The concept of  One Health considers that the health of all people stems from the interface between humans, animals and the environment (physical and social). Indeed, while human populations have benefited for millennia from their interaction with animals, this interaction carries risks because more than 60% of infections affecting humans are of animal origin.  

Dr. Carabin makes sure to include human, animal and environmental health aspects in her research to better understand and control zoonoses, i.e., infections transmitted between animals and humans, here and elsewhere. Her research has made it possible to measure the relative impact of behavioural, socio-demographic, environmental and animal factors on the frequency of parasitic zoonoses while developing prevention programs. She is also working on the development of blood markers for neurocysticercosis, a zoonosis responsible for a third of epilepsy cases in some poor countries.  

​

The Canada Research Chair in Epidemiology and One Health team intends to use cutting-edge epidemiological and biotechnological methods to identify modifiable risk factors on which public health interventions could be based in order to maximize their effectiveness and sustainability, while improving diagnostic methods for neurological parasitic infections. The burden of zoonotic parasitic brain diseases will also be assessed in Quebec. 

​

 

The approaches used by Dr. Carabin's team could influence the adoption of prevention strategies for parasitic zoonoses by actively involving human, animal and environmental health stakeholders.