Zoological medicine education in Canada: options and opportunities

Canada has four veterinary schools, from which approximately 325 veterinarians graduate each year. Curricular offerings in zoological medicine consist of limited core material and a variety of internal and external electives pursued by students with particular interests. Several electives are offered jointly by and rotate among the existing schools. All schools offer graduate programs that encompass some aspects of zoological medicine. A fifth veterinary school, expected to open in 2007, will have a stronger focus on ecosystem health and zoological medicine. In Canada, the most effective method of increasing educational opportunities in zoological medicine is likely through enhanced collaboration among the five schools. Employment opportunities exist in private veterinary practice and at universities, research establishments, provincial or federal governments, and zoological gardens and safari parks. Increasing recognition of the importance of ecosystem health and of the relevance of wildlife diseases to public and domestic animal health will likely result in additional opportunities for veterinarians with an interest in and knowledge of zoological medicine.     

The concept of rural community practice (RCP)

The need to devote more human resources to veterinary public practice to cope with escalating threats to biological security, public health, and economic prosperity, while also addressing societal value changes, has been widely recognized and supported. Most envisage increasing the numbers of veterinarians in government employment. Why not at least combine this initiative, wherever possible, with far greater involvement of rural practitioners to deliver contractual public-practice services and provide an enhanced community interface? This could make the difference between having a local practice in a community or none at all, as well as promising to be more cost effective. The concept of rural community practice (RCP) envisages combining traditional services provided in a "mixed-animal" veterinary practice with an expanded portfolio of public-practice and communication services that meet the emerging animal, public, and ecosystem health needs of the collective community, not just those of animal owners. These services could include those involving active sentinel surveillance programs for both domestic animal and wildlife diseases; on-farm food safety; bio-security; traceability and export certification and audit programs; disease investigation, including foreign animal diseases; surge capacity emergency response; managing for ecosystem health; and client and community education. An expanded practice team of animal-health professionals and technologists, led by veterinarians, would deliver these services. This RCP approach should have the potential to make rural practice more attractive from economic, lifestyle, and job-satisfaction perspectives; to enhance the visibility and recognition of the profession; and to respond to changing and new societal needs. It also promises to maintain a stable network of veterinary practices in rural communities. In addition, the recognition of veterinary medicine as a public good should provide for consideration of increased investment by levels of government. At the same time, this new model could help meet the demands of animal and public-health government agencies that face expanding responsibilities during a sustained climate of reduced budgetary resources.     

The role of wildlife in transboundary animal diseases

This paper identifies some of the more important diseases at the wildlife-livestock interface and the role wildlife plays in disease transmission. Domestic livestock, wildlife and humans share many similar pathogens. Pathogens of wild or domestic animal origin that can cause infections in humans are known as zoonotic organisms and the converse are termed as anthroponotic organisms. Seventy-seven percent of livestock pathogens and 91% of domestic carnivore pathogens are known to infect multiple hosts, including wildlife. Understanding this group of pathogens is critical to public health safety, because they infect a wide range of hosts and are most likely to emerge as novel causes of infection in humans and domestic animals. Diseases at the wildlife-livestock interface, particularly those that are zoonotic, must be an area of focus for public health programs and surveillance for emerging infectious diseases. Additionally, understanding wildlife and their role is a vital part of understanding the epidemiology and ecology of diseases. To do this, a multi-faceted approach combining capacity building and training, wildlife disease surveillance, wildlife-livestock interface and disease ecology studies, data and information sharing and outbreak investigation are needed.     

Benefit—cost analysis of an epidemiologic approach to provision of veterinary service in the Sudan

The economic potential of two alternatives: (1) an epidemiologic approach to provision of a veterinary services delivery system centered on surveillance and selective actions and (2) a traditional mass vaccination program against contagious bovine pleuropneumonia were compared with the current situation of no specific animal disease control program in the southern region of the Sudan. The surveillance and selective actions alternative is based on the creation of an innovative, disease data collection network that would provide information necessary to direct selective veterinary activities. The economic technique used was benefit—cost analysis. Results showed that the surveillance and selective actions alternative was economically preferable to both the current program and the mass vaccination alternative. Additional major, non-quantified benefits of the surveillance program included improvement of veterinary infrastructure in the Sudan.     

