Links
Recommended resources for veterinary and animal science

Public Health / Zoonoses

General Resources

The University of Sydney Library Catalogue
Recommended subject headings on the University of Sydney Library Catalogue are listed below. Please check all related subject headings for comprehensive results.

• Zoonoses
• Animals as carriers of disease

IDEAS: Infectious Diseases Epidemiology & Surveillance
Website published by the Victorian Government Department of Human Services. Provides information on diseases, guidelines, surveillance, notifying cases of infectious diseases, and daily updates.

The Blue Book: Guidelines for the control of infectious diseases
This manual has been published by the Infectious Diseases Unit, Public Health Division, Victorian Government Department of Human Services to assist all public health practitioners in the control and prevention of infectious diseases. The manual contains a description of 20 zoonotic diseases.

The Merck Veterinary Manual
The Merck Veterinary Manual (8th Edition) is edited by Susan E. Aiello, B.S., D.V.M., E.L.S. and published by Merck & Co., Inc. NJ, USA. It is a comprehensive reference with good searching capability that describes many zoonotic diseases and provides a table summarising more than 200 zoonoses.

Zoonotic Disease Tutorial
"This tutorial has been developed as an educational resource on zoonotic diseases for veterinary, medical and nursing students and practitioners, and anyone interested in these infectious diseases" by Dr. Christopher W. Olsen, Department of Pathobiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin. It provides information and links on a large number of zoonoses.

Daniel Shapiro's Zoonosis Website
Daniel Shapiro is Director, Clinical Microbiology Laboratories, Boston Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts and Assistant Professor of Medicine, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine. This website contains information on a number of zoonotic diseases of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish, and includes an extensive bibliography.

Consultant
Created by Dr. Maurice E. White of the College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, New York. Consultant is a diagnostic support system for veterinary medicine that provides information on diagnosis of and clinical signs associated with many zoonotic diseases in a variety of animal species. It is supported by a database consisting of approximately 500 signs/symptoms, and about 7,000 diagnoses/causes, and can be searched by either diagnosis or by signs.

Emerging Zoonotic Diseases
Study module created by the College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia as part of its International Veterinary Medicine program. "Emerging zoonotic diseases are defined as zoonotic diseases caused by new agents or previously known agents appearing in places or species in which the disease was unknown". The program provides eight different scenarios of typical ways in which veterinarians are exposed to these emerging zoonotic diseases.

Foodborne Pathogenic Microorganisms and Natural Toxins Handbook
Published by the Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition of the Food & Drug Administration (US). The handbook provides basic facts regarding foodborne pathogenic microorganisms and natural toxins and brings together in one place information from the Food & Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, the USDA Food Safety Inspection Service, and the National Institutes of Health. Generally each chapter focusses on a particular foodborne pathogenic microorganism or natural toxin although in some chapters a closely related group of organisms or natural toxins is covered.

Global Salmonella Survey
The WHO's Global Salmonella Survey is "a global network of laboratories and individuals involved in surveillance, isolation, identification and antimicrobial resistance testing of Salmonella". The programme is targeted to microbiologists and epidemiologists who work in public health, veterinary services, food-related services or environmental health. Its website provides details of its objectives and strategies, training course schedule, and publications.

Organisations

National pests and disease outbreaks
"This website was developed collaboratively across State/Territory and Australian Government agricultural agencies to provide a single, user-friendly website through which stakeholders can find access to local, state and national information in relation to Australian responses to current ongoing outbreaks of animal and plant pests and diseases. This site is hosted, maintained and managed by Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry."

Communicable Diseases Australia
The Surveillance and Epidemiology Section of the Australian Department of Health and Ageing "coordinates the national surveillance of notifiable and other communicable diseases, manages and liaises with specific communicable disease surveillance programs, provides expert technical advice on surveillance and epidemiology across the Communicable Diseases Branch, and fosters collaboration on national strategies to improve communicable disease surveillance". The Section's website includes details of its activities, updates on communicable diseases, and provides access to its publications.

WHO: Zoonoses
Part of the World Health Organization website the zoonoses webpage provides links to WHO Factsheets on zoonoses, information on surveillance and response, food safety, and WHO publications.

