Abstract

The MD Department of Agriculture, MD Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the MD Department of Natural Resources developed a biweekly Maryland One Health Bulletin in 2011. As defined by the American Veterinary Medical Association, "One Health" is the collaborative effort of multiple disciplines - working locally, nationally, and globally - to attain optimal health for people, animals and our environment. This bulletin is intended toprovide reports of zoonotic and other animal diseases of concern in Maryland, whether in domestic livestock, poultry, companion or exotic animals, native wildlife, or humans, for the purpose of promoting rapid detection, evaluation and control of these diseases in our state. We depend on the vigilance and information sharing of veterinarians, health care workers and wildlife biologists to achieve the goal of animal, human and environmental health protection. These reports are intentionally brief, with links and references to more detailed discussions for further information. Rabies updates are provided in each edition of the bulletin, as this is of interest to all providers and users of animal and human health data. The Maryland One Health Bulletin is a biweekly effort sent to all Maryland veterinarians with available email addresses, as well as interested public health and wildlife health colleagues. After nine months we sent a feedback survey to our distribution lists and determined that our bulletin is well-received and shared beyond our initially intended audience. This bulletin will hopefully serve as a template for other states to reach out to more One Health partners.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dianne Dorsey, Maryland Department of Agriculture and Mary Armolt, Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene for their continued assistance with formatting and distributing the MD One Health Bulletin.