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International audience; The 2020 Annual Meeting of the Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine (SVEPM) was scheduled to take place in Westport, Ireland, March 25−27. The committee reviewed 68 abstracts and prepared a scientific programme that included 21 oral presentations, 89 posters, 30 poster pitches, and five hands-on workshops. The local organising committee, chaired by Damien Barrett, prepared an excellent social schedule to welcome delegates to Westport. All this work was nearly finished when, in January 2020, the world focussed on news describing the emergence and spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. As epidemiologists we followed closer still, and in a true disease outbreak mitigation approach, by the time the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on March 11 2020 that the COVID-19 outbreak was a pandemic, our preparation phase had already begun with the committee having met in a virtual environment several times. We had discussed the ramifications and implications of physically convening for 202 registered participants at our annual event; we were ready to communicate a decision to not go ahead with the physical meeting in Westport. To keep our membership informed of our planning, we held our Annual General Meeting online, consistent with the planned meeting schedule.

Climate change is one of the greatest threats to human health in the 21st century. Climate directly impacts health through climatic extremes, air quality, sea‐level rise, and multifaceted influences on food production systems and water resources. Climate also affects infectious diseases, which have played a significant role in human history, impacting the rise and fall of civilizations and facilitating the conquest of new territories. Our review highlights significant regional changes in vector and pathogen distribution reported in temperate, peri‐Arctic, Arctic, and tropical highland regions during recent decades, changes that have been anticipated by scientists worldwide. Further future changes are likely if we fail to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Many key factors affect the spread and severity of human diseases, including mobility of people, animals, and goods; control measures in place; availability of effective drugs; quality of public health services; human behavior; and political stability and conflicts. With drug and insecticide resistance on the rise, significant funding and research efforts must to be maintained to continue the battle against existing and emerging diseases, particularly those that are vector borne.

Hand hygiene (HH) is the most successful intervention for hospital infection control. HH rubs with residual action are desired. This study aimed to compare the efficacy of alcohol (A-HH) and lactic acid (LA-HH) rubs, with the latter being marketed as having residual activity. We investigated reductions in bacterial colony-forming units (CFUs), prevalence of antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) organisms, and risk factors for increased counts on the hands of veterinary staff. A randomized, crossover study (53 individuals) was performed in a referral veterinary teaching hospital. Hand plates were taken before, immediately after, and 6 hours after HH. A blinded investigator counted CFUs per plate. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus/pseudintermedius (MRSA/MRSP), Enterobacteriaceae, and Pseudomonas species (spp.) were characterized. Gender, profession, time point, and HH product were included as variables within multivariable analyses. A significant reduction in bacterial CFU was seen immediately after A-HH rub application (p

Norovirus (NoV) is the commonest cause of gastrointestinal disease in the United Kingdom and in many developed countries, causing diarrhea and vomiting in millions of cases worldwide annually. Transmission is most often mediated from person to person. NoV infection has, however, additionally been associated with the consumption of food, either through the consumption of food contaminated at source such as seafood, berries, and salad, or as a consequence of the foodstuff being contaminated in some way by a food handler during processing or serving. A systematic review of outbreaks attributed to NoV between January 2003 and July 2017 was conducted to assess the contribution of food handlers to the burden of NoV, and to identify foods commonly associated with NoV outbreaks. A total of 3021 articles were screened, of which 27 met the definition of confirmed foodborne outbreaks and 47 met the criteria for definite food-handler NoV outbreaks. Of all food types, shellfish were implicated in the greatest number of definite foodborne outbreaks. Food handlers contributed to definite food-handler outbreaks involving a diverse range of foodstuffs and in a wide variety of settings, including weddings and military establishments. More genotypes of NoV were found in people who were ill than in samples from food and food handlers. The potential for both food products and food handlers to contribute to the burden of NoV infection is demonstrated conclusively.