WHO: Food Safety
The Food Safety Department of the WHO "strives to reduce the serious negative impact of foodborne diseases worldwide". Its website includes free access to the Department's publications including Food Safety News, the Departments newsletter.

DEFRA: Zoonoses and foodborne animal pathogens
Introductory page to zoonosis activities of the UK Government Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) providing links to zoonosis groups in the UK and relevant documents, reports and Codes of Practice.

UK Zoonoses Group
The UK Zoonoses Group provides high level forum for the discussion of animal and human health aspects of zoonoses and their control and covers the whole of the UK. Its website gives details of its meetings and papers.

Northwest Zoonoses Group
Northwest Zoonoses Group's mission is "to identify and respond to issues of zoonotic disease in North West England". Its website provides an alphabetical listing of zoonotic diseases with a brief description and links to further resources for each disease. It also provides links to zoonoses resources including journals, reports and organisations.

Health Protection Agency: Zoonoses
The Health Protection Agency is a national organisation for England and Wales, dedicated to protecting people’s health and reducing the impact of infectious diseases, chemical hazards, poisons and radiation hazards. The zoonoses page provides information on zoonotic disease, notifiable zoonoses, laboratory investigation of zoonotic infections and zoonotic surveillance. It also provides links to publications and other zoonoses resources.

Laboratory for Foodborne Zoonoses
The Laboratory for Foodborne Zoonoses is part of the Population and Public Heath Branch of Health Canada. Its mission statement is to "provide policy makers and other stakeholders with scientific information and advice on minimizing the risks of human illnesses arising from the interface between humans, animals, and the environment, with special emphasis on infections due to enteric pathogens". It website provides details of its activities, program areas and projects.

Foodborne, Waterborne and Zoonotic Infections Division
The Foodborne, Waterborne and Zoonotic Infections Division division of the Population and Public Health Branch of Health Canada, has a mandate to "assess and reduce the risk of foodborne, waterborne and enteric disease in Canadians through national surveillance and targeted special studies".

FoodSafety.gov
FoodSafety.gov is a US gateway website that provides links to food safety-related information published by US government agencies including the USDA, FDA, CDC, EPA and FSIS. The sites search engine allows the user to search for information on a specific topic or produced by a particular agency.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are part of the US Government Department of Health and Human Services. Their mission is to "promote health and quality of life by preventing and controlling disease, injury, and disability". Their website serves as an entry point to a vast amount of information on many zoonoses.

EU: Food Safety - from the farm to the fork
"The EU integrated approach to food safety aims to assure a high level of food safety, animal health, animal welfare and plant health within the European Union through coherent farm-to-table measures and adequate monitoring, while ensuring the effective functioning of the internal market."

Danish Zoonosis Centre
The Danish Zoonosis Centre is part of the Danish Government Ministry of Food Agriculture and Fisheries. "The Centre is a part of the national contingency plan for outbreaks of food borne diseases. Monitoring and preventive strategies are developed based on results from the surveillance and control programs. Supervision and teaching in zoonoses and food safety are based on research carried out at the Centre ". Its website publishes data from its surveillance programs and details of research and development projects human infection outbreaks.

Norwegian Zoonosis Centre
The Norwegian Zoonosis Centre is a separate unit, organized in the National Veterinary Institute, in collaboration with the National Institute of Public Health. The Centre "collects, analyses, and presents epidemiological data on zoonoses and zoonotic agents in Norway to prevent transmission through food, feed, animals, and animal products". Its website publishes in .pdf format the annual Norwegian report on zoonoses and zoonotic agents according to the EU Zoonosis Directive prepared by the Centre.

Journals/Bulletins

NSW Public Health Bulletin
"The NSW Public Health Bulletin is produced by the Public Health Division of the NSW Department of Health as an information vehicle for the whole public health community in New South Wales. Its purpose is to enable the timely communication of information on major public health issues and thus to contribute to the development of a well-trained and informed public health workforce". All issues from when it was first published in May 1990 to the present are available on this website.

Communicable Diseases Intelligence
Communicable Diseases Intelligence is a quarterly publication of the Surveillance Section of the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing. It aims to provide information about communicable diseases in Australia to inform and assist those with responsibility for communicable disease control in a wide variety of settings. All issues of the publication from 1996 to the present are freely available on this website. Communicable Diseases Intelligence technical reports are also freely available.

