One Health in the Argan Forest

We started to address the One health challenge represented by zoonotic disease in the argan forest last year by conducting rabies awareness campaigns in schools and dog vaccination campaigns in villages. This has led to a much better understanding by the local population of the risk represented by stray dogs and it allowed them to know what to do to avoid being bitten by dogs and to avoid the transmission of this fatal infection.

When visiting villages last year, the One Health team was able to identify that some another zoonotic disease affected the population: leishmaniasis.  This parasitic infection is transmitted through the bites of infected sandflies, which are tiny insects found in mud wall cracks and animal burrows. Contrary to mosquitoes, sandflies are able to live in  a multitude of environments as  they do not need water to complete their life cycle. They bite from dusk to dawn and are silent flyers, making their bite going unnoticed. After a few weeks, skin lesions develop and can take a very long time to heal, leaving affected people with disfiguring scars and psychosocial trauma. This disease is largely unknown from the local population.

As a first step in our task to improve people and animal health while conserving natural ecosystems, our One Health team started to investigate the role of stray dogs in the transmission of leishmaniasis so that adapted preventive and control measures can be developed accordingly. Once we know more about disease transmission in the argan forest, we’ll be able to inform and protect both human and animal populations in the most effective way, helping to reduce a health burden which is already considerable in the area.

Our dedicated One Health team is in action again in the argan forest to investigate the population ecology and health status of feral dogs which now roam free in this ecosystem.Traditionally, domestic dogs are kept by farmers and families with a role of guarding the house and of accompanying herds of famous argan goats  to browse in the trees.

But there is now  a new “type” of dogs: large packs of dogs which roam free in the forest and come occasionally to villages where they represent a threat to people and their livestock. They can attack people and byte them, they sometimes kill their livestock and they can also carry diseases which represent a huge risk to humans, like deadly rabies.

But the reality is that we will not be able to bring sustainable solutions to these problems without gaining a better understanding of the issues: Where do these dogs come from and where do they stay? What are the exact risks they represent in term of disease transmission? How often do they interact with other animals and people?

Our project is committed to finding answers to these new challenges so our team isnow  conducting a scientific One Health investigation by questioning local people in villages, taking biological samples from these dogs and making observations of their behavior. This is a long-term investigation in which trust building and awareness raising with local communities is pivotal. But the dedication and expertise of our team will undoubtedly overcome these challenges. Now more than ever, we need you to support our team!