Climate change is expected to threaten human health and well-being via its effects on climate-sensitive infectious diseases, potentially changing their spatial distributions, affecting annual/seasonal cycles, or altering disease incidence and severity. Climate sensitivity of pathogens is a key indicator that diseases might respond to climate change, but the proportion of pathogens that is climate-sensitive, and their characteristics, are not known. The climate sensitivity of European human and domestic animal infectious pathogens, and the characteristics associated with sensitivity, were assessed systematically in terms of selection of pathogens and choice of literature reviewed. Sixty-three percent (N = 157) of pathogens were climate sensitive; 82% to primary drivers such as rainfall and temperature. Protozoa and helminths, vector-borne, foodborne, soilborne and waterborne transmission routes were associated with larger numbers of climate drivers. Zoonotic pathogens were more climate sensitive than human- or animal-only pathogens. Thirty-seven percent of disability-adjusted-life-years arise from human infectious diseases that are sensitive to primary climate drivers. These results help prioritize surveillance for pathogens that may respond to climate change. Although this study identifies a high degree of climate sensitivity among important pathogens, their response to climate change will be dependent on the nature of their association with climate drivers and impacts of other drivers.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that people coming into contact with cattle while participating in outdoor pursuits can sustain severe, even fatal injuries. This has negative implications for farmers, cattle and the public. This study outlines findings from a review of published literature, UK media reports and internet guidelines currently available to the UK public for walking near cattle. A total of 54 cattle attacks were reported in the UK media from 1 January 1993 to 31 May 2013; approximately one-quarter resulted in fatality and two-thirds involved dogs. Walking with dogs among cows, particularly with calves present, was a problematic context. Twenty pieces of commonly occurring advice were found within various guidelines. However, there are no definitive approved guidelines, no published studies describing the prevalence of cattle attacks on members of the public and no system in place to document them. Attacks by cattle are underinvestigated and further work should assess their public health impact.

Purpose: The Culicoides midge vectors of bluetongue (BT) are ubiquitous on farms in the UK, but little research has explored their spatial abundance, an important determinant of disease risk. Models to explain and predict variation in their abundance are needed for effective targeting of BT control methods. Although epidemiological models are commonplace at the national scale, no investigations have taken place at a finer spatial scale. Our aim is to identify determinants of midge abundance at a local 1 km scale. Methods: Midge abundances were estimated using light traps on 35 farms in north Wales. Culicoides catches were combined with remotely-sensed ecological correlates, and on-farm host and environmental data, within a general linear model. Drivers of local scale variation were determined at the 1 km resolution. Results: Local-scale variation in Obsoletus Group abundance exhibited an almost 500-fold difference (74 to 33,720) between farms, but the Obsoletus Group model explained 81% of this variance. The variance explained was consistently high for the Pulicaris Group, C. pulicaris and C. punctatus (80%, 73%, and 74%), the other possible BTV vector species in the UK. The abundance of all vector species increased with the number of sheep on farms, but this relationship was missing from any of the non-vector models. Performance of the non-vector models was also high (65-87% variance explained), but species differed in their associations with satellite variables. Conclusions: At a large spatial scale, there is significant variation in Culicoides Obsoletus Group abundance, undermining attempts to record their nationwide distribution in larger scale models, which have historically explained the abundance of these vectors poorly. Satellite data can be used to explain a high proportion of this variation and may produce effective predictive models of disease vector abundance. Relevance: This work highlights how novel local-scale modelling of disease vectors can explain a large degree of spatial variation that national-scale models fail to explain. This should be of note to policy makers when deciding upon guidelines for entomological surveys before, during and after disease outbreaks. (Texte intégral)

International audience; Disease or pathogen risk prioritisations aid understanding of infectious agent impact within surveillance or mitigation and biosecurity work, but take significant development. Previous work has shown the H-(Hirsch-)index as an alternative proxy. We present a weighted risk analysis describing infectious pathogen impact for human health (human pathogens) and well-being (domestic animal pathogens) using an objective, evidence-based, repeatable approach; the H-index. This study established the highest H-index European pathogens. Commonalities amongst pathogens not included in previous surveillance or risk analyses were examined. Differences between host types (humans/animals/zoonotic) in pathogen H-indices were explored as a One Health impact indicator. Finally, the acceptability of the H-index proxy for animal pathogen impact was examined by comparison with other measures. 57 pathogens appeared solely in the top 100 highest H-indices (1) human or (2) animal pathogens list, and 43 occurred in both. Of human pathogens, 66 were zoonotic and 67 were emerging, compared to 67 and 57 for animals. There were statistically significant differences between H-indices for host types (humans, animal, zoonotic), and there was limited evidence that H-indices are a reasonable proxy for animal pathogen impact. This work addresses measures outlined by the European Commission to strengthen climate change resilience and biosecurity for infectious diseases. The results include a quantitative evaluation of infectious pathogen impact, and suggest greater impacts of human-only compared to zoonotic pathogens or scientific under-representation of zoonoses. The outputs separate high and low impact pathogens, and should be combined with other risk assessment methods relying on expert opinion or qualitative data for priority setting, or could be used to prioritise diseases for which formal risk assessments are not possible because of data gaps.