes and I am part of this group locally where they publish like a literary magazine and they published one of my poems. It's like half a poem, half a travelogue about my travels to Portugal some years ago to visit some friends. So that's right now the most interesting thing I have in my desk.

Speaker 2: 17:45

I have a lot of other random junk and papers and stuff that I have to do, but that stands out as the most interesting.

Speaker 4: 17:53

That's fascinating. We've definitely not gotten that answer before. And Will? What is your favorite animal fact?

Speaker 5: 18:01

I mean, I think I always like the idea of you know, the mammals have all, almost all mammals have seven cervical vertebrae, which I think is amazing to me, just given the diversity of sizes that we have, from giraffe, where they would be served a lot better to have way more than seven vertebrae to bend down and drink water and so having to spread their legs apart to do it. You know, all the way down to like a little elephant shrew, right? It's just kind of amazing from that standpoint. And then, for some reason, you know, manatees and sloths are the only ones who have variability in the cervical vertebrae, and so I think that's fascinating to me. Having worked a lot with avian species where they're all over the map with how many cervical vertebrae they have, I think that's a fascinating piece that a lot of the public don't always know either.

Speaker 3: 18:43

Yeah, that's pretty cool. Thanks for sharing. I don't think we've had an anatomy fact yet. Thank you again, Will and Salagna. We really appreciate your time for being here today and also for sharing your manuscript with JAPMA.

Speaker 2: 18:57

Thank you so much for having us and for this podcast opportunity.

Speaker 5: 19:01

Thank you very much, appreciate it.

Speaker 3: 19:03

And to our listeners. You can read Will and Salagna's current Someone Health article in print, javma or online using your favorite search engine. I'm Sarah Wright with Lisa Fortier. We want to thank each of you for joining us on this episode of the Veterinary Vertex podcast. We love sharing cutting edge veterinary research with you and we want to hear from you. Be sure to leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts or whatever platform you listen to.