在“同一个健康”框架下,加强兽医与人医合作,有效监测和应对人畜共患病和新发传染病

新发传染病主要是人畜共患病,是世界经济和公共健康的沉重负担。这就要求加强检测、鉴别和监视传染病的能力方面投入。高致病禽流感H5N1、新甲型流感("猪流感")H1N1、非典型性肺炎、西尼罗河病毒、地方流行性狂犬病、布鲁氏菌病以及发展中国家暴发的其它人畜共患病及近期猪抗甲氧西林金黄色葡萄球菌,是人类、动物及其环境相互作用的典型范例。面临中国动物和人类常见的新发传染病坚持"同一个健康"战略,这就要求业已存在的兽医和人医及公共卫生机构的通力合作。人的疾病控制系统与动物疾病控制系统虽然都已经建立,但人畜共患病的暴发表明兽医机构和人医机构密切合作的重要性。在保证环境健康的同时,通过动物疾病和人类疾病监测系统的密切合作,中国就一定能够控制人畜共患病。以这种方式进行疾病预防、监测与应对,各层面及各动物生产部门间有效的兽医推广是加强和保持健康生态环境中人和动物健康的有效办法。中国还需大量努力才能达到从制度上保证预防和消灭疾病。透明而准确的人与动物疾病监督通常会产生经济且可持续的预防疾病方法。加拿大在兽医、公共健康、食品安全和人畜共患病预防方面所发挥的作用就是与中国农业部合作,促进必要的、可持续的兽医监督网络的建设。     

The future of veterinary parasitology: a time for change?

The future of veterinary parasitology is discussed at a time when R&D funding from the pharmaceutical industry is declining, yet the opportunities for veterinary parasitologists to diversify their activities has never been greater. Emerging and re-emerging areas requiring input from veterinary parasitologists include: veterinary public health; conservation and wildlife diseases; emerging and exotic infectious diseases; surveillance strategies; economic effects of parasitic diseases; aquaculture; molecular epidemiology; dietary and biological control of parasitic diseases; animal welfare; organic agricultural systems; novel vaccination strategies; drug target characterisation and rational drug design. Without change, the survival of veterinary parasitology as a viable, distinct discipline is under threat. In this environment, veterinary parasitologists must be adaptable, imaginative and pro-active in terms of setting the agendas for establishing strategic alliances, promoting research needs and developing research programs.     

The humane society and the human-companion animal bond. Reflections on the broken bond

This article discusses the history of the humane movement and how humane societies facilitate the human-companion animal bond by conducting various animal-protection programs (cruelty prevention, rescues, adoptions, veterinary services, for example) and participating in pet-facilitated therapy programs. Also discussed is the euthanasia of unwanted and unclaimed animals and its effect on animal shelter personnel.     

An evaluation of scrapie surveillance in the United States

Animal health surveillance systems should reflect national disease control priorities and promote the best use of public resources by maximizing effectiveness and efficiency. A surveillance system should be routinely evaluated to assess the degree to which the system accomplishes these goals, fulfills its stated objectives, and meets accepted surveillance standards. In the United States, there are a number of disparate endemic disease surveillance and eradication programs. The National Animal Health Surveillance System is a federal initiative designed to combine animal health surveillance and monitoring activities into a comprehensive and coordinated system. A protocol has been developed to facilitate the evaluation of animal health surveillance systems and investigate opportunities for coordination between the different surveillance and eradication programs. The evaluation protocol was based largely on protocols developed for public health but adapted for the specific needs and goals of animal health surveillance. The evaluation process was designed to identify program strengths and areas for improvement and facilitate the system's adaptability to changing situations. The evaluation protocol was applied to the scrapie surveillance system in the United States; scrapie surveillance was found to be an important part of surveillance for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. Results from the evaluation of sensitivity, sampling methods and representativeness are presented.     

