Story by Erin Prater

The interconnection of the well-being of all living things has been the focus of the annual One Health and Zoonoses Conference for the last 50 years. The conference was held in person for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic on April 10 in Colorado’s capital.

Roughly 200 professionals and students attended the daylong event, including members of state and local health departments, state wildlife departments, state and national agriculture departments, universities and law enforcement agencies. Representatives from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency — as well as from governments and universities in Maryland, Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas, Illinois and Wyoming — were also present.

Held at the CSU Spur campus in downtown Denver, the conference was hosted by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, or CDPHE, the One Health Institute and the Rockies and High Plains Vector-borne Diseases Center, both housed at Colorado State University. The annual conference strengthens partnerships between medical and veterinary professionals, public health officials, biologists, animal control officers, scientists, professors, researchers and others whose work concerns the health of people, animals and the environment.

“We interact with the animal world on a daily basis — it impacts almost every part of our lives,” said CDPHE Chief Medical Officer Ned Calonge during the conference’s opening remarks.

Infectious disease the tip of the iceberg

Calonge encouraged attendees to “understand and embrace the concept of One Health beyond that of just zoonoses and the negative impacts we see as clinicians and public health officials — and try to think about how we can work together.”

Many assume that One Health — a multidisciplinary approach that emphasizes the connection between the well-being of people, animals and the environment — is primarily focused on zoonoses, or pathogens that can spread between animals and humans. It is one area that benefits from the holistic approach, and much of the conference centered on infectious diseases impacting Colorado, including rabies, avian flu and tuberculosis.

However, implementation of the One Health approach is much broader. Nearly a third of the sessions at the conference focused on other topics such as the impact of “forever chemicals” on farms, disaster response and the aerobiome — the bacteria, fungi, algae and other organisms that exist in the air.

“One Health is not just focused on diseases — the approach can be used to address many complex problems,” said Dr. Maggie Baldwin, state veterinarian with the Colorado Department of Agriculture, during a talk about the potential impact of “forever chemicals” via agriculture — through fertilizers, contaminated water, soil deposits and the air.

Dr. Kalinda Gupta, a veterinarian and a managing member of OneHealth Analytics and Consulting, spoke about the importance of preparing animal owners for disasters like fires, floods and other emergencies — and the need for coordinated interdisciplinary response when such events occur.

“When the environment changes, you have stressed people and stressed animals that are now co-mingling in one shelter area,” she said. “This can lead to challenges such as increased risk for shared diseases. Sudden evacuation also increases the potential for injury.”

One Health a ‘core value’ at CSU

A half century ago, when the One Health and Zoonoses Conference launched, the gathering lasted half a day. It was predominantly attended by local public health and animal control officials and held in the library of the Tri-County Health Department in Westminster, said John Pape, a retired CDPHE epidemiologist. And it focused primarily on rabies, the “poster child” for zoonotic diseases.

But soon, the gathering began to expand — the number of people who attended, the variety of professions represented, the length of the event and the breadth of topics it covered.

The symposium will continue to be vital the next 50 years and beyond, Pape said, because “One Health and zoonoses will remain an area of interest and need.” An estimated 60% of known pathogens that affect humans originate in animals, in addition to an estimated 75% of emerging ones.

“New diseases keep popping up; the old ones don’t go away,” said Pape, adding that the conference provides a vital service by uniting professionals from an array of disciplines.

One Health is a “priority at Colorado State University,” said Cass Mosley, vice president for research at Colorado State University, in closing remarks at the conference. “It’s in our academic master plan. It’s something we consider a core strength and a core value.”

Interagency collaboration and visions of well-being left conference attendees excited to continue this work. But facilitating health for every living organism is hard work, as Mosley pointed out — “for many reasons, not the least of which is it requires us to work across disciplines and diverse perspectives.”

Mosley added: “One Health is incredibly compelling, but it requires us to step outside of our comfort zone.”