May 14, 2010
Some acronyms are downright ugly. GLEWS is shorthand for the Global Early Warning and Response System for Major Animal Diseases, Including Zoonoses. GLEWS supports information sharing on disease alerts being tracked by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), World Health Organization (WHO), and World Animal Health Organization (OIE–trust me on this one, the translation from French to English is better this way). In a way, it is an example of a One Health Initiative.
On May 14, 2010, GLEWS posted a very informative overview of the current outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in southeast Asia. Recent outbreak activity has involved FMD serotype O, which if you recall, was responsible for the FMD outbreak in the United Kingdom in 2001.