Yersinia pestis: examining wildlife plague surveillance in China and the USA

Plague is a zoonotic disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis Lehmann and Neumann, 1896. Although it is essentially a disease of rodents, plague can also be transmitted to people. Historically, plague has caused massive morbidity and mortality events in human populations, and has recently been classified as a reemerging disease in many parts of the world. This public health threat has led many countries to set up wild and domestic animal surveillance programs in an attempt to monitor plague activity that could potentially spill over into human populations. Both China and the USA have plague surveillance programs in place, but the disease dynamics differ in each country. We present data on plague seroprevalence in wildlife and review different approaches for plague surveillance in the 2 countries. The need to better comprehend plague dynamics, combined with the fact that there are still several thousand human plague cases per year, make well-designed wildlife surveillance programs a critical part of both understanding plague risks to humans and preventing disease outbreaks in the future.     

Surveillance and risk management during the latter stages of eradication: experiences from Australia

The paper reviews the eradication of bovine tuberculosis from Australia with special reference to surveillance and managing the risk of animals exposed to tuberculosis infected animals during the latter stages of eradication. The successful eradication was based on a sound technical program with strong industry and government support. The model of joint industry and government funding and decision-making first used during the brucellosis and tuberculosis eradication campaign (BTEC) has been successfully incorporated within subsequent livestock disease control programs in Australia. An overview of the history of tuberculosis eradication in Australia provides a background to the surveillance approach. Australia was fortunate that there were no wildlife reservoir hosts. Feral animal reservoir hosts were removed during the eradication program. Surveillance to detect rare diseases is recognised to be statistically challenging with high resource requirements. Australian veterinary authorities have a high level of confidence that the combination of increasing sensitivity of abattoir surveillance systems by the submission of all granulomas detected at slaughter with increasing risk management of animals exposed to tuberculosis infected animals during the final stages of eradication provides a high level of assurance that Mycobacterium bovis has been eradicated.     

Institutional training programs for research personnel conducted by laboratory-animal veterinarians

Research institutions are required by federal law and national standards to ensure that individuals involved in animal research are appropriately trained in techniques and procedures used on animals. Meeting these requirements necessitates the support of institutional authorities; policies for the documentation and enforcement of training; resources to support and provide training programs; and high-quality, effective educational material. Because of their expertise, laboratory-animal veterinarians play an essential role in the design, implementation, and provision of educational programs for faculty, staff, and students in biomedical research. At large research institutions, provision of a training program for animal care and use personnel can be challenging because of the animal-research enterprise's size and scope. At the University of Michigan (UM), approximately 3,500 individuals have direct contact with animals used in research. We describe a comprehensive educational program for animal care and use personnel designed and provided by laboratory-animal veterinarians at UM and discuss the challenges associated with its implementation.     

CRITTER: A database for managing research animals

We describe CRITTER, a computer database program for managing research animals. We designed it especially for institutions which operate health surveillance plans, such as specific pathogen-free schemes. Because CRITTER can be used to record any type of test result in any species of animal, it can be customized to suit each institution and its management protocol. In addition to maintaining a current inventory of each individual animal and its location, the program retains historical information on those that have been removed from the colony. Output summaries are generated by selecting from a menu of standard reports or by designing a custom query. Although CRITTER has been designed for individual research establishments, it could be modified for use in area health surveillance programs. CRITTER operates on IBM compatible computers using a menu-driven, runtime version of Paradox.     

Zoological medicine and public health

Public-health issues regarding zoological collections and free-ranging wildlife have historically been linked to the risk of transmission of zoonotic diseases and accidents relating to bites or injection of venom or toxins by venomous animals. It is only recently that major consideration has been given worldwide to the role of the veterinary profession in contributing to investigating zoonotic diseases in free-ranging wildlife and integrating the concept of public health into the management activities of game preserves and wildlife parks. At the veterinary undergraduate level, courses in basic epidemiology, which should include outbreak investigation and disease surveillance, but also in population medicine, in infectious and parasitic diseases (especially new and emerging or re-emerging zoonoses), and in ecology should be part of the core curriculum. Foreign diseases, especially dealing with zoonotic diseases that are major threats because of possible agro-terrorism or spread of zoonoses, need to be taught in veterinary college curricula. Furthermore, knowledge of the principles of ecology and ecosystems should be acquired either during pre-veterinary studies or, at least, at the beginning of the veterinary curriculum. At the post-graduate level, master's degrees in preventive veterinary medicine, ecology and environmental health, or public health with an emphasis on infectious diseases should be offered to veterinarians seeking job opportunities in public health and wildlife management.     

