Bush Meat & Zoonotic Disease

1. Bush Meat & Zoonotic Disease Proactive Solutions for a Dynamic Environment College of African Wildlife Management Mweka, Tanzania July 2008

2. Overview • Bush Meat and Zoonotic Disease • The Link • Global Viral Forecasting Initiative • Solutions • Disease Prevention & Response • Monitoring & Surveillance • Diagnosis • Response

3. Bush Meat and Zoonotic Disease • The problem… from a public health perspective: • Wildlife populations frequently harbor, often silently, zoonotic disease pathogens • Bush meat hunting places people in intimate contact with wildlife blood/tissues and increases risks of disease transmission

4. Livestock and Zoonotic Disease • Livestock may serve as intermediaries of zoonotic disease transmission between wildlife and humans • Cases of Avian Influenza and Nipah virus • Livestock holders at-risk for zoonoses

5. Zoonoses that have jumped from wildlife reservoirs to humans through bush meat hunting/consumption in Africa HIV Ebola Virus Marburg Virus Monkeypox Virus Simian Foamy Virus Bush Meat and Zoonotic Disease

6. Wolfe, ND. Et al. Emerging Infectious Diseases. Vol. 11. No. 12. December 2005; 1822 - 27.

7. Bush Meat Consumption • In Cameroon: • new timber concessions • new roads to access the resources • increased demand for animal protein • Across income classes in Cameroon, ~ 9% of meat budget is spent on bush meat (International Institute of Tropical Agriculture) • Western Serengeti, Tanzania: • Bush meat comprised 55-95% of meat protein requirements (Barnett, R. TRAFFIC East/Southern Africa. 2000) Increased Bush Meat Consumption

8. Bush Meat Consumption • Congo Basin: • Bush meat consumption estimated at >282 g/person/day; annual extraction > 4.5 million tons (Fa JE, et. al. Conservation Biology 2002:16: 232-7) • Central Africa Overall: • Estimate: ~ 579 million animals off-take as bush meat (Fa JE, et. al. In: Conservation of Exploited Species. Cambridge University Press. 2003 203-241)

9. Bush Meat Issue Biodiversity Conservation Efforts Economy Global Public Health Bush Meat: The Broader Context

10. Bush Meat and Zoonotic Disease Transmission • Risk Factors: • Pathogen Prevalence • Human and Wildlife Interaction via hunting, slaughtering and butchering • Environmental Change that facilitates human/wildlife interaction • Human Behavior A.Asamoah/GWS

11. Bush Meat and Zoonotic Disease Transmission • Pathogen Prevalence • Pool of available, circulating pathogens • Propensity for pathogen sustainability within wildlife populations (animal to animal) • Pathogen affinity for human host • RNA viruses • High mutation and recombination rates

12. Bush Meat and Zoonotic Disease Transmission • Human and Wildlife Interaction • Highest risks associated with hunting nonhuman primates, particularly chimpanzees • Risks increase associated with level of contact: • Opening the Carcass (Butchering/Dressing) • Preparing and Cooking Meats • Transport • Sale UWSC

13. Environmental Change Climate change Natural resource extraction Agricultural encroachment Loss of habitat Human and Animal Population Dynamic Shifts Bush Meat and Zoonotic Disease Transmission

14. Bush Meat and Zoonotic Disease Transmission • Human Behavior • Human Migration • Population Growth • Protein Poor Diets • Social and Cultural Practices (traditional medicines) • Wildlife/Exotic Animal Trade A.Asamoah/GWS

15. Bush Meat and Zoonotic Disease Transmission • Global Viral Forecasting Initiative • Pilot project of Dr. Nathan Wolfe (UCLA/UCSF) • Goal: forecast potential viral outbreaks before they reach epidemic status (e.g. HIV) • Working collaboratively with hunters to identify previously unknown viruses • Animal blood samples (hunter-collected) screened for unknown viral gene sequences • Create data bank of animal viruses

16. Global Viral Forecasting Initiative • Screening at-risk populations (hunters, market vendors) for viral antibodies as sentinel of virus exposure • Simian Foamy Virus found in Cameroonian hunters; however no human-human transmission to date • Matching idiopathic human illness with possible viral etiologies

17. Global Viral Forecasting Initiative • “Viral Chatter” • Continual low-level interchange of genetic information amongst viral subtypes • Recombined viruses may acquire novel properties (human-human transmission) that make them particularly dangerous • Monitoring “viral chatter” and early identification of outbreak potential

18. Global Viral Forecasting Initiative • Overarching themes: • Where is the next infectious disease pandemic likely to originate? • What does the data tell us about global “hot spots” of emerging infectious disease: where should we concentrate our resources? • How might we expect it to behave? • Can we mobilize resources in advance to be proactive rather than reactive in our response? • Link viral characteristics (e.g. surface proteins) with pandemic potential • Establish disease surveillance systems focused at these “hot spots” that target the human/animal interface

19. How can we limit opportunities for infectious disease transmission at the human/wildlife interface? Decrease host density (people and livestock) available to the pool of circulating pathogens Equip and protect populations at highest risk of exposure to pathogens Bush Meat and Disease Transmission

