Disease reporting and surveillance: where do companion animal diseases fit in?

Disease surveillance and reporting is a necessary and integral part of public health practice. Surveillance systems have been developed over many years for both human medicine and veterinary medicine. However, these systems are not usually interconnected. Today, with the benefits of advanced information technology, the development and integration of existing and new resources in companion-animal practice should be focused on "one medicine-one health" for the betterment and health of all species. This means more sharing of surveillance data, greater cooperation among organizations involved in surveillance, and further integration of human and animal surveillance activities.