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How well do YOU know your zoonotic diseases?

Between World Zoonoses Day 2022 (6 July) and One Health Day 2022 (3 November), the One Health Poultry Hub website is featuring ZOODLE – a word game inspired by the popular New York Times Wordle game.

On each of the 87 weekdays between these two international awareness days you can pit yourself against our ZOODLE to ‘diagnose’ a zoonotic diseases-related word in six or fewer tries. Click the ‘?’ on the corner of the puzzle below to find out how to play.

Why are we doing this?

We want to highlight the link between zoonoses and a One Health approach. By joining up the two awareness days with ZOODLE we have found what we hope is a fun way of doing this.

The landscape of infectious diseases and the threat they present is changing. It is critical the world finds ways to minimise those threats.

• Some 60% of human infections originate from animals (i.e., are zoonotic in nature).
• More than 70% of all new and emerging infectious diseases affecting people are zoonotic.
• The rapid intensification of livestock production, including poultry production, presents an increasing risk area for zoonotic disease emergence.
• One Health approaches are needed to reduce the risk of zoonotic disease.

One Health Poultry Hub Director Professor Fiona Tomley said:

“Wordle has proved an infectious bit of fun.  We hope ZOODLE will also be great fun and perhaps a diverting start to people’s days. But behind it lies more serious concern for public health, food security, the environment and animal welfare. We aim to increase public awareness and understanding of the changing landscape of infectious diseases, the threats they present and, importantly, the way forward to minimise those threats.”

ZOODLE focus words

As well as offering the game, we are taking regular dives into a ZOODLE word to offer information or reflections on how the word relates to zoonoses, One Health or the work of the One Health Poultry Hub. These ZOODLE focus words appear the day after they have featured as a solution in the game.

Check out past ZOODLE focus words:

• The ZOODLE word of 10 August was TRACK. Read ‘Why we track chickens‘ by Dr Hoa Pham of CIRAD.
• The ZOODLE word of 3 August was COVID. Read ‘Politics and ecosystems need rebalancing so no more COVID-19s‘, a blog by Professor Dirk Pfeiffer of City University of Hong Kong.
• The ZOODLE word of 27 July was SHOCK. Read ‘Why disease outbreaks continue to surprise’, a blog by Dr Annie Wilkinson of the Institute of Development Studies, UK.
• The ZOODLE solution of 20 July was MODEL. Read ‘Data crunching for infectious disease strategies‘, a blog by Dr Francesco Pinotti of the University of Oxford
• The ZOODLE solution of 13 July was ROLES. Read ‘Seeking connections and the consequences of what people do’, a blog by Dr Eve Houghton of the Royal Veterinary College, London.
• The ZOODLE solution of 7 July was VIRUS. Read ‘Tiny pathogens with a big impact‘, a blog by Dr Ashley Banyard of the Animal and Plant Health Agency.