20. Bush Meat and Disease Transmission • Decreasing host density available to pathogens • Low impact natural resource extraction (e.g. logging) that seeks to limit human/wildlife interaction • Limiting new road construction into wildlife habitat • Roads increase range of existing hunting areas and open new areas to hunting • Promote sustainable agricultural practices that meet nutritional demands and improve livelihoods • High yield crops • Irrigated agriculture where appropriate • Discourage clearing of new lands, particularly fringe areas and park boundaries ZSL

21. Equip and protect populations at risk of exposure: Education Training Awareness Campaigns Personal Protective Equipment Target At-Risk Populations: Hunters Market Vendors/ Middlemen Park Rangers & Wildlife Officials Timber Workers Veterinarians/Animal Health Workers Bush Meat and Disease Transmission

22. Bush Meat and Disease Transmission • Keys to success: • Education • Including schoolchildren • Training/Outreach/Awareness • Enforcement • Adequate Nutrition • Alternative Livelihoods A.Asamoah/GWS

23. Best Policy: Avoid Contact with Wildlife N.Wolfe N.Wolfe

24. Bush Meat and Disease:Education and Awareness • Messages must be carefully crafted and focused: • Reality of health risks as means of deterring bush meat hunting • Consideration of costs associated with bush meat hunting • Medical and transportation costs to treat illness • loss of income/productivity due to illness or death • cultural ostracism • fines/legal action • Active hunting will not control disease prevalence

25. Provide information that will limit disease transmission opportunities Hunters should: Avoid visibly sick animals Use personal protective equipment (gloves, masks, etc…) Avoid high risk butchering practices Seek medical help immediately upon signs of illness Bush Meat and Disease: Education and Awareness UWSC

26. Locations for Outreach: Bush Meat Markets Urban Markets Livestock Markets Stops Along Trade and Transport Routes Schools Government Offices Veterinarians Hospitals Campaigns Must: Have Good Penetration to Target Audience Be Easily Understood Be Able to Respond to Community Needs Be Culturally Sensitive Flexible and Adaptable Based Upon Feedback Bush Meat and Disease: Education and Awareness

27. Bush Meat and Refugee Camps • Camps may be in environmentally sensitive areas, predisposing to bush meat hunting (Kagera & Kigoma camps, Tanzania) • Bush meat viewed as: • Source of cheap, often preferred, protein • Source of income for populations stressed & limited by displacement • Refugee camp populations at higher risk: • Inadequate nutrition/Protein poor diets • Higher rates of illness and poverty • High host density = rapid pathogen transmission

28. Bush Meat and Refugee Camps • Solutions: • Improving placement of refugee camps • Future camps should avoid wildlife migration routes • Ensuring nutritional/protein requirements of populations are met • Subsidized livestock based meats and eggs • Better wildlife management practices in bordering parks and game reserves • Providing livelihood solutions • Agricultural trainings and inputs • Increased emphasis on self-reliance

29. Addressing Disease Emergence Prevention and Response Solutions • Monitoring & Surveillance • Diagnosis • Response

30. Disease Monitoring & Surveillance • Surveillance: • The collection, analysis and interpretation of data to confirm disease presence, identify trends, and guide actions to control disease • Community Based Disease Surveillance • Utilizes trained community members to detect and report cases using standard diagnostic criteria

31. Community-Based Disease Surveillance • Allows surveillance under conditions of poor infrastructure, large coverage areas, and inadequate veterinary resources • Contributes to disease database compilation • Provides feedback to local community on disease trends, risks, outbreak prevention strategies • May be extended to include vaccination/treatment delivery by local community members

32. Community-Based Disease Surveillance • Strengths: • Improves diagnostic sensitivity • Allows real-time ongoing monitoring with minimal resources at minimal cost • Fosters community education and awareness • Weaknesses: • High error rate: requires clearly defined case definitions • First stage in outbreak detection: laboratory or health worker confirmation needed • Requires good communication/chain-of-command

33. Community-Based Animal Health Workers (CAHWs) Community members trained in the prevention and treatment of common livestock illness and able to deliver services at the local level CAHWs & Community-Based Disease Surveillance Practical Action

34. CAHWs & Community-Based Disease Surveillance • CAHWs may assist with community-based disease surveillance by: • Filling out regular disease monitoring forms • Reporting suspicious/suspect cases to veterinary authorities • Identifying disease outbreaks at earliest stages • Engaging in preventative activities (i.e. vaccination)

35. Allport, R. Et. Al. Rev. sci. tech. Offic. Int. Epiz 2005. 24. (3); 921-932

36. CAHWs • CAHWs generally bring an existing level of indigenous animal health and husbandry knowledge • Added benefits beyond disease surveillance: Improved Livestock Health Higher Meat/Milk Yields = Improved Food Security Economic Self-Sufficiency Improved Nutrition & Human Health Decreased pressure on wildlife/bush meat

37. Diagnostic Capacity • Equipment • Infrastructure (i.e. generators, access to wells) • Basic Laboratory Diagnostic Equipment (microscopes, slides, incubators, reagents) • Diagnostic Assay Kits • Personal Protective Equipment/Biosafety Equip. • Training • Principles of Epidemiology • Equipment and Assay Use

38. Building Laboratory Diagnostic Capacity

39. … and Outbreak Response • Epidemiology and data analysis training • Rapid deployment to address disease outbreak incidents

40. Additional Resources • World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) www.oie.int • One World, One Health www.oneworldonehealth.org • Bush Meat Crisis Task Force www.bushmeat.org