Summary
The
need for quality and timely animal disease information, including
data on zoonoses, has become more crucial than ever, not only for
animal health stakeholders but also for the general public worldwide.
Since its creation in 1924, the World organisation for animal health
(OIE: Office International des Épizooties) has played
an active role in sharing disease information among countries and
in the prevention and control of animal and zoonotic disease spread.
Recently, the OIE established a single list of animal diseases with
new criteria for inclusion in this list. The overriding criterion
for a disease to be listed is its potential for international spread.
Other criteria include its zoonotic potential or its capacity for
significant spread within naive populations. Special attention is
paid to the detection and listing of emerging infectious animal
diseases. Member countries are obliged to submit immediate notifications
and follow-up reports if infections of the listed diseases or exceptional
epidemiological events occur within their country. Early warning
of emerging and re-emerging animal diseases is essential for prompt
precautionary measures to be taken, at national and international
levels, to protect both animal and human health. At times, a proactive
approach is required to ensure greater transparency. For the past
few years the OIE has been examining different sources of unofficial
information on disease outbreaks. These are analysed and if necessary,
verified. One of the external sources of information used by the
OIE to improve transparency is ProMED-mail, an internet-based reporting
system that derives its data from a comprehensive range of official
and unofficial sources, the media and on-site observers. Free of
political constraint and staffed by professionals to ensure credibility,
it is able to post very rapid preliminary and unofficial reports
and summaries.
Keywords
Animal
diseases, Early notification, Early warning, Emerging diseases,
Information systems, International organisations, ProMED-mail, Regional
organisations, World organisation for animal health, Zoonoses. |