Stabilizing Dog Populations and Improving Animal and Public Health Through a Participatory Approach in Indigenous Communities

Free‐roaming dog populations are a global concern for animal and human health including transmission of infectious disease (e.g. rabies, distemper and parasites), dog bite injuries/mortalities, animal welfare and adverse effects on wildlife. In Saskatchewan (SK), Canada, veterinary care is difficult to access in the remote and sparsely inhabited northern half of the province, where the population is predominately Indigenous. Even where veterinary clinics are readily available, there are important barriers such as cost, lack of transportation, unique cultural perspectives on dog husbandry and perceived need for veterinary care. We report the effects of introducing a community action plan designed to improve animal and human health, increase animal health literacy and benefit community well‐being in two Indigenous communities where a dog‐related child fatality recently occurred. Initial door‐to‐door dog demographic surveys indicated that most dogs were sexually intact (92% of 382 dogs), and few had ever been vaccinated (6%) or dewormed (6%). Approximately three animal‐related injuries requiring medical care were reported in the communities per 1000 persons per year (95% CL: 1.6–6.6), and approximately 86% of 145 environmentally collected dog faecal samples contained parasites, far above levels reported in other urban or rural settings in SK. Following two subsidized spay/neuter clinics and active rehoming of dogs, parasite levels in dog faeces decreased significantly (P < 0.001), and important changes were observed in the dog demographic profile. This project demonstrates the importance of engaging people using familiar, local resources and taking a community specific approach. As well, it highlights the value of integrated, cross‐jurisdictional cooperation, utilizing the resources of university researchers, veterinary personnel, public health, environmental health and community‐based advocates to work together to solve complex issues in One Health. On‐going surveillance on dog bites, parasite levels and dog demographics are needed to measure the long‐term sustainability of benefits to dog, human and wildlife health.     

Survey of veterinary extension in the United States

OBJECTIVE: To assess veterinary extension in the United States as perceived by veterinary extension personnel. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. SAMPLE POPULATION: Extension veterinarians in the United States. PROCEDURE: 2 surveys were designed and mailed to extension veterinarians listed by the USDA and the American Association of Extension Veterinarians. RESULTS: 34 states had > or = 1 extension veterinarian. The majority (> 60%) of extension veterinarians did not commit time to resident education and were not involved in research activities. Paradoxically, 23% of responding extension veterinarians did not report extension work. Programs for food animal producers, horse owners, and companion animal owners were provided by 100, 63, and 37% of states, respectively. Continuing education (CE) programs were provided for food animal veterinarians, equine veterinarians, and companion animal veterinarians by 96, 63, and 52% of states, respectively. Challenges facing veterinary extension included limited recognition of veterinary extension activities by universities, lack of university personnel to support CE programs, and decreased support for companion animal extension programs. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Extension veterinarians need to identify and clearly articulate the mission of veterinary extension, develop more collaborative programs across regions, and continue to serve as catalysts to bring diverse constituents together. Extension veterinarians must distinguish their mission not solely as information transfer, which can be accomplished in a variety of ways outside of extension, but as a coherent and consistent program of education and policy developed on a national level and distributed locally.     

