Bush School of Government & Public Service | Allen Building | Room 1110 | Dr. Gerald Parker
Please join us Friday, February 23rd at 12:20 pm at the Bush School of Government & Public Service (Allen Bldg Room 1110) for a talk co-hosted by the Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs. Dr. Gerald Parker, Associate Dean of Global One Health, will be speaking on the topic of Biological Threats: Outbreaks, Accidents, and Attacks.
Next-Generation Global Health Security Network Seminar Series:
Global Food Security: Is the veterinary profession contributing enough?
VBEC: VENI 101C | Dr. Corrie Brown
Please join us for the second installment of our Next-Generation Global Health Security Seminar Series. This seminar will feature Dr. Corrie Brown who is the Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor of Anatomic Pathology at University of Georgia’s College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Brown will speaking to the topic of “Global Food Security – Is the veterinary profession contributing enough?”
This seminar will be co-hosted by the Student One Health Association (SOHA), the Student Chapter of American College of Veterinary Pathologists (SCACVP), and the International Veterinary Student Association (IVSA).
Light lunch will be provided. Please register for the event.
Bush Presidential Library Orientation Theater | Dr. Joseph Fair
Jan. 30, 2018 | 12–1 pm
VBEC: VENI 106A | Panel Discussion
Next-Generation Global Health Security Network Seminar Series:
Translational Research & Development for One Health: Locally & Globally
Please join us on Tuesday, January 30th for the inaugural installment of our Next Generation Global Health Security Seminar Series. Our first seminar will focus on Translational Research & Development for One Health: Locally & Globally.
The panel discussion will feature:
The panel will be moderated by:
Light lunch will be provided. Please register for the event.
KAMU-TV | Dr. Gerald Parker
As a part of Texas A&M’s College of Architecture Innovative Healthy Communities Lecture Series, Dr. Gerald Parker gave a lecture on the importance of Global One Health. The event was aired on PBS.
Don’t miss out on this exciting new course opportunity for interdisciplinary field experience in One Health. Applications are due May 1st, 2018.
VENI 106A | Col. Randall Larsen, USAF (Ret), Producer/Director
Operation Whitecoat refers to a biomedical research program conducted by the United States Army during the Cold War. 2,300 individuals volunteered themselves to participate in experiments meant to develop countermeasures to the Soviet Union’s bio-warfare program. Although most of us are unaware of this historical contribution to science, the implications of these studies and their participants are still resonating in the research community today.
Come watch a documentary on this subject with us and then engage in a discussion with our panel, including the movie’s director, Randall Larsen.
As light movie snacks will be provided, please RSVP for the event.
Special thanks to Aimee-Joy Cork and Jade Haberman for their organizing efforts.
Originally published in October 2017 Dean’s Corner. View original article here.
Students at the Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVM) learn early in their training about diverse career paths. Recently, Dr. Michelle M. Colby, a veterinarian and scientist who has walked a unique path, visited campus and made time to present, speak, and network with veterinary, undergraduate, and postgraduate students, as well as staff and faculty.
In her talk, Colby emphasized the importance of addressing societal needs through interdisciplinary and cross agency teams, consensus building, and the importance of continuing to develop new international programs in the U.S.
She also shared information about several externship and fellowship opportunities in the field of foreign animal disease modeling and countermeasures.
The students were very interested to learn from Colby how they could become involved, according to Rosina “Tammi” Krecek, research professor of Global One Health.
Colby currently serves as the branch chief for agricultural defense in the Chemical and Biological Defense (CBD) Division of the Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency at the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate in Washington, D.C.
She is responsible for managing all of CBD’s research and development efforts related to agricultural defense, including programs in foreign animal disease modeling and advanced development of veterinary countermeasures.
Before joining DHS in 2009, Colby served as the assistant director for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear countermeasures in the Homeland and National Security Division of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), for which she managed all of the OSTP’s work, coordinating research and development on countermeasures to chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats.
Her career began at OSTP as a fellow under the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) /Nuclear Threat Initiative Global Security Fellow in October of 2003.
Prior to joining the OSTP, Colby was a post-doctoral research fellow at the Maryland campus of the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine (VMRCVM), where her research focused on the use of geographic information system databases in the management of infectious diseases of livestock and poultry.
Colby received her Bachelor of Science degree in animal science from the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore, her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from the VMRCVM, and her Master of Science degree in epidemiology from the University of Maryland, along with a certificate of residency for completion of the three-year applied veterinary epidemiology training program.
The Texas A&M Global One Health Initiative is dedicated to the discovery, development, communication, and application of knowledge in a wide range of academic and professional fields, providing the highest quality undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs to prepare students to assume roles in leadership, responsibility, and service to society.
Article originally published in October 2017 Dean’s Corner. View original story here.
Texas A&M graduate students from Iraq had the unique opportunity to learn about biosafety and biosecurity with experts from the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVM), TAMU Global One Health, and the CVM’s Department of Veterinary Pathobiology (VTPB), in partnership with Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico, on July 26-28 during the first Biorisk Management Workshop.
The three-day activity included 30 Iraqi biological science and engineering graduate students, as well as additional faculty, staff, and external experts. Members of the lead team are Angela Arenas, VTPB assistant professor; Rosina “Tammi” Krecek, research professor of Global One Health; and Gerald Parker, associate dean of Global One Health.
The workshop, themed “Empower,” was designed to promote a foundational knowledge about biothreat reduction to better prepare students to conduct their own scientific research through safe and secure methods. The impact and implications of this capacity-building will be carried back to Iraq when the students return to their home country after completing of their TAMU degrees.
