Mitigating the Impact of Emerging Animal Infectious Disease Threats: First Emerging Animal Infectious Diseases Conference (EAIDC) Report

From 29 November to 1 December 2021, an emerging animal infectious disease conference (EAIDC) was held at the Pennsylvania State University. This conference brought together distinguished thought leaders in animal health, veterinary diagnostics, epidemiology and disease surveillance, and agricultural economics. The conference's primary objective was to review the lessons learned from past experiences in dealing with high-consequence animal infectious diseases to inform an action plan to prepare for future epizootics and panzootics. Invited speakers and panel members comprised world-leading experts in animal infectious diseases from federal state agencies, academia, professional societies, and the private sector. The conference concluded that the biosecurity of livestock operations is critical for minimizing the devastating impact of emerging animal infectious diseases. The panel also highlighted the need to develop and benchmark cutting-edge diagnostics for rapidly detecting pathogens in clinical samples and the environment. Developing next-generation pathogen agnostic diagnostics will help detect variants of known pathogens and unknown novel pathogens. The conference also highlighted the importance of the One Health approach in dealing with emerging animal and human infectious diseases. The recommendations of the conference may be used to inform policy discussions focused on developing strategies for monitoring and preventing emerging infectious disease threats to the livestock industry.

Automated summary

The Emerging Animal Infectious Disease Conference (EAIDC) held at Pennsylvania State University brought together world-leading experts in the field to review past experiences dealing with high-consequence animal infectious diseases. The conference emphasized the importance of livestock biosecurity and the need for advanced diagnostics to detect pathogens. It also highlighted the significance of the One Health approach in addressing emerging animal and human infectious diseases.