The Road Not Traveled: Bovine Tuberculosis in England, Wales, and Michigan, USA

Abstract

One Health as a concept now enjoys broad and enthusiastic support. However, One Health as a potential strategy for disease management has struggled with the many varying interpretations of what the concept means in practice. This ambiguity obfuscates what the practical goals of One Health are in a disease management context. Opportunities exist to examine how the practical management of well-studied, multihost zoonotic diseases under different locales and governance systems may shed light on what the concept of One Health looks like in application. The case studies of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in Michigan, USA and in the United Kingdom provide such an opportunity. To date, management of bTB in the US and UK has had mixed success. Elimination of the disease is hampered by the conflicting interests and priorities of stakeholders, disease managers, and policy makers. This polarization poses a fundamental challenge to the One Health approach. In this retrospective, we reflect on how a One Health approach adopted prior to the onset of bTB in both countries might (or might not) have changed the course of the outbreaks and subsequent effectiveness of management. While recognizing the positive potential of One Health, we also point out where evolution will be necessary to turn concepts into effective practice. We discuss how the effectiveness of One Health generally, and management of bTB specifically, is limited by lack of knowledge from the social sciences and the application of these insights in the governance of a One Health approach. © The Authors 2023