“This workshop contributes to the mission of engaging cooperative international research and training partnerships to reduce the threat to the U.S. and to global health security from the spread of pathogens of security concern,” Krecek said. “These include U.S. Biological Select Agents and pathogens of pandemic potential, emerging, and reemerging infectious diseases.”
Key elements of the workshop included: orientation on biosafety and biosecurity; risk mitigation strategies; ethics in biological and multi-disciplinary research; performance assessment; TAMU and external keynote speakers; and collection of workshop evaluation/feedback. The workshop also included experiential and interactive components, including networking lunches and a networking dinner.
Another goal of the workshop was to assess future training needs and desires within the Iraqi student population at TAMU, according to Krecek.
“This first workshop has strengthened and established a community of Iraqi scholars conscious of biorisk management issues ready to collaborate now and into the future with one another and with faculty/staff at TAMU and at Sandia National Laboratories,” Krecek said. “Assessing the training needs and desires of these next-generation leaders in scientific research in Iraq will enable effective planning for future workshops to build long-term capacity.”
The Texas A&M Global One Health programs work to address societal needs through sustainable solutions with an interdisciplinary approach at the intersect of animal, human, and environmental health.
Article originally published on The Conversation. View original story here.
Even as the floodwaters from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma begin to recede, significant but less obvious health threats remain. The standing water the storms have left behind will almost certainly cause an explosion of the mosquito population.
In addition to the already difficult task of recovery, the affected areas will need to stem the mosquito population growth to avoid the potential for a disease outbreak.
As experts with diverse research and government experience, we believe mosquito prevention and control measures must be given high priority and incorporated into long-term hurricane recovery operations.
Eleven cases of Zika have been confirmed this year in the Houston area alone, although none of these were locally transmitted, and Florida has reported 33 symptomatic cases. Zika virus is a disease spread to humans primarily through the bite of infected Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. The infection often occurs without causing any symptoms.
In the continental United States, the two areas where Aedes aegypti have the most favorable climates to thrive are exactly southeastern Texas and south Florida.
The greatest threat posed by Zika is the risk of infection among pregnant women. Previous outbreaks of the disease have shown there is an association between Zika infection during pregnancy and babies born with microcephaly. The birth of infants with incomplete brain development creates a long-term public health challenge that extends far beyond the immediate outbreak.
Although the current number of confirmed cases of Zika in Florida and Texas is not large, the growth of the Aedes aegypti mosquito greatly increases the chance the disease will begin to spread. Each case of Zika presents the opportunity for the disease to begin circulating in the local mosquito population.
While Zika is the greatest concern, dengue fever, Chikungunya virus and yellow fever are also spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito. In all cases, of course, the disease must be present in an area for mosquitoes to transfer it, but like Zika, dengue fever is already present in Texas and Florida. Since Houston and Miami are both large international hubs, it is possible for almost any vector-borne disease to be introduced by travelers.
The breeding ground for mosquitoes is not actually the large, sometimes deep blanket of floodwaters, most of which recedes fairly quickly. Small bodies of left-behind water, such as that in a dog’s water bowl, become ideal breeding areas. Unless these breeding sites are emptied, there could be tens of thousands of new breeding grounds in the cities of Houston and Miami alone.
This presents a special kind of public health challenge in the wake of the storms. In some areas, people may not return to their homes for a long time. Government and response agencies must figure out a way to eliminate standing water in order to prevent mosquito breeding grounds.
However, almost all of the breeding grounds will be on private property, with no one present to either dump the waters or authorize the government to do so. Moreover, Houston is home to more than half a million undocumented immigrants, who may not be likely to cooperate with authorities, even if they are in their homes, for fear of prosecution or deportation.
Vaccines and antivirals are not available to prevent or treat Zika and other mosquito-borne viral diseases, such as dengue fever and Chikungunya virus. There is a licensed vaccine for yellow fever, but vaccines will be in short supply if outbreaks occur.
The U.S. Air Force Reserve began aerial spraying of Dibrom (also called Naled) in Harris County, home to Houston, on September 14. Florida was already spraying Dibrom before the storms. The goal of aerial spraying is to reduce the mosquito burden to prevent mosquito-borne disease and to also to allow recovery work to move forward. In some areas, mosquitoes occur in such large numbers that they occur in swarms, which prevent recovery workers from carrying out crucial repairs.
The EPA rates the chemical safe for humans, especially because it is sprayed in very low volumes, where a single person or animal is unlikely to come into contact with enough of the chemical for it to have substantial side effects, while it kills adult mosquitoes on contact. The known side effects are mild. As with any chemical spraying, however, it is possible only in limited amounts and so alone cannot stem the mosquito population growth.
Pesticide use for large community-wide aerial spraying is also controversial, and aerial spraying will have only a modest effect on the disease carrying Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in any case. The Aedes aegypti as a species has adapted closely to human habitats, particularly cities, where aerial sprays do not reach well and their eggs can survive for months. In fact, the areas of Harris County that authorities are spraying do not include most of the city of Houston.
Aerial spraying is thus only a partial solution. While spraying is necessary to curb the adult population of mosquitoes, it cannot do so in urban area and it does not prevent further breeding. Dumping the water that creates breeding grounds is crucial to successfully curbing the risk of a disease outbreak, but it, too, is insufficient by itself.
Dr. Tom Frieden, the former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, once said that “Zika and other diseases spread by Aedes aegypti are really not controllable with current technologies.”
Academic research, university extension services, public health institutions and government working in tandem to develop new tools to combat the growing threat of vector-borne diseases – all are crucial to the recovery in Texas and Florida, and to better prepare for hurricanes in the future.
Authors:
