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News you need to know  Top
Poultry study shows promise in cancer fight
Chickens and humans have something in common, and the connection may one day lead to a cure for cancer. Dr. Shane Burgess of the Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine has found that Marek's disease, a form of cancer in chickens, is a unique natural model for Hodgkin's lymphoma in humans. Further poultry studies could show how Hodgkin's disease-type lymphomas develop and what can be done to better diagnose and treat these cancers in humans. For more information, contact Dr. Stanley Robertson at (662) 325-2283 or srobertson@cvm.msstate.edu.
In woodpeckers, the eyes have it
Have you ever wondered how a woodpecker can peck away violently at a tree and not injure its eyes? Dr. Christopher Murphy, an ophthalmologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine, along with some colleagues from Canada, has some answers, and his findings are helping scientists better understand how trauma damages the eyes in humans. The woodpecker, Murphy has found, has protective mechanisms around the head and its eyes that help prevent injuries similar to those seen in infants with shaken baby syndrome. For more information, contact Tania Banak at (608) 263-6914 or banakt@svm.vetmed.wisc.edu.
Catching up to cancer in canines and kids
A study intended to help kids with cancer, may also save the life of a family pet. Veterinarians from Colorado State University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Illinois and Ohio State University are attempting to determine a safe and effective dose of the drug rapamycin in dogs with osteosarcoma, the most common form of canine bone cancer and a disease that kills about 300 children a year. Osteosarcoma in dogs behaves very similarly to the disease in children, and veterinarians hope that new therapeutic approaches being developed to help dogs will soon be helping kids. For more information contact David Kirkpatrick at (847) 285-6782 or dkirkpatrick@avma.org.
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Bridging the gap between animal, human medicine
Animal and human doctors are joining forces to fight emerging infectious diseases at home and abroad. The American Veterinary Medical Association and the American Medical Association recently announced an unprecedented partnership to improve public health through the One Health Initiative proposed by Dr. Roger K. Mahr, AVMA immediate past president. Among other things, the One Health Initiative calls for more educational and research collaboration between the two professions to help with the assessment, treatment and prevention of cross-species disease transmission. The members of a One Health Initiative Task Force were announced at the AVMA's Annual Convention in Washington, D.C., in July. For more information contact David Kirkpatrick at (847) 285-6782 or dkirkpatrick@avma.org.
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A sampling of interesting upcoming events and pet-related campaigns ...
World Rabies Day, Sept. 8, 2007: Communities across the globe – from zoo veterinarians in Milwaukee, Wis., to public health officials in Lima, Peru – will celebrate the inaugural World Rabies Day, an event supported by such entities as the American Veterinary Medical Association, the Alliance for Rabies Control, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Organization for Animal Health. Event organizers say the event will increase knowledge of the disease and raise awareness that rabies, while responsible for killing about 55,000 people each year, is preventable. For more information go to http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/aug07/070815l_pf.asp or call David Kirkpatrick at (847) 285-6782.
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