One Health

Compassion fatigue is a well-documented hazard among healthcare and veterinary professionals, yet the psychological toll on informal caregivers of feral cat colonies, likely numbering several tens of thousands in Portugal, remains largely unexplored. This cross-sectional study examines internal and external factors associated with the secondary traumatic stress component of compassion fatigue among 172 informal caregivers in Portugal. Secondary traumatic stress refers to work-related secondary e...

Pathogenic spillovers from animals into humans have catalyzed epidemics throughout history. They result from multiple factors. One such factor, human-animal contact, remains poorly understood. Current studies often neglect variability in human-animal engagements across ecological zones and the broader processes bringing people, animals, and pathogens into engagement. We investigated factors and longer-term processes shaping human-animal contacts and risks of zoonotic spillover in a region experi...

Candida auris is a multidrug-resistant fungal pathogen that presents substantial challenges for healthcare facilities due to its high mortality rates among vulnerable populations. Six C. auris clades have been identified based on their susceptibility to antifungal treatment and environmental stressors. Identifying the circulating C. auris clade(s) is critical for understanding transmission and selecting a disease control strategy. To inform targeted implementation of community wastewater monitor...

Monkeypox viral disease has been and continues to be a global public health concern. Currently, there are existing, though minimal measures to manage mpox and any future outbreaks. Relying on data-driven modeling for early detection of mpox and prediction of possible cases and deaths in the presence of an outbreak is thus imperative. The present study forecasted global mpox virus cases and deaths in Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, North America, Oceania, and South America. Three forecasting mod...

BackgroundNontyphoidal Salmonella enterica (NTS) is a major public-health threat in the United States of America (U.S.). Evaluating associations between serovars, exposure sources, and settings in multistate outbreaks can reveal the drivers of NTS transmission and guide prioritization of targeted prevention and control strategies. MethodsWe analyzed multistate animal-contact NTS outbreaks reported to the CDC National Outbreak Reporting System during 2009-2022. We calculated incidence rates per ...

Measles outbreaks have surged globally in recent years, but current surveillance systems have limited capacity to monitor measles virus (MeV) transmission and evolution at population scale. Although MeV can be detected in wastewater, the public health potential of wastewater genomic surveillance for MeV remains largely unexplored. Here, we deploy sensitive, low-cost MeV wastewater genomic surveillance combining virus concentration, whole-genome amplicon sequencing, and bioinformatic analysis alo...

BackgroundWhile veterinary surgeons are known to have particularly high rates of injury compared to other sectors, little is known about rates of injury among veterinary students. This study aims to understand animal-related injury rates, injury context and mechanisms, attitudes to reporting injuries, and behaviour change among UK and Irish veterinary students. MethodsA survey was distributed to students across all veterinary schools operating in the UK and Ireland in 2021. Questions explored p...

BackgroundComprehensive data on the prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection and its associated risk factors among patients with gastrointestinal symptoms remain limited. Generating this evidence would help inform clinical management and improve antibiotic stewardship. H. pylori infection affects a substantial proportion of the global population, with prevalence varying widely across regions. In Uganda, previous studies have documented the presence of H. pylori infection. However, data specif...

Wastewater monitoring enables non-invasive, population-scale tracking of community infections independent of healthcare-seeking behavior and clinical diagnosis. Metagenomic sequencing extends this capability by enabling broad, pathogen-agnostic detection, genomic characterization, and identification of novel or unexpected threats. Here, we present data from CASPER (the Coalition for Agnostic Sequencing of Pathogens from Environmental Reservoirs), a U.S.-based wastewater metagenomic sequencing ne...

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing problem, with annual deaths set to pass 10 million by 2050 if current trends continue. Wastewater surveillance has been proposed as a strategy to understand population-level resistance, and water reclamation facilities (WRFs) have been identified as a control point for environmental dissemination of resistant bacteria. Understanding dynamics of AMR across WRFs requires advanced molecular tools that elucidate host bacteria, especially for mobile resista...

Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) circulating among clinically relevant bacteria pose serious challenges to public health. Given the ancient and environmental bacterial origins of ARGs, a better understanding of the carriers of ARGs beyond the clinically most relevant species is urgently needed for more farsighted resistance monitoring and intervention measures. While the risks of emerging ARGs from environmental sources have been recognized, the identification bottlenecks stem from the limitat...

Robust early warning of emerging viruses requires sampling populations that drive spread coupled with assays capable of detecting new viral variants or species. Untargeted viral metagenomic sequencing can, in principle, detect any virus, including completely novel ones. Composite airplane wastewater enables monitoring long-distance travelers from central collection points; however, the performance of untargeted viral metagenomic sequencing in this sample type remains unknown. In municipal wastew...

IntroductionBuruli ulcer (BU) is a neglected tropical disease primarily affecting skin and sometimes bone. Standard therapy consists of rifampicin (RIF, once daily) plus clarithromycin (CLA, twice daily) over 8 weeks. Adding amoxicillin-clavulanate (AMX/CLV) may shorten treatment, but predicting treatment success before clinical trial implementation is challenging. AimsTo assess the probability of bacterial eradication following treatment with novel investigational BU regimens over different in...

Automated outbreak detection can enhance infectious disease surveillance by enabling early identification of outbreaks and supporting timely public health measures. However, information on its current use by national public health institutes (NPHI) remains limited. This paper provides an updated and extended overview of automated outbreak detection usage in the European Union (EU) and United Kingdom (UK). Key findings were gathered through the Joint Action United4Surveillance via an online surve...

BackgroundAntimicrobial resistance particularly from extended-spectrum {beta}-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (ESBL-PE) is a critical global public health threat, contributing significantly to infection-related mortality. The human intestinal tract is a key reservoir for ESBL-PE, and exposure to antibiotics can disrupt the gut microbiota, thereby making it easier for these pathogens to colonize the intestine. Colonized individuals are at risk of developing subsequent infections and can si...

BackgroundLittle is known about the scope of challenges faced by hospitalized pet owners and their impact on medical decision-making and utilization of health services. ObjectivesTo assess challenges associated with pet care (PC) among hospitalized pet owners and characterize associations between reported challenges, patient characteristics, and adherence to treatment. MethodsPet owners in inpatient or ED settings were surveyed about PC challenges experienced during current and prior hospitali...

AbstractsO_ST_ABSBackgroundC_ST_ABSAccurate dengue forecasting is vital for public health preparedness. Despite a surge in forecasting approaches, a quantitative ranking of the relative performance and practical utility of dengue forecasting is lacking. MethodsA systematic review and Network Meta-Analysis (NMA) of studies comparing dengue forecasting methods (2014-2024) was conducted. Models were categorised into five groups: Time Series, Deep Learning (DL), Machine Learning (excluding DL), Hyb...

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing global public health threat projected to cause up to 10 million deaths annually by 2050 if no immediate action is taken. While misuse and overuse of antibiotics are the main drivers of increasing AMR, the eco-evolutionary dynamics of AMR in the environment - particularly across the urban-rural continuum - remain poorly understood. Using shotgun sequencing, we investigated urban, farm, and rural water sources in the Berlin-Brandenburg region to explore ...

BackgroundAntimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major global health threat, with sub-Saharan Africa bearing a disproportionate burden. Community-level antibiotic dispensing practices remain poorly described in Kenya outside Nairobi. MethodsA total of 504 antibiotic dispensing events were prospectively recorded across 22 community pharmacies in Kakamega County, western Kenya, between 3rd and 22nd August 2025. Data collected included dispensing source (over-the-counter [OTC] versus prescription), c...

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed major vulnerabilities of hospital capacity and management worldwide, particularly in intensive care units (ICUs) and emergency rooms (ER), imposing prompt adaptation and resource reallocation. Although SARS-CoV-2 is no longer endangering healthcare systems, winter seasons continue to bring recurrent overload of critical care services, primarily due to respiratory infections. In France e.g., this pattern led to the reactivation of the national emergency response plan...