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In 2019, the US Senate passed a bipartisan resolution designating January 2020 as One Health Awareness Month in the United States. Now, One Health advocates around the world promote and celebrate One Health education in the beginning of each year.
At Galaxy Diagnostics, we educate about the risks of zoonotic pathogens to the point that we’ve occasionally been asked if patients should no longer have pets. For the record, we love animals but we also believe it is important to understand that cats, dogs, and other pets can transmit diseases to people (and vice versa), often in the context of infestations by vectors such as fleas and ticks. Today, let’s celebrate the human-animal bond by recognizing some talented animals that have provided care for us and observing the birthday of a special animal that received unique care from both veterinarians and physicians.
Magawa the Rat
Rodents are often viewed solely as pests because of their notorious ability to enter and harm homes by creating holes, chewing wires, and other chaos. Rats, mice, and their fleas are also responsible for harboring and transmitting pathogens that cause serious human diseases, including Yersinia pestis (plague). However, many people with no health concerns happily keep them as pets. Some rodents are even trained to complete tasks that humans cannot.
Magawa, a mine-sweeping rat, died peacefully of old age a couple of weeks ago. Over the course of his career, he discovered 71 land mines and 38 unexploded artillery in Cambodia. Because he was small enough that he could not trigger the devices, he could evaluate areas of land in hours that would take a human days, and he could do it without risk to himself.
Sled Dogs of North Europe and the North American Arctic
As the pandemic continues to weigh heavily on the people of the world, heroic animals to remember are the teams of sled dogs that delivered diphtheria antitoxin to save the children of Nome, Alaska, in 1925. There was only one airplane available, and it would not start. In the midst of a blizzard, 20 dog teams and their mushers handed off the serum treatment. The last team made all the papers and included a dog who would become famous, Balto. Balto got a statue in Central Park, New York City.
But the lead dog from the longest and the most dangerous part of the trail was Togo, a member of Norwegian Leonhard Seppala’s team. Although Norway has a history of dogs pulling sleds going back to around the year 900, Seppala had come to Alaska as part of the gold rush and only by chance ended up with a sled dog team of his own. Genetic studies suggest that sled dogs have been present in Alaska for as long as 2,000 years. Togo finally got recognition for his heroic efforts when his story became the subject of a movie in 2019.
Fiona the Hippo
Today is the fifth birthday of Fiona the Hippo. Fiona was born prematurely at the Cincinnati Zoo. A baby Nile hippo should weigh as much as 120 pounds. Fiona weighed a mere 29 pounds.
She needed immediate lifesaving care, but the veterinary team was unable to keep an IV working in the tiny, fragile animal. They called in specialists from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital next door. Two Vascular Access Team specialists with experience treating premature human infants came over with specialized equipment.
Even with all of their knowledge and equipment, the first line they placed failed after 30 minutes. The second line worked, and Fiona has grown up to be big and healthy.
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital has consulted on a number of cases at the Cincinnati Zoo, providing imaging services and providing care recommendations for baby primates.
The Human-Animal Bond
Humans and animals have co-evolved over millennia as members of households and as members of the same ecosystems. Our lives have become so intertwined that we share the same microbes and pathogens, yes, but also the same heroism and commitment to our shared communities. While the human-animal bond has been documented in a variety of scientific specialties, it is also something we experience as we share our lives with these amazing animals.
Further Reading
Landmine-sniffing hero rat dies aged eight. (2022, January 12). The New Daily. https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/world/asia-news/2022/01/12/landmine-sniffing-hero-rat-dies/
Reamer, D. (2020, March 2). Togo was the true hero dog of the serum run; it’s about time he got his due. Alaska Life. https://www.adn.com/alaska-life/2020/03/02/togo-was-the-true-hero-dog-of-the-serum-run-its-about-time-he-got-his-due/
Ameen, C. et al. (2019). Specialized sledge dogs accompanied Inuit dispersal across the North American Arctic. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 286(1916), 20191929. 10.1098/rspb.2019.1929 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/articles/PMC6939252/
Cincinnati Zoo. (2017, February 20). Cincinnati Children’s joins #TeamFiona [blog post]. https://cincinnatizoo.org/news-releases/cincinnati-childrens-joins-teamfiona/
One Health Commission. (2020, January 1). January 2020 is One Health Awareness Month. https://www.onehealthcommission.org/index.cfm/38050/47400/january_2020_is_one_health_awareness_month