Veterinary syndromic surveillance: Current initiatives and potential for development

This paper reviews recent progress in the development of syndromic surveillance systems for veterinary medicine. Peer-reviewed and grey literature were searched in order to identify surveillance systems that explicitly address outbreak detection based on systematic monitoring of animal population data, in any phase of implementation. The review found that developments in veterinary syndromic surveillance are focused not only on animal health, but also on the use of animals as sentinels for public health, representing a further step towards One Medicine. The main sources of information are clinical data from practitioners and laboratory data, but a number of other sources are being explored. Due to limitations inherent in the way data on animal health is collected, the development of veterinary syndromic surveillance initially focused on animal health data collection strategies, analyzing historical data for their potential to support systematic monitoring, or solving problems of data classification and integration. Systems based on passive notification or data transfers are now dealing with sustainability issues. Given the ongoing barriers in availability of data, diagnostic laboratories appear to provide the most readily available data sources for syndromic surveillance in animal health. As the bottlenecks around data source availability are overcome, the next challenge is consolidating data standards for data classification, promoting the integration of different animal health surveillance systems, and also the integration to public health surveillance. Moreover, the outputs of systems for systematic monitoring of animal health data must be directly connected to real-time decision support systems which are increasingly being used for disease management and control.     

International programs and veterinary public health in the Americas—Success, challenges, and possibilities

The veterinary public health (VPH) program at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) began in 1949 when an arrangement with the newly founded World Health Organization made PAHO its Regional Office for the Americas to serve as the specialized health agency both for the Organization of American States and the United Nations. It started as a Section of Veterinary Medicine to help eradicate rabies on both sides of the US-Mexico border, and PAHO grew to be the biggest VPH program in the world. By providing a political and technical base, PAHO assisted its member states to organize and develop their national VPH programs and activities, and it provides technical cooperation and works with their national counterparts to solve national and local problems.In the 1980s and 1990s, PAHO concentrated that cooperation on several, specific needs: the elimination of dog-transmitted human rabies, hemispheric eradication of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), regional action planning for food safety, control/eradication of bovine tuberculosis and brucellosis, and surveillance and prevention of emerging zoonoses and food-borne diseases. The Pan American centers developed a number of diagnostic antigens and a continental system for the surveillance of FMD and vesicular diseases, using geographic quadrant technology to augment sensitivity, analyze data, and make decisions. Another visible accomplishment is the elimination of hydatidosis in the endemic countries and regions of the southern cone.In addition, the VPH program of PAHO pioneered the mobilization of the private sector to participate in official programs. Nevertheless, privatization of animal and human health services has had a negative effect on human resources and infrastructure by weakening essential epidemiological functions in some countries.Today, there is a need for closer coordination between veterinary medicine and medical services. Practically all potential bioterrorism agents are zoonoses, and it is cost-effective to control them at the veterinary level, providing the first line of defense. The opportunities for VPH are boundless, but the challenge is to be able to apply the plethora of available research results and knowledge. What we will need is a new breed of veterinarians who will lead and provide us with a vision, like those we honored in 2005 at the Schwabe Symposium Honoring the Lifetime Achievements of Dr. James H. Steele: veterinarians in public health who will be in the forefront of policy setting, decision-making, and allocation of resources, and veterinarians who will articulate and provide a strategic direction to our unique professional skills.     

International programs and veterinary public health in the Americas--success, challenges, and possibilities

The veterinary public health (VPH) program at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) began in 1949 when an arrangement with the newly founded World Health Organization made PAHO its Regional Office for the Americas to serve as the specialized health agency both for the Organization of American States and the United Nations. It started as a Section of Veterinary Medicine to help eradicate rabies on both sides of the US-Mexico border, and PAHO grew to be the biggest VPH program in the world. By providing a political and technical base, PAHO assisted its member states to organize and develop their national VPH programs and activities, and it provides technical cooperation and works with their national counterparts to solve national and local problems. In the 1980s and 1990s, PAHO concentrated that cooperation on several, specific needs: the elimination of dog-transmitted human rabies, hemispheric eradication of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), regional action planning for food safety, control/eradication of bovine tuberculosis and brucellosis, and surveillance and prevention of emerging zoonoses and food-borne diseases. The Pan American centers developed a number of diagnostic antigens and a continental system for the surveillance of FMD and vesicular diseases, using geographic quadrant technology to augment sensitivity, analyze data, and make decisions. Another visible accomplishment is the elimination of hydatidosis in the endemic countries and regions of the southern cone. In addition, the VPH program of PAHO pioneered the mobilization of the private sector to participate in official programs. Nevertheless, privatization of animal and human health services has had a negative effect on human resources and infrastructure by weakening essential epidemiological functions in some countries. Today, there is a need for closer coordination between veterinary medicine and medical services. Practically all potential bioterrorism agents are zoonoses, and it is cost-effective to control them at the veterinary level, providing the first line of defense. The opportunities for VPH are boundless, but the challenge is to be able to apply the plethora of available research results and knowledge. What we will need is a new breed of veterinarians who will lead and provide us with a vision, like those we honored in 2005 at the Schwabe Symposium Honoring the Lifetime Achievements of Dr. James H. Steele: veterinarians in public health who will be in the forefront of policy setting, decision-making, and allocation of resources, and veterinarians who will articulate and provide a strategic direction to our unique professional skills.     

AVMA guide for veterinary medical waste management

Lawmakers have enacted a variety of laws and regulations to ensure proper disposal of certain potentially infectious or otherwise objectionable waste. The veterinary medical profession supports scientifically based regulations that benefit public health. In 1988, Congress passed the Medical Waste Tracking Act, a federal program that mandates tracking certain regulated waste. Several types of waste generated in the typical clinical veterinary medical practice are considered regulated veterinary medical waste. Discarded needles, syringes, and other sharps; vaccines and vials that contained certain live or attenuated vaccines; cultures and stocks of infectious agents and culture plates; research animals that were exposed to agents that are infectious to human beings and their associated waste; and other animal waste that is known to be potentially harmful to human beings should be handled as regulated veterinary medical waste. Regulated veterinary medical waste should be handled with care. It should be decontaminated prior to disposal. The most popular, effective methods of decontamination are steam sterilization (autoclaving) and incineration. Chemical decontamination is appropriate for certain liquid waste. Waste should be packaged so that it does not spill. Sharps require rigid puncture- and leak-resistant containers that can be permanently sealed. Regulated veterinary medical waste that has not been decontaminated should be labeled with the universal biohazard symbol. Generators retain liability for waste throughout the entire disposal process. Therefore, it is essential to ensure that waste transporters and disposal facilities comply with state and federal requirements. Veterinary practices should maintain a written waste management program and accurate records of regulated veterinary medical waste disposal. Contingency planning and staff training are other important elements of a veterinary medical waste management program. The guide includes a model veterinary medical waste management program; however, it does not address all the variations in state and local regulations. Veterinarians should obtain copies of state and local laws and regulations and modify AVMA's model plan to create an individualized practice plan that complies with federal, state, and local laws and regulations. State and local veterinary medical organizations should monitor state and local regulation to influence decisions that affect veterinarians and to keep their members informed of changing requirements. Veterinarians and veterinary medical organizations must stay involved so that regulations do not unfairly burden the veterinary medical profession.     

The Perceived Value of Passive Animal Health Surveillance: The Case of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Vietnam

Economic evaluations are critical for the assessment of the efficiency and sustainability of animal health surveillance systems and the improvement of their efficiency. Methods identifying and quantifying costs and benefits incurred by public and private actors of passive surveillance systems (i.e. actors of veterinary authorities and private actors who may report clinical signs) are needed. This study presents the evaluation of perceived costs and benefits of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) passive surveillance in Vietnam. Surveys based on participatory epidemiology methods were conducted in three provinces in Vietnam to collect data on costs and benefits resulting from the reporting of HPAI suspicions to veterinary authorities. A quantitative tool based on stated preference methods and participatory techniques was developed and applied to assess the non‐monetary costs and benefits. The study showed that poultry farmers are facing several options regarding the management of HPAI suspicions, besides reporting the following: treatment, sale or destruction of animals. The option of reporting was associated with uncertain outcome and transaction costs. Besides, actors anticipated the release of health information to cause a drop of markets prices. This cost was relevant at all levels, including farmers, veterinary authorities and private actors of the upstream sector (feed, chicks and medicine supply). One benefit associated with passive surveillance was the intervention of public services to clean farms and the environment to limit the disease spread. Private actors of the poultry sector valued information on HPAI suspicions (perceived as a non‐monetary benefit) which was mainly obtained from other private actors and media.