One Health in Utah

The One Health concept recognizes:

• The link between the health of humans, animals, and our shared environment;
• The need for multidisciplinary collaboration to solve interconnected health challenges.

• SARS-CoV-2 at the human-animal-environment (HAE) interface: Utah has participated in various SARS-CoV-2 outbreak investigations and surveillance projects at the HAE interface. Visit our SARS-CoV-2 One Health page to learn more about SARS-CoV-2 One Health projects in Utah.
• West Nile virus (WNV): State health officials, local health departments, the Utah Public Health Lab, local mosquito abatement districts, blood donor organizations, Utah’s Hogle Zoo, and Tracy Aviary meet routinely to discuss control of WNV, a mosquito-borne virus that can affect both humans and animals. Read more about WNV prevention and response in the WNV annual reports.
• Q fever: Utah One Health partners routinely investigate sheep, goat, and human cases of Q fever, a bacterial disease that can be spread from livestock to people.
• Collaborative tick surveillance: State health officials are developing and expanding partnerships with local health agencies, the Department of Wildlife Resources, local mosquito abatement districts, other One Health partners, and the public to conduct tick surveillance across the state. Efforts to launch a citizen science tick submission program are underway. Anyone who wants to submit a tick to contribute to our surveillance efforts should fill out the Utah tick submission form.
• Assessing pet rabies vaccination: State and local health officials collaborated to pilot a survey in Tooele, UT to assess the rabies vaccination coverage in cats and dogs. In collaboration with local animal control entities and other partners, the goal of the project is to promote pet rabies vaccination in selected communities.
• Salmonella in backyard poultry (BYP): Health officials collaborated with the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food to sample chick shipping papers from local farm supply stores to help identify gaps in traceback sources of BYP along the supply chain. Sampling efforts in Utah will help support the CDC’s multi-state project to mitigate human cases of salmonellosis contracted from BYP.
• Salmonella in a bearded dragon: State and local health officials identified Salmonella in a pet bearded dragon, which provided the clue needed to solve a multistate outbreak of human salmonellosis.
• Thallium in beef: After routine sampling of Utah beef identified potentially harmful levels of thallium, officials from various human, animal, and environmental health agencies collaborated on an investigation to characterize the public health and environmental threat.
• Corynebacterium ulcerans in humans and pets: State and local public health officials and environmental specialists worked together to conduct human, animal, and environmental sampling for Corynebacterium ulcerans in a Utah household.

Here are some infectious diseases that affect both humans and animals:

• Anthrax
• Avian Influenza or Novel Influenza
• Babesiosis
• Brucellosis
• Chagas Disease
• Dengue
• Hantavirus
• Leptospirosis
• Lyme Disease
• Mycobacteriosis (non-TB)
• Nipah Virus
• Plague
• Psittacosis
• Q Fever
• Rabies
• Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
• Salmonellosis
• Trichinellosis
• Tularemia
• West Nile Virus

Environmental health concerns that affect humans and animals:

• Environmental contaminants:
  • Lead
  • Mercury
  • Arsenic
• Harmful algal blooms in water bodies
• Drought and the shrinking of the Great Salt Lake
• Air pollution
• Coccidioides in humans and pets

The 2023 Utah One Health Symposium will be held on November 3, 2023 (One Health Day) at the Davis Conference Center in Layton, Utah. The theme of the 2023 symposium will be Urbanization in Utah: Health Impacts for People, Animals, and the Environment. Register here for the 2023 Utah One Health Symposium.

For details on prior Symposia, please click: 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018

Complete this form to join the Utah One Health Network listserv.

Partners in the Utah One Health Network

Associations/groups:

• Utah Veterinary Medical Association ( UVMA )
• Utah Public Health Association ( UPHA )
• Utah Environmental Health Association ( UEHA )
• Utah Association of Local Health Departments ( UALHD )
• Utah Mosquito Abatement Association ( UMAA )
• Utah Rapid Response Team ( URRT )
• Utah Poison Control Center (UPCC)

Healthcare:

• Veterinarians and veterinary medical clinics
• Human healthcare providers and systems

Universities:

• Utah State University ( USU ), Extension One Health
• Westminster College, Great Salt Lake Institute

Local government:

• Local health departments
• Mosquito abatement districts
• Animal control jurisdictions

State government:

• Utah Department of Health and Human Services ( DHHS )
• Utah Department of Agriculture and Food ( UDAF )
• Utah Department of Environmental Quality ( UDEQ )
• Utah Division of Wildlife Resources ( UDWR )
• Utah Division of Water Resources ( UDWRe )
• Utah Division of Emergency Management (UDEM), Be Ready Utah

Federal government:

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), One Health Office
• USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Veterinary Services (APHIS VS), One Health
• USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service ( FSIS )
• Food and Drug Administration ( FDA )
• National Park Service ( NPS )
• US Geological Survey, National Wildlife Health Center ( USGS NWHC )
• US Fish and Wildlife Service ( USFWS )
• Indian Health Service ( IHS )
  • Urban Indian Organization

Tribal government:

• Tribal health departments
• Tribal mosquito abatement districts
• Tribal animal control jurisdictions

Other entities

• Utah’s Hogle Zoo

To learn more about One Health in Utah, email OneHealth@utah.gov.