social environment and control status of companion animal-borne zoonoses in japan社会环境和控制在日本地位的伴侣动物人畜共患病.pdfVIP

Animals 2012, 2, 38-54; doi:10.3390/ani2010038 OPEN ACCESS animals ISSN 2076-2615 /journal/animals Review Social Environment and Control Status of Companion Animal-Borne Zoonoses in Japan Hiromi Takahashi-Omoe 1,* and Katsuhiko Omoe 2 1 Science and Technology Foresight Center, National Institute of Science and Technology Policy, Kasumigaseki 3-2-2, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-0013, Japan 2 Disease Control and Environmental Sciences, Department of Veterinary Medicine, Iwate University, Ueda 3-18-8, Morioka, Iwate 020-8550, Japan; E-Mail: omo@iwate-u.ac.jp * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: omoe@nistep.go.jp; Tel.: +81-3-3581-0605; Fax: +81-3-3503-3996. Received: 23 January 2012; in revised form: 7 February 2012 / Accepted: 13 February 2012 / Published: 15 February 2012 Simple Summary: The risk of companion animal-borne zoonoses has been rising in Japan with the tendency for increasing number of households to ever-growing numbers and varieties of animals as pets. In response, the Japanese government has implemented measures for the domestic and border control of zoonoses. However, it is impossible to determine whether these measures have adequately controlled the transmission of companion animal-borne zoonoses, due to a lack of (i) direct evidence linking companion animal involvement in disease and (ii) understanding of current trends in disease outbreak. Active surveillance should be conducted on a national l