Over thousands of years, wildlife has coexisted with domestic animals in dynamic systems. The domestic-wildlife interfaces are those physical spaces where wild and domestic species overlap and potentially interact through direct and indirect contact, with the inherent risk of pathogen transmission. The nature of this interface is complex and can significantly vary over time and across landscapes throughout the world. Over the last centuries, processes such as human intervention on agriculture and animal husbandry, industrialization, or globalization have altered ecosystems. These changes often lead to more interconnected interfaces and increased opportunities for the emergence and spread of pathogens because the human population is increasing and expanding, livestock production is therefore increasing to supply the growing food demand, and wildlife, often under the pressure of habitat reduction, is becoming more exposed to these new interfaces.

The U.S. veterinary medical profession contributes to society in diverse ways, from developing drugs and protecting the food supply to treating companion animals and investigating animal diseases in the wild. In a study of the issues related to the veterinary medical workforce, including demographics, workforce supply, trends affecting job availability, and capacity of the educational system to fill future demands, a National Research Council committee found that the profession faces important challenges in maintaining the economic sustainability of veterinary practice and education, building its scholarly foundations, and evolving veterinary service to meet changing societal needs. Many concerns about the profession came into focus following the outbreak of West Nile fever in 1999, and the subsequent outbreaks of SARS, monkeypox, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, highly pathogenic avian influenza, H1N1 influenza, and a variety of food safety and environmental issues heightened public concerns. They also raised further questions about the directions of veterinary medicine and the capacity of public health service the profession provides both in the United States and abroad. To address some of the problems facing the veterinary profession, greater public and private support for education and research in veterinary medicine is needed. The public, policymakers, and even medical professionals are frequently unaware of how veterinary medicine fundamentally supports both animal and human health and well-being. This report seeks to broaden the public's understanding and attempts to anticipate some of the needs and measures that are essential for the profession to fulfill given its changing roles in the 21st century.

Research in veterinary science is critical for the health and well-being of animals, including humans. Food safety, emerging infectious diseases, the development of new therapies, and the possibility of bioterrorism are examples of issues addressed by veterinary science that have an impact on both human and animal health. However, there is a lack of scientists engaged in veterinary research. Too few veterinarians pursue research careers, and there is a shortage of facilities and funding for conducting research. This report identifies questions and issues that veterinary research can help to address, and discusses the scientific expertise and infrastructure needed to meet the most critical research needs. The report finds that there is an urgent need to provide adequate resources for investigators, training programs, and facilities involved in veterinary research.

Shared diseases among wildlife, livestock and humans, often transboundary, are relevant to public health and global economy, as being highlighted currently relative to the global COVID19 pandemic. Diseases at these interfaces also impact the conservation of biodiversity and must be considered when managing wildlife. While wildlife and domestic livestock have coexisted in dynamic systems for thousands of years, spillover disease risks are higher today than in the past due to global patterns of increasing close contact and interactions among wildlife, livestock and humans in the context of complex, diverse and numerous circumstances. Multidisciplinary studies of animal interfaces, especially those involving wildlife, therefore, must be brought to the forefront so that knowledge gaps can be realized and filled to inform managers and policy makers. In the first part of the book authors illustrate and discuss ecological and epidemiological concepts related to the interfaces, with a vision towards socio-ecological system health. In addition, the history of past animal interfaces provides the necessary perspective to focus current questions, better understand present situations, and informs how we can best approach the future. The second part discusses the myriad of similar and differing wildlife- livestock interfaces found around the world from a regional point of view. The third part focuses on how to assess the spatial and temporal overlap between livestock and wildlife, and authors present new technical innovations about how inter-transmissions between wild and domestic populations can be quantified. An overview of main modeling approaches available to quantify multi-host disease transmission at the wildlife/livestock interface, illustrated with specific-case studies, is also presented. Finally, the need for interdisciplinary approaches and a dedicated thematic field to approach the wildlife/livestock interfaces and create opportunities to promote wildlife–livestock coexistence is emphasized. The concluding chapter presents perspectives and directions to better understanding disease dynamics at the wildlife/livestock interface, global change and implications for the future. The changing distribution of interfaces, ongoing human and environmental changes (e. g. climate warming, changes in animal production systems, etc.) and their likely impacts and consequences for the interfaces and disease transmission processes are all discussed.

- A hypothesis is a proposition, set forth as an explanation for the occurrence of a phenomenon, that can be tested. - The basis for scientific investigation is the collection of information to formulate and test hypotheses. - Experimental methods measure the effect of manipulations caused by the investigator; observational methods collect information about naturally occurring events. - There are three sub-types of experimental techniques that differ in the way subjects are chosen for inclusion in the study, in the amount of control that the investigator has over variables, and in the method used to assess changes in other variables. - Descriptive observational studies dominate the early phase of most investigations and involve the description of disease-related events in the population. Associations among factors may be observed but the strength of the associations is not measured. - Analytical observation al techniques are of three basic types: prevalence surveys, case:control studies, and incidence or cohort studies. All attempt to explain the nature of relationships among various factors and to measure the strength of associations. - Prevalence surveys and case:control studies deal with disease existing at the time of the study; incidence studies are concerned with the development of disease over time. - Observational studies may be retrospective, using existing data, or prospective with collection of new information.

Biosecurity is the assessment and management of potentially dangerous infectious diseases, quarantined pests, invasive (alien) species, living modified organisms, and biological weapons. It is a holistic concept of direct relevance to the sustainability of agriculture, food safety, and the protection of human populations (including bio-terrorism), the environment, and biodiversity. Biosecurity is a relatively new concept that has become increasingly prevalent in academic, policy and media circles, and needs a more comprehensive and inter-disciplinary approach to take into account mobility, globalisation and climate change. In this introductory volume, biosecurity is presented as a governance approach to a set of concerns that span the protection of indigenous biological organisms, agricultural systems and human health, from invasive pests and diseases. It describes the ways in which biosecurity is understood and theorized in different subject disciplines, including anthropology, political theory, ecology, geography and environmental management. It examines the different scientific and knowledge practices connected to biosecurity governance, including legal regimes, ecology, risk management and alternative knowledges. The geopolitics of biosecurity is considered in terms of health, biopolitics and trade governance at the global scale. Finally, biosecurity as an approach to actively secure the future is assessed in the context of future risk and uncertainties, such as globalization and climate change.