In academic clinical trials across the country, oncology researchers are studying how pet dogs respond to cancer therapies and the genetic makeup of their tumors. Some of the data collected has already helped to progress human clinical trials for cancer treatment, according to an article in JAMA.
PHOTO COURTESY/JOHN DONGES/LOUISA SHEPARD/PENN VET: Kiwi is a rescued parrot undergoing treatment for feather destructive behavior
What diseases do bulldogs and humans have in common? Can cardiologists help veterinarians treat gorillas with heart disease? Will a bone cancer vaccine that works in dogs help children too?
More than 200 healthcare professionals and students explored these types of overlap between animal and human health at Saturday’s Zoobiquity 6 Conference, an all-day symposium that featured case studies of patients and their furry or feathered analogues. The event highlights the spirit of the One Health Initiative, which aims to bridge the gap between human and veterinary medicine by fostering collaboration between two groups that rarely interact.
“A liver is a liver, you know?” said keynote speaker Stephanie Murphy, director of the Division of Comparative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health. “It only has so many ways to respond whether it’s in a mouse, or it’s in a dog, or it’s in a human.”
Murphy, who received both her V.M.D. and Ph.D. from Penn, kicked off the conference by emphasizing how opening up the discussion between physicians and veterinarians could help find new drugs and treatments. New perspectives and approaches brought to the table by these ordinarily disparate fields has the potential to create new mutually beneficial relationships, she said.
This event was co-sponsored by University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine, Penn Medicine, and the Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association. The morning talks and case studies took place at the Smilow Center for Translational Research.
PHOTOS COURTESY/JOHN DONGES/LOUISA SHEPARD/PENN VET: Russell Redding, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, gives final remarks at the reception.
Attendees then split up into three groups for afternoon rounds that compared specific animal cases to human patients. One went to Penn Vet’s Hill Pavilion to learn about small animals, including a dog with cleft palate and an African grey parrot suffering from chronic feather-plucking disorder. The second visited Penn Vet’s New Bolton Center, a hospital for farm animals such as horses and pigs located in Chester County. And the last group had a chance to see the inner workings of the Philadelphia Zoo to hear from veterinarians treating caring cardiac disease in gorillas and intestinal inflammation in a lemur.
One pair of researchers – a veterinarian and a physician, both from Penn – described their collaborative work in both bulldogs and humans on sleep apnea, a serious disorder characterized by intermittent breathing during sleep. It can prevent a good night’s rest as the body abruptly and repeatedly wakes up in a struggle for oxygen, causing daytime drowsiness and straining the cardiovascular system.
“The critical part in all of this is that, working as a team, we really can find therapies that are reliable and safe for both species, and probably a few others as well,” said Sigrid Veasey, a sleep apnea researcher and professor at the Perelman School of Medicine. She teamed up with Joan Hendricks, the Gilbert S. Kahn Dean at Penn Vet, to see what sorts of insights for human patients they could gain from studying bulldogs, a breed commonly prone to sleep apnea.
The bulldog is best known and loved for its sturdy build, wrinkly skin and adorably short face. Certain traits like these have been favored in breeding over many generations to up the cuteness factor, but the result of such extreme genetic manipulation is a whole host of health problems for the poor pups.
Their wrinkles and folds are susceptible to inflammation and infection if not cleaned daily. Hip dysplasia plagues many bulldogs who because of their odd body proportions, lack the ability to swim, run, or jump very far. For the same reason, even natural mating becomes an issue – thus, breeders tend to use artificial insemination. Their flat faces, short noses and excessive skin can also cause respiratory issues, such as snoring and sleep apnea.
PHOTOS COURTESY/JOHN DONGES/LOUISA SHEPARD/PENN VET: Zoobiquity 6 tour participants visited the Penn Vet’s New Bolton Center in Chester County where they listened to a horse’s heartbeat.
“Bulldogs, in general, have trouble breeding and breathing – those are sort of fundamental functions, you’d think,” said Hendricks.
Sleep studies they performed on different breeds of dogs using electroencephalogram (EEG) and a blood oxygen monitor confirmed that sleep apnea was a bulldog-specific issue, with pauses in breathing sometimes up to a minute long. They all snored and experienced constant drops in blood oxygen saturation, which is similar to results from human experiments.
In humans, the natural loss in muscle tone during sleep leads to an obstruction of the upper airway, especially in obese individuals. Hendricks and Veasey have looked at one drug combination – trazodone and L-tryptophan – that has effectively reduced apneas in bulldogs and is now showing promise in people.
“We know that obstructive sleep apnea is only present in sleep, and because everybody is breathing perfectly well during wakefulness, there should be some change in neurochemical drive to the upper airway,” said Veasey. “We should be able to figure this out.”
CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE IN GORILLAS
Another pair of collaborators – Tim Georoff, associate veterinarian at the Philadelphia Zoo, and Gregg Pressman, cardiologist at Einstein Medical Center – spoke to the attendees about their research on cardiovascular disease in gorillas. Specifically, the two focused on cardiomyopathy, or disease of the heart muscle, which weakens the organ over time.
“Back in the 1990s, we started noticing in and among zoos that cardiac disease was a really major cause of mortality in captive gorillas,” said Georoff. “Many of the diseases and pathologies that are seen in gorillas were the same processes also seen in humans.”
The main barrier to understanding cardiomyopathy in gorillas is the lack of sufficient data to get a better grasp of the disease processes and potential treatments. The animals have to be put to sleep in order to take cardiac measurements, but often anesthetic drugs can have an effect on heart function themselves. But at the same time, trying to perform medical tests on an awake gorilla would prove far too risky.
“Although many of our gorillas are sweethearts, they’re potentially extremely dangerous,” Georoff said. “Imagine the strongest NFL football player you could ever imagine would just be beaten to death and have his arms ripped off if this gorilla really wanted to – he’s that strong.”
The zoo currently houses five gorillas and takes part in the Great Ape Heart Project, which aims to fill those