Assessment of Zoonoses

The term zoonosis is derived from the Greek terms zoon (living organism) and nosos (disease). Zoonoses are infectious diseases which are caused by bacteria, parasites, fungi, prions or viruses and can be reciprocally transmitted between animals and humans.

Almost two-thirds of all known human pathogens – pathogens which can cause a disease in humans – are transmitted from animals to humans.

Transmission can be by direct contact, via foods, e.g. milk, eggs, meat or other foods but also via vectors (e.g. ticks, midges).

As a result of rapid population growth, increasing mobility, changed animal breeding and husbandry as well as climatic changes, zoonoses become increasingly significant.

Practically all new pathogens of the past years but also many topical infectious diseases are zoonoses. This includes, for example, the infectious disease SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome).

BfRshort forGerman Federal Institute for Risk Assessment conducts research on zoonoses, both in the field of zoonotic agents as well as in the field of the spread of pathogens (epidemiology), the transmission paths and the development of diagnostic methods suitable for daily use (reference laboratories).

External Link:The Institute has already submitted numerous studies on the spread of zoonotic agents. You can find them as PDF documents here.

BfRshort forGerman Federal Institute for Risk Assessment prepares an annual report on the epidemiological situation of zoonoses in Germany.

The corresponding data are collected from the monitoring authorities of the Federal States based on the Zoonoses Monitoring Directive, the Infection Protection and Epizootic Diseases Act as well as the Food and Feed Code (LFGB) and passed on to BfRshort forGerman Federal Institute for Risk Assessment.

BfRshort forGerman Federal Institute for Risk Assessment evaluates the data and compiles them together with data which are made available by other federal agencies and the national reference laboratories for the national report about trends and sources of zoonoses, zoonotic agents, antimicrobial resistance and food-borne outbreaks.

Applied research

The zoonoses research of BfRshort forGerman Federal Institute for Risk Assessment is primarily applied research. BfRshort forGerman Federal Institute for Risk Assessment is only engaged to a limited extent in fundamental research.

BfR also hosts national reference laboratories for different zoonotic agents.

The data for the zoonoses report are submitted to BfRshort forGerman Federal Institute for Risk Assessment by the competent authorities of the federal states, institutions commissioned by the federal states and the Bundeswehr (German armed forces).

The data collected are the results of tests for the occurrence of zoonotic agents in the food chain. These originate from

• food monitoring,
• targeted national and regional monitoring or surveillance programmes,
• diagnostic tests on animals and
• the examination of feed imports and environmental samples.

The data for the zoonoses report are submitted to the BfRshort forGerman Federal Institute for Risk Assessment either via the data reporting portal of the Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVLshort forGerman Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety), which then forwards the data to the BfRshort forGerman Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, or directly by the federal state authorities to the BfRshort forGerman Federal Institute for Risk Assessment using agreed data formats.

For this purpose, the BfRshort forGerman Federal Institute for Risk Assessment provides the federal states with a reporting form as an Excel file, which they forward to the responsible institutions (laboratories, district authorities, animal health services, etc.) in their state.

The federal states send the completed report form by email to the BfRshort forGerman Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Section Epidemiology, Zoonoses and Antibiotic Resistance (email: Reporting-Officer@bfr.bund.de).

The data are analysed by the BfRshort forGerman Federal Institute for Risk Assessment and summarised with data provided by other federal institutions and the national reference laboratories for the national report and for the report to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSAshort forEuropean Food Safety Authority).

A special instrument for monitoring zoonotic pathogens in the food chain is zoonosis monitoring in accordance with the ‘General Administrative Regulation on Zoonoses in the Food Chain’. Within this framework, representative sampling plans are agreed and implemented between the federal government and the federal states.

The BfRshort forGerman Federal Institute for Risk Assessment is in charge of developing the sampling plans and characterising the pathogens obtained and evaluates the results with regard to consumer health protection.

Reporting is carried out by the BVLshort forGerman Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety; the annual reports on zoonoses monitoring are published on the BVLshort forGerman Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety website.

In addition, the results of zoonoses monitoring are taken into account in the annual BfRshort forGerman Federal Institute for Risk Assessment zoonoses report.

A third important source of data are the results of the surveys conducted as part of the control programmes for salmonella in chickens and turkeys. These are transmitted by the federal states to the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, which then forwards them to the BfRshort forGerman Federal Institute for Risk Assessment for further analysis. The aggregated data are transmitted to EFSAshort forEuropean Food Safety Authority and also published in a national report, which is included in the zoonoses report.

The website Zoonotify makes data on microorganisms and their distribution available to experts and the interested public. In this way, it helps to make development trends transparent and provides an important basis for combating zoonosis diseases in humans and animals. The data is visualised in the form of graphs and can be downloaded and used by researchers for presentations, for example. It is also possible to view the data on which the graphs are based and evaluate it for your own questions.