NCOH-SHF. Prevention Strategies (PS) During the last decades, prevention of (intestinal and respiratory) animal diseases by other means than vaccination and improved diagnostics received very little attention. Nevertheless a variety of options exist to improve the intrinsic properties of animals for reducing the susceptibility (= improved resilience or adaptation capacity or robustness) of animals for (zoonotic) disease thereby avoiding conditions that require the use of antibiotics. These intrinsic properties may be modulated by management, programming, nutrition, and genetic selection. Although this does not sound as an innovative approach, research of the last decades did not take into account the important role of the interaction between environment, microbiota, immune system, and host. Enhancing animals’ ability to resist and overcome diseases will help them to stay healthy and well adapted to their living conditions, i.e. increase their robustness and resilience. To accelerate progress in this field a particularly important goal is to develop improved tools to speed up the identification and quantification immune competence / adaptability parameters and understand their meaning in the population. Progress in this area is crucial for the successful development of management, housing, nutritional and genetic approaches to improve immune competence / adaptability and herd immunity, in order to increase health and welfare and better prevent diseases. Furthermore it is required to understand the key pathophysiological and epidemiological factors that influence immune competence and adaptability during all periods of the animal’s life cycle, thereby focussing on critical transition periods. Application of immune modulating factors at the population level must also be taken into account. Thus, epidemiological studies and modelling, to understand the effect of interventions at the population level is pivotal.
NCOH-SHF. Detection Strategies (DS) Smart Farming is the term used for management of livestock making use of automated real-time monitoring and controlling of animal production, health, welfare, and environmental impact. Livestock production in the Netherlands takes place in a dense populated country, which creates ample opportunities for pathogen exchange between humans and animals. Detection/signalling systems are needed that can signal the health status of an animal thereby predicting whether livestock will be or is in an early state of infected here we will use new smart farming technologies and big data analyses. Food products from animals are still causing health risks for humans in particular due to exposure to commensal or pathogenic bacteria (e.g. Campylobacter, Salmonella), parasites (Toxoplasma), viruses (e.g. hepatitis E) and antibiotic resistant bacteria that are a source of resistance genes. Controlling these hazards with detection strategies is a food chain responsibility, starting at the farm level and ending at the consumer level. Within this Solution Set, the NCOH-SHF will focus on the development of new cheap rapid high throughput technology with newly developed biomarkers that are correlated with health status and exposure reduction and prevention (emission reduction, new housing systems) measures and food safety detection systems.
NCOH-SHF. Underpinning Research (UR) The NCOH-SHF research project portfolio in this Solution Set focuses on environmental health risk reduction through investigating livestock-related microorganisms through the food chain and through emission in the environment and resulting food consumption that create potential risks for human health. When relations between these food- and emission-related exposures and human health have been established objectively, preventive strategies can be developed that are based again on the principles of healthy and robust animals and smart farming or strategies beyond these domains.
