Dreyer Sylvia, Dreier Maren, Dietze Klaas
Friedrich- Loeffler-Institut, Institute of International Animal Health/One Health, Greifswald, Germany.
Hannover Medical School, Institute for Epidemiology, Social Medicine and Health Systems Research, Hannover, Germany.
One Health. 2023 May 11;16:100560. doi: 10.1016/j.onehlt.2023.100560. eCollection 2023 Jun.
As of today, 75% of infectious human diseases are caused by zoonotic pathogens, which use the interface between humans and animal species to cross. Due to this ability, zoonoses affect more than just one health sector and the effective control is a matter of the One Health concept. One defining feature of this concept is the "human-animal-interface". However, even though the term is ubiquitously used in the field of infectious disease research, a clear definition of the term is lacking, leading to a rather nebulous understanding of what this interface really encompasses. Based on this observation, this study aimed to analyze the use of the term "human-animal-interface" in scientific literature to identify patterns and categories facilitating a scientific categorization. A systematic literature search of two electronic databases was performed complemented by interviews with health experts in the field of zoonoses/One Health conducted between March 2019 and May 2021. From identified publications, keywords and interface descriptions were extracted and categorized. Interviews followed a questioning route, were audio recorded, transcribed, and qualitative content was inductively categorized. Findings are based on 208 publications and 27 expert interviews. "Transmission" and "zoonosis" were the most frequent literature-based keywords, while the interviewees clearly favored "interface" followed by "contact". Seven categories of contact interfaces were inductively derived: direct contact (physical contact), consumption of animal products, use of animal products (blood transfusion, skin), contact with animal products (blood, secretion, meat), indirect contact (dust, inhalation, droplets), environmental contact (same surface or food), vector contact). Precise descriptions of the interfaces varied greatly depending on the pathogen domain (bacterial, viral, fungal). Specific patterns could be identified that were consistent between the literature and experts. The study results showed a general concordance in defining and describing the human-animal-interface indicating a general understanding of the term. However, studies on a larger scale are recommended (e.g. systematic review) to allow a more thorough view of the understanding and definition of the human-animal-interface.
截至目前，75%的人类传染病是由人畜共患病原体引起的，这些病原体利用人类与动物物种之间的界面进行传播。由于这种能力，人畜共患病不仅影响一个卫生部门，有效控制是“同一健康”概念的问题。这一概念的一个决定性特征是“人-动物界面”。然而，尽管该术语在传染病研究领域被广泛使用，但缺乏对该术语的明确定义，导致对这个界面真正涵盖的内容理解相当模糊。基于这一观察结果，本研究旨在分析科学文献中“人-动物界面”一词的使用情况，以识别有助于进行科学分类的模式和类别。对两个电子数据库进行了系统的文献检索，并辅以2019年3月至2021年5月期间对人畜共患病/同一健康领域的健康专家进行的访谈。从已识别的出版物中提取关键词和界面描述并进行分类。访谈遵循提问路径，进行录音、转录，并对定性内容进行归纳分类。研究结果基于208篇出版物和27次专家访谈。“传播”和“人畜共患病”是基于文献中最常见的关键词，而受访者明显更喜欢“界面”，其次是“接触”。归纳出七类接触界面：直接接触（身体接触）、食用动物产品、使用动物产品（输血、皮肤）、接触动物产品（血液、分泌物、肉类）、间接接触（灰尘、吸入、飞沫）、环境接触（同一表面或食物）、媒介接触。界面的精确描述因病原体领域（细菌、病毒、真菌）而异。可以识别出文献和专家之间一致的特定模式。研究结果表明，在定义和描述人-动物界面方面总体上是一致的，这表明对该术语有普遍的理解。然而，建议进行更大规模的研究（如系统评价），以便更全面地了解人-动物界面的理解和定义。
