title: Issues and special features of animal health research.
abstract: In the rapidly changing context of research on animal health, INRA launched a collective discussion on the challenges facing the field, its distinguishing features, and synergies with biomedical research. As has been declared forcibly by the heads of WHO, FAO and OIE, the challenges facing animal health, beyond diseases transmissible to humans, are critically important and involve food security, agriculture economics, and the ensemble of economic activities associated with agriculture. There are in addition issues related to public health (zoonoses, xenobiotics, antimicrobial resistance), the environment, and animal welfare.Animal health research is distinguished by particular methodologies and scientific questions that stem from the specific biological features of domestic species and from animal husbandry practices. It generally does not explore the same scientific questions as research on human biology, even when the same pathogens are being studied, and the discipline is rooted in a very specific agricultural and economic context.Generic and methodological synergies nevertheless exist with biomedical research, particularly with regard to tools and biological models. Certain domestic species furthermore present more functional similarities with humans than laboratory rodents.The singularity of animal health research in relation to biomedical research should be taken into account in the organization, evaluation, and funding of the field through a policy that clearly recognizes the specific issues at stake. At the same time, the One Health approach should facilitate closer collaboration between biomedical and animal health research at the level of research teams and programmes.
authors.affiliation: INRA, UR346 Epidémiologie animale, 63122 Saint Genès Champanelle, France. Ducrot@clermont.inra.fr.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ducrot
authors.forename: Bertrand
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bed'hom
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Béringue
authors.forename: Jean-Baptiste
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Coulon
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fourichon
authors.forename: Jean-Luc
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Guérin
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Krebs
authors.forename: Pascal
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rainard
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Schwartz-Cornil
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Torny
authors.forename: Muriel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vayssier-Taussat
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zientara
authors.forename: Etienne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Zundel
authors.forename: Thierry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pineau
mesh_terms: D000820:Animal Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D032761:Animal Experimentation / Q000592:standards; D000818:Animals; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D058751:Livestock; D011634:Public Health; D015047:Zoonoses / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology