The Animal Health Task Force of the Cooperative Program in Agricultural Research and Technology (PROCINORTE) of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture (IICA) held a tri-national workshop in Mexico City, October 11-13, 2016, on vector-borne animal diseases, with the participation of scientists and regulators from Canada, the United States of America and Mexico.
Ottawa, Canada. The current trend of global warming is influencing the distribution and nature of animal and human diseases in the world. North America is a vast territory with diverse climatic conditions which influence the ecological framework for the presence and distribution of etiologic agents of disease and their biological vectors. Globalization of trade practices and international travel are contributing to the redistribution of vectors of human and animal diseases, and a number of them represent significant public health threats which require close monitoring to understand the risk they represent and to be able to develop preventative strategies to their introduction into new geographical areas and control practices once they have been introduced.
Among the diseases and their biological vectors which were discussed, were bovine babesiosis, equine piroplasmosis, bovine anaplasmosis, re-emerging arthropod-borne diseases like bluetongue, epidemic hemorrhagic disease, vesicular stomatitis and public health threats like Rift Valley Fever. Public health strategies to monitor de nature and distribution of disease vectors like mosquitoes were also discussed.
A number of tri-national collaborative research themes were discussed and research project proposals will be developed in the coming weeks to strengthen the ongoing collaboration between our three countries under the umbrella of PROCINORTE’s vision to strengthen collaboration on agricultural issues in areas of tri-lateral interest for Canada, Mexico and the United States, contributing to prevent and solve problems related to agricultural issues in North America.
PROCINORTE’s mission include promoting dialogue to identify priority research issues common to the three countries, to influence regional, hemispheric and global agendas and to facilitate the exchange of experiences, information and training through the building of linkages between the major research and technology transfer actors in the region, hemisphere and the world. PROCINORTE also facilitates the collaboration among our three countries to solve problems of mutual interest. The Animal Health Task Force’s workshop on vector-borne animal diseases was a successful initiative which fits perfectly within PROCINORTE’s vision and mission.
By: Dr. Jose Lopez, member of the Animal Health Task Force of PROCINORTE.
More information: audia.barnett@iica.int
