Page 6 - Eclipse - RVC Alumni Magazine - Autumn 2020

The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) One Health Poultry Hub
There is nothing new about zoonotic disease or pandemics. However, the speed with which SARS-CoV-2 virus travelled the globe, the ‘real-time’ science that has documented its spread, and the rapid impact COVID-19 has had on lives, societies and economies, are phenomena of the modern age.
The world is a global village, connected by business, media, travel and information. Since the 1950s, ongoing expansion
of human populations has seen rapid urbanisation, industrialisation, agricultural intensification and changing land use. This has brought the multiple challenges of pollution, climate change, resource depletion, biodiversity reduction and ecosystem destruction. We have
encroached on wildlife habitats and put ourselves, our animals, and our food chains in intimate contact with wildlife species and their pathogens. All these factors contribute to a complex framework that governs the risk of emergence and spread of zoonotic diseases.
The RVC is at the forefront of efforts
by veterinary researchers to reduce
and manage diseases through its championing of a ‘One Health’ approach that focuses on points in systems where human behaviours and the health of people, animals and the environment converge. We are therefore delighted to lead the GCRF One Health Poultry Hub, a £20m interdisciplinary research and impact programme, funded for five years by UK Research and Innovation.
Chicken is globally the most popular livestock protein source for humans. Production has outpaced that of
other land-based animals, doubling since 2000, with >1 trillion eggs
and >90 million tonnes of meat consumed annually. In our study sites
(in Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Vietnam) poultry farmers aim to produce affordable protein for their families and for local, national and regional markets. However, rapid expansion of production, especially with high stocking densities, fast turnover, poor biosecurity, misuse
of antimicrobials, complex transport and trading networks, and predominance of live bird markets, are all of concern when it comes to zoonotic diseases.
Much organised chicken production
and marketing happens in densely populated peri-urban areas and as well as contributing to pollution and spread of antimicrobial resistance, these situations make it easier for disease outbreaks to occur from locally circulating pathogens, including potentially epidemic avian influenza viruses and a variety of food- poisoning bacteria (e.g. Campylobacter, Salmonella and E. coli).
Getting underway in March 2019,
the Hub brings together 27 research partner organisations from Asia, the UK and mainland Europe. With integrated streams of social, economic, biological, mathematical and policy-led research, we are co-producing detailed knowledge on networks of chicken production
and distribution most commonly used
in Asia. We aim to understand how
and why these differentially favour the amplification, diversification and spread of zoonotic pathogens at the human/ poultry interface. The work includes
6