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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

John Herbold, DVM, MPH, PhD, University of Texas School of Public Health, San Antonio Regional Campus, University of Texas Health Science Center Houston, 8550 Datapoint, Suite 200, San Antonio, TX 78229, 210-562-5509, john.r.herbold@uth.tmc.edu

The use of animals as sentinels of human disease revolves around the concept of nidality. That is, an agent of disease occupies a particular ecologic niche and alterations in that niche will change the function of that agent relative to traditional host-agent-environment relationships. Application of the concept of nidality and development of prevention strategies has most frequently been associated with military campaigns and interruption of tick-borne infections. Modern usage of the phrase “one-medicine” was popularized in the United States and Europe by Calvin Schwabe and the concept is attributed to Rudolph Virchow. It is applied today to the study of zoonotic disease and interventions in rural agricultural communities that share close living arrangements between people and their families, their pastoral work environment, and the animals for whom they care.

Integration of the two concepts of one-medicine and nidality provides an opportunity to apply a systems approach to a better understanding and recognition of potential bioterrorism incidents. This presentation will introduce an epidemiological paradigm developed in the training of primary care providers to increase their index of suspicion when confronted with a potential clinical case resulting from a bioterrorism incident.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the concept of nidality and natural history of disease agents.
• Recognize the implications of different clinical presentations of a disease in the epidemiology of that condition.
• Apply epidemiologic principles to the recognition of potential bioterrorism events.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation