Current Status and Measures of Zoonosis Control in Japan

The main cause of human infectious diseases and public health threats these days has been thought to be “emerging and re-emerging diseases” such as BSE, highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), SARS, etc. These infectious diseases were derived from pathogens from animals (zoonosis) and their products (food-borne infections). Recent zoonoses worldwide are reviewed here by origin, environment and relationship to human activities both in developing and developed countries. Emerging zoonosis is a kind of warning to humanity and we need to build ubiquitous, scientific zoonosis control methods acceptable to most countries of the world. The WHO and OIE serve as internationally responsible organs for disease control in humans and domestic animals, respectively. I explain a path to global zoonosis control, recent experiences in risk assessment and new measures for zoonosis control in Japan, which have been conducted concomitant with renovation of the “Infectious Diseases Control Law” which was established about a hundred years ago. The renovated law calls for cooperation between central and local government, between the MAFF (Ministry of Agriculture, Fishery and Forestry) and MHLW (Ministry of Health Labor and Welfare), and between medical doctors and veterinarians.