One Health/One Planet: A Special Magazine Issue on Climate Change, Diseases, and Research that Could Save Us
In the spirit of rising to difficult challenges and erasing pointless divisions, we present One Health/One Planet, a single-issue magazine that explores how climate change and other environmental shifts are increasing vulnerabilities to infectious diseases by land and by sea. The magazine probes how scientists are making progress with leaders in other fields toward solutions that embrace diverse perspectives and the interconnectedness of all lifeforms and our precious blue dot.
This special issue is a collaboration among the science outlet Leaps.org, the impact and engagement company GOOD, the Aspen Institute Science & Society Program, and the Science Philanthropy Alliance.
The articles explore potential breakthroughs that are taking single-aim at the overlapping dilemmas of a warming planet and more frequent global pandemics. These predicaments, while certainly not new, have begun to seem more tangible and ominous in the midst of COVID-19, a tragedy that could very well repeat itself on an even more disastrous scale as deforestation and changing temperatures force new interactions among species, increasing the risk of disease transmission—including viral jumps to humans.
Going forward, we must do more to support scientific efforts that address a number of complex and interrelated areas, around which this magazine issue is organized: PARTNERSHIPS, NEW FRAMEWORKS, MICROBES, SPILLOVERS, ANIMAL & PLANT HEALTH, HUMAN HEALTH, INSECTS, SURVEILLANCE, CHANGING HABITATS and MODELING.
When historians of the 22nd century judge how we protected our own health, the health of our planetary cohabitants and the planet itself, the criteria will take account of, but extend far beyond the work and achievements of modern science. Their benchmarks will include how we met the need to engage diverse audiences—such as our farmers, historically underrepresented and underserved communities, conservationists, frontline medical workers, artists, politicians and communicators. We need their contributions in order to pursue the questions that are the most relevant, incisive and holistic. Only then can we be sure that we are allocating scarce resources toward the best possible answers. Nothing less will work against such steep challenges. Only with the broadest, most collaborative and transdisciplinary engagement can we truly hope to embrace the One Health/One Planet paradigm needed for our future salvation and prosperity.
This collection is available as a free, beautifully designed digital magazine for both desktop and mobile.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
- PARTNERSHIPS IN ONE HEALTH/ONE PLANET: Conversation between Rajiv J. Shah and Louis J. Muglia
- FRAMEWORKS & APPROACHES: A Complex Problem Calls for New Strategies Plus the Wisdom of Our Ancestors
- MICROBES:
With Infections, We've Been Playing 'Pin the Blame on the Microbe.' Is It Time to Change the Game? - SPILLOVER:
Climate Change and the New Pandemic Age - EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH RAINA PLOWRIGHT, DISEASE ECOLOGIST AT CORNELL:
To What's Better than a Swift Response to Pandemics? Preventing Them in the First Place - ANIMALS, PLANTS & CROPS:
Which Ones Will Survive in a Changing Climate? - HUMAN HEALTH:
Staying Well in the 21st Century is Like Playing Chess - THE INSECT APOCALYPSE:
It Will Devastate Humans, but Science Can Keep Them Buzzing - SURVEILLANCE:
What Tools and Technologies are Needed to Monitor Zoonotic Spillovers and Optimize Disease Management - CHANGING HABITATS:
For Solutions to Climate Change and Infectious Disease, Researchers Go Back to the First Domino - MODELING:
Scientists Recommend a Multi-Disciplinary Approach to Predicting Outbreaks
When a patient is diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer, having surgery to remove the tumor is considered the standard of care. But what happens when a patient can’t have surgery?
Whether it’s due to high blood pressure, advanced age, heart issues, or other reasons, some breast cancer patients don’t qualify for a lumpectomy—one of the most common treatment options for early-stage breast cancer. A lumpectomy surgically removes the tumor while keeping the patient’s breast intact, while a mastectomy removes the entire breast and nearby lymph nodes.
Fortunately, a new technique called cryoablation is now available for breast cancer patients who either aren’t candidates for surgery or don’t feel comfortable undergoing a surgical procedure. With cryoablation, doctors use an ultrasound or CT scan to locate any tumors inside the patient’s breast. They then insert small, needle-like probes into the patient's breast which create an “ice ball” that surrounds the tumor and kills the cancer cells.
Cryoablation has been used for decades to treat cancers of the kidneys and liver—but only in the past few years have doctors been able to use the procedure to treat breast cancer patients. And while clinical trials have shown that cryoablation works for tumors smaller than 1.5 centimeters, a recent clinical trial at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York has shown that it can work for larger tumors, too.
In this study, doctors performed cryoablation on patients whose tumors were, on average, 2.5 centimeters. The cryoablation procedure lasted for about 30 minutes, and patients were able to go home on the same day following treatment. Doctors then followed up with the patients after 16 months. In the follow-up, doctors found the recurrence rate for tumors after using cryoablation was only 10 percent.
For patients who don’t qualify for surgery, radiation and hormonal therapy is typically used to treat tumors. However, said Yolanda Brice, M.D., an interventional radiologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, “when treated with only radiation and hormonal therapy, the tumors will eventually return.” Cryotherapy, Brice said, could be a more effective way to treat cancer for patients who can’t have surgery.
“The fact that we only saw a 10 percent recurrence rate in our study is incredibly promising,” she said.
Few things are more painful than a urinary tract infection (UTI). Common in men and women, these infections account for more than 8 million trips to the doctor each year and can cause an array of uncomfortable symptoms, from a burning feeling during urination to fever, vomiting, and chills. For an unlucky few, UTIs can be chronic—meaning that, despite treatment, they just keep coming back.
But new research, presented at the European Association of Urology (EAU) Congress in Paris this week, brings some hope to people who suffer from UTIs.
Clinicians from the Royal Berkshire Hospital presented the results of a long-term, nine-year clinical trial where 89 men and women who suffered from recurrent UTIs were given an oral vaccine called MV140, designed to prevent the infections. Every day for three months, the participants were given two sprays of the vaccine (flavored to taste like pineapple) and then followed over the course of nine years. Clinicians analyzed medical records and asked the study participants about symptoms to check whether any experienced UTIs or had any adverse reactions from taking the vaccine.
The results showed that across nine years, 48 of the participants (about 54%) remained completely infection-free. On average, the study participants remained infection free for 54.7 months—four and a half years.
“While we need to be pragmatic, this vaccine is a potential breakthrough in preventing UTIs and could offer a safe and effective alternative to conventional treatments,” said Gernot Bonita, Professor of Urology at the Alta Bro Medical Centre for Urology in Switzerland, who is also the EAU Chairman of Guidelines on Urological Infections.
The news comes as a relief not only for people who suffer chronic UTIs, but also to doctors who have seen an uptick in antibiotic-resistant UTIs in the past several years. Because UTIs usually require antibiotics, patients run the risk of developing a resistance to the antibiotics, making infections more difficult to treat. A preventative vaccine could mean less infections, less antibiotics, and less drug resistance overall.
“Many of our participants told us that having the vaccine restored their quality of life,” said Dr. Bob Yang, Consultant Urologist at the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, who helped lead the research. “While we’re yet to look at the effect of this vaccine in different patient groups, this follow-up data suggests it could be a game-changer for UTI prevention if it’s offered widely, reducing the need for antibiotic treatments.”