The concepts of 'health' and 'welfare', whether applied to humans or animals, are increasingly becoming linked. But are they really indissociable, or even synonymous? Although human health is generally defined as a complete state of physical, mental and social well-being, animal health is still considered as simply the absence of disease. However, recent advances in scientific knowledge are forcing us to revise our ideas about the mental complexity of animals and to recognise their ability to feel emotions and to have needs and a degree of consciousness. The precise objective of animal welfare science is to study their mental states and their ability to adapt to domestication. Pending a global application of this concept of health, including mental health, to animals as well as to humans, the idea of welfare remains an important element in addition to traditional health concerns. More generally, this linkage fuels the ethical debate about the ways in which people use animals, prompting society to change its stance on some aspects of the issue.

The animal foodstuffs industry has changed in recent decades as a result of factors such as: human population growth and longer life expectancy, increasing urbanisation and migration, emerging zoonotic infectious diseases and foodborne diseases (FBDs), food security problems, technological advances in animal production systems, globalisation of trade and environmental changes. The Millennium Development Goals and the 'One Health' paradigm provide global guidelines on efficiently addressing the issues of consumer product safety, food security and risks associated with zoonoses. Professionals involved in the supply chain must therefore play an active role, based on knowledge and skills that meet current market requirements. Accordingly, it is necessary for the veterinary medicine curriculum, both undergraduate and postgraduate, to incorporate these skills. This article analyses the approach that veterinary education should adopt in relation to food safety, with an emphasis on animal health, food pathogens and FBD surveillance.

While the metaphor 'farm to fork' is a simple way of describing the chain that starts with the animal and follows through to the food delivered to consumers, there is a danger it could convey the idea that it only covers the food chain. The author believes that the expression should be understood to refer to a broader field--which he calls the 'veterinary domain' - which includes all aspects of animal use and management and the goals of veterinary public health, which is itself defined. Within the veterinary domain, it is veterinarians who are the guarantors of animal health and protectors of animal resources, providing a vital component of food security and public safety. Historical and geographical references show that this role is vulnerable and must be protected to ensure its existence and quality, not only for the benefit of those involved, but above all for society as a whole. As the organisation of such protection involves granting monopolies, special attention must be paid to the conditions governing veterinary training and practice. Protection brings duties and requires control mechanisms, which are generally entrusted to veterinary statutory bodies. The entire mechanism must therefore be covered by specific legislation, which is now embodied in Article 3.4.6. of the TerrestrialAnimal Health Code of the World Organisation for Animal Health. However, there is a danger of destroying a system, which has evolved over many years and has proven its worth, by an insistence on free-trade dogma that rejects the relationship between the health and veterinary professions.

The growing importance of animal diseases and zoonoses at a time when globalisation has increased movements of people, animals and animal products across the globe, has strengthened the role of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) in animal disease control. The OIE's mandate since its establishment in 1924 has been to facilitate the exchange of public health, animal health and scientific information, and to further the control and eradication of animal diseases. The OIE is recognised by the World Trade Organization Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures as the international reference organisation for animal diseases and zoonoses, especially for standard setting. The standards adopted by the World Assembly of OIE Delegates on veterinary public health and animal health feature in the OlE Terrestrial Animal Health Code, the Aquatic Animal Health Code, the Manual of Diagnostic Tests and Vaccines for Terrestrial Animals and the Manual of Diagnostic Tests for Aquatic Animals. The OlE is also a reference organisation for the exchange of public and animal health information among Member Countries, through an information, reporting and warning system based on transparent communication between countries. The OIE provides scientific expertise in ascertaining countries' status with regard to notifiable diseases, enabling them to secure official recognition as being free from foot and mouth disease, African horse sickness, contagious bovine pleuropneumonia and bovine spongiform encephalopathy. The OIE also contributes its scientific expertise to stakeholder training on the surveillance and control of animal diseases and zoonoses and to the evaluation of the performance of Veterinary Services, to enhance theirwork asthe cornerstone of their countries' disease control efforts.

Mathematical models for the spread of foot and mouth disease (FMD) have been developed and used for a number of purposes in the recent literature. One important purpose is predicting the effect of strategies to combat between-farm epidemic spread, in support of decision-making on epidemic control. The authors briefly review the various modelling approaches, discussing the parameters used and how estimates may be obtained for these parameters. They emphasise that, in addition to the estimation of FMD transmission parameters, the choice of model structure (including the number and type of parameters used) is also crucial. Two gaps in the knowledge of FMD transmission, related to model construction and parameter quantification, are identified: transmission between different species and the way in which vaccination affects such transmission, and route-specific FMD transmission properties. In particular, the authors pay attention to the role that small-scale transmission experiments can play in bridging these gaps.

Although they are frequently lumped together, reptiles and amphibians belong to two very different zoological groups. Nevertheless, one fact is clear: while numerous reptile and amphibian species on Earth are in decline, others have taken advantage of trade or human movements to become established in new lands, adopting different, and sometimes unusual, strategies. The authors have taken a few examples from these two zoological groups that illustrate the majority of cases. A brief analysis of the causes and effects of their introductions into new areas reveals connections with economic interests, trade in companion animals, medical research and public health.

Every region of the world is concerned by potential mammal invasions, as humans are already present on all the world's land masses. All these invasions are a result of species introductions by humans for one reason or another. The authors briefly review the known movements and observed consequences of mammal-related invasions. They take examples from all five continents, as well as from a few island systems. The ancient introduction of game species, and later of domestic species, has been followed more recently by movements of commercial species. We are now seeing the emergence of what are known as entertainment species. In a number of cases, such introductions have led to the establishment of new epidemiological cycles that previously might never have been thought possible. According to current indicators, this phenomenon is not on the wane.

Veterinary Services play a key role in controlling avian influenza by means of surveillance of animal diseases (including zoonoses), early detection and rapid response. To improve animal health worldwide, and in particular to control emerging and re-emerging diseases, it is necessary to build the capacity of Veterinary Services and improve their governance, in accordance with the quality standards in the Terrestrial Animal Health Code, which were adopted by all Member Countries and Territories of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). An OIE evaluation will enable those countries who have requested the evaluation to conduct a gap analysis and, subsequently, to implement national projects for improving the governance of Veterinary Services, possibly with donor aid.