Scientist from Italy published in Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2025, 22(10), 1478;an article entitled
“Open Data Are Urgently Needed for One Health-Based Investigations: The Example of the 2024 Salmonella Umbilo Multi-Country Outbreak”. They reported that in 2024, a significant Salmonella Umbilo outbreak was reported across the European Union and beyond. It was traced to contaminated vegetables originating from the Province of Salerno (Italy). Subsequent on-site inspections in the production area revealed a mismanaged manure storage tank. Within a 1-km radius, encompassing both the manure tank and the contaminated greenhouses, three buffalo farms were identified. Farm inspections revealed buffalo calves exhibiting enteric symptoms. Fecal samples collected from these animals led to the genomic isolation of S. Umbilo, which is linked to the 2024 multi-country outbreak, as well as other serotypes. The work represents a milestone in epidemiological investigations at the human–animal–environment interface. It strongly advocates for the creation of open-access databanks to support cross-sectoral research, an essential step toward effectively addressing public health emergencies that would otherwise remain unresolved. It highlights the critical limitations imposed by the absence of open-access data, which are indispensable for comprehensive analyses of public health events. It emphasizes the need for developing advanced informatics tools to integrate heterogeneous databases from distinct sectors. These sectors are conventionally considered isolated but are interconnected by the ability of pathogens to cross artificial human-imposed boundaries. @ https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph22101478
