One Health, One Voice: Medical, veterinary and environmental experts gather to discuss antimicrobial resistance
One Health encompasses human, animal, and environmental health and how they interlink. The increasing ability of harmful microbes to resist means to control them is a growing concern in all three spheres.
Earlier this month, experts and clinicians from the medical, veterinary, and environmental realms gathered together for the “One Health, One Voice for Antimicrobial Stewardship” conference at the Hotel Roanoke to share notes on the festering problems of antimicrobial resistance and ways to contain and combat it.
“The purpose this year was to bring together researchers from across various disciplines, working professionals in medical, veterinary and public health fields, and students to discuss regional issues in antimicrobial resistance and stewardship initiatives, and to provide interprofessional education and networking opportunities,” said Cassidy Rist, associate director of the Center for Public and Corporate Veterinary Medicine at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine and a conference organizer.
“Stewardship of antimicrobials in the various health care settings, veterinary clinics, and agriculture production systems is our best chance to limit the development of resistance, as researchers seek to identify novel antimicrobial drugs and develop alternatives to antimicrobial use,” Rist said.
Speakers came from veterinary colleges at Virginia Tech and North Carolina State as well as the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech, plus the Carilion Clinic medical hospital in Roanoke, the Virginia Department of Health, and Banfield Pet Hospital.
“Although medical, veterinary and environmental health sectors often focus on antimicrobial resistance issues from their own perspective, we can learn from each other and take an organized and holistic approach to both understanding and addressing this critical issue that is affecting us all,” Rist said.
Antimicrobial resistance and its threats to the control of deadly diseases can sometimes seem like another brick on a pile of weighty concerns at the regional, national and global level.
“The world is in chaos, with weather, with population shifts, with redistribution concerns, and with risks to funding sources,” noted Robert Trestman, chair of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine and head of research at Carilion Clinic, in opening remarks.
But conference participants aimed to find hope in sharing data across their fields of knowledge.
“We want to ask smarter questions, we want to bring in better data, so we can make better decisions,” said Elizabeth Nowak, a doctor in infectious diseases at Carilion Clinic.
Conference topics included antimicrobial resistance at the human-animal interface; antimicrobial resistance in agriculture and ecosystems; antimicrobial use and stewardship in food animals; and stewardship initiatives in veterinary and medical care.
“Resistant microbes and genes that confer resistance to microbes are spreading in hospital environments, veterinary clinics, farms, communities and ecosystems,” Rist said. “Hopefully, participants will take away the idea that antimicrobial resistance is truly a One Health problem that is impacting humans, animals, and the environments we share.”
