Research pick: Emergency management of the pandemic potential of poultry pathogens

Research published in the International Journal of Emergency Management asserts that infectious animal diseases, such as foot and mouth disease and avian influenza, are a significant and perennial problem in the South Korean winter. These diseases affect food production and so food security but also pose a risk to human health when people are in close proximity to such diseases especially when a pathogen mutates into a strain that has pandemic potential.

Kyoo-Man Ha of the Department of Emergency Management at Inje University in Gimhae City, South Korea, explains how better stakeholder management is possible and that this could lead to improved oversight and control of such infectious diseases. Ultimately, there needs to be a shift from an ad hoc approach to emergency disease management, Ha suggests.

Numerous factors, including climate change, globalisation, and bird migration, are involved in the pattern of outbreaks of infectious animal diseases around the world. Some diseases appear on an annual basis and there is in some parts of the world a lack of urgency regarding outbreaks. This lethargy is problematic in that new strains of common pathogens could at any time lead to far greater incidence of disease and so the loss of livestock and poultry. Moreover, neglecting the management of such pathogens might lead to the wider spread of such diseases and the chance emergence of a novel pathogen that leads to human disease.

Ha suggests that all of the stakeholders putatively affected by the impact of foot and mouth disease and avian influenza must play their role in the South Korean farming landscape to address the perennial problems of these diseases. First, central government must coordinate the 18 Korean ministries. Secondly, local governments must consider the local risks, politics, culture, and emergency management. Thirdly, farms need to be redesigned to give livestock and poultry more space. The fourth group of stakeholders, scientists must focus on research and development. And the fifth group, visitors must be aware of disease outbreaks and the hazards.

Ha, K-M. (2021) ‘Management of infectious animal diseases: the Korean experience’, Int. J. Emergency Management, Vol. 17, No. 1, pp.1–16.