Letter

Quantifying the Interrelationship between Livestock Infections and Climate Change: Response to Ezenwa et al.

Understanding the effects of complex issues such as water scarcity on human society from the people's perspective is necessary to show how to adapt to these challenges. This research investigates and prioritizes the effects of water scarcity on the sustainability of rural communities through a mixed research methodology, including a case study and a survey in a semi-arid region, located in southern Iran. The results of using the Analytical Hierarchy Processing (AHP) technique showed that local people identify the economic dimension of sustainability as a priority dimension. Moreover, the alternative of unsustainability under water scarcity in the area received the highest priority and had a larger value than the sustainability alternative. This can be the result of the restricting international policies against Iran and the global climatic condition. Local communities, particularly farmers, perceive climate change and water scarcity as a global issue and a local challenge, which causes semi-arid areas to move towards unsustainability rather than sustainability. The sustainability of semi-arid areas under water scarcity requires climate change adaptation, appropriate long-term planning, and the removal of restricting international economic policies against nations.

Helminth infections of cattle place significant burdens on livestock production and farm economic efficiency. Heavy infections are relatively easy to detect and treat with anthelmintics. However, subclinical infections have major but often hidden impacts on animals, necessitating more refined diagnostics to detect them and ideally inform farmers about the likely impact of anthelmintic treatment on animal and herd performance. Here, we review recent advances in diagnosing three major cattle helminth infections – gastrointestinal nematodes (GINs), liver flukes, and lungworms – and the search for subclinical infection thresholds to guide treatment decisions. Combining refined diagnostic thresholds with farm-specific information on grazing systems and animal history enables farmers to tailor helminth treatments to specific epidemiological circumstances, thereby limiting anthelmintic resistance (AR) and boosting agricultural efficiency and food security.

Animal health is a prerequisite for global health, economic development, food security, food quality, and poverty reduction, while mitigating against climate change and biodiversity loss. We did a qualitative review of 53 infectious diseases in terrestrial animals with data from DISCONTOOLS, a specialist database and prioritisation model focusing on research gaps for improving infectious disease control in animals. Many diseases do not have any appropriate control tools, but the prioritisation model suggests that we should focus international efforts on Nipah virus infection, African swine fever, contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, peste des petits ruminants, sheeppox and goatpox, avian influenza, Rift Valley fever, foot and mouth disease, and bovine tuberculosis, for the greatest impact on the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. Easy to use and accurate diagnostics are available for many animal diseases. However, there is an urgent need for the development of stable and durable diagnostics that can differentiate infected animals from vaccinated animals, to exploit rapid technological advances, and to make diagnostics widely available and affordable. Veterinary vaccines are important for dealing with endemic, new, and emerging diseases. However, fundamental research is needed to improve the convenience of use and duration of immunity, and to establish performant marker vaccines. The largest gap in animal pharmaceuticals is the threat of pathogens developing resistance to available drugs, in particular for bacterial and parasitic (protozoal, helminth, and arthropod) pathogens. We propose and discuss five research priorities for animal health that will help to deliver a sustainable and healthy planet: vaccinology, antimicrobial resistance, climate mitigation and adaptation, digital health, and epidemic preparedness.