Victorian Infectious Diseases Bulletin
The Victorian Infectious Diseases Bulletin is published quarterly by the Victorian Government Department of Human Services, Communicable Diseases Section. The Bulletin "provides summaries of infectious diseases surveillance data, local news, outbreak investigations, infection control procedures, clinical cases of general interest and brief reports on original clinical or laboratory based research". Many issues contain articles on zoonotic diseases.

The Weekly Epidemiological Record
The Weekly Epidemiological Record "serves as an essential instrument for the rapid and accurate dissemination of epidemiological information on cases and outbreaks of diseases". Issues from 1926 to the present are published in .pdf format and are freely accessible.

Canada Communicable Disease Report
The Canada Communicable Disease Report is published by the Population and Public Health Branch of Health Canada. The Report "distributes current information on infectious diseases in Canada to public-health professionals, both nationally and internationally. It specializes in surveillance of infectious diseases, outbreak investigations, immunization, infection control, and tropical health and quarantine information, and other disease control activities". Issues from 1995 to the present are freely accessible and are in .pdf format.

Eurosurveillance
The Eurosurveillance project is funded by the European Commission with the aim to promote the diffusion and exchange of information on communicable diseases. It includes a monthly publication Eurosurveillance, a peer-reviewed journal on communicable disease surveillance, prevention and control and a weekly bulletin Eurosurveillance Weekly, a bulletin for epidemic alerts, updates, and responses. All issues of both publications from 1995 to the present are freely available in .pdf format.

Communicable Diseases Report/CDR Weekly
CDR Weekly is an electronic bulletin published by the Health Protection Agency. It comprises a weekly section of public health news and other pages of routine microbiological and epidemiological data and reports, which are updated on a monthly basis (ie, reports by Infections). Back issues from 1991 to the present are freely accessible and can be seached by issue or by topic.

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) is published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The data in the weekly MMWR are provisional, based on weekly reports to CDC by state health departments. Issues from 1982 to the present are freely accessible and there is also a search facility to search past issues on a specific subject area.

Emerging Infectious Diseases
Emerging Infectious Diseases is a peer reviewed journal tracking and analysing disease trends published monthly by the National Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Issues from 1995 to the present are freely accessible and users can also serch past issues on a specific subject area.

Reports

Trends and sources of zoonotic agents in animals, feedingstuffs, food and man in the European Union and Norway in 2001
The EEC Directive 92/117/EEC sets out guidelines on the collection of information on zoonoses and zoonotic agents in humans, animals, food, and feedingstuffs. In 2001, this data covered 11 zoonoses: tuberculosis, brucellosis, salmonella, Trichinella, rabies, campylobacter, listeria, Yersinia, echinococcus, Toxoplasma, vero-toxigenic E coli. The Member States and Norway sent their annual reports to the Commission which together with the Community Reference Laboratory prepared this report.

Zoonoses Report United Kingdom 2001
Report published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (UK). The report pulls together data on the prevalence of zoonoses in humans, animals and food. It is aimed at professionals who deal with zoonotic diseases and at giving the non-specialist an insight into zoonoses. The report covers the more important zoonoses in some detail and makes brief mention of those which occur infrequently, or are associated with certain occupations or activities.

Current awareness

ProMED-mail
ProMED-mail, the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases, is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases. It is "an Internet-based reporting system dedicated to rapid and global dissemination of information about outbreaks of infectious diseases that affect human health. ProMED-mail uses electronic communications to provide up-to-date and reliable news on disease outbreaks around the world, seven days a week".

Courses

University of Sydney - Veterinary Public Health Management
"Veterinary Public Health Management is a postgraduate distance program, delivered online with short residential sessions, directed towards career enhancement for animal health professionals. Integrating scientific skill and leadership competence, the program has been created to address the increasing need for veterinarians and animal scientists with developed skills to benefit the health of the whole community".

Research databases and indexes

Recommended research databases and indexes for this area of study are: CAB Abstracts, MEDLINE, TOXLINE, BIOSIS Previews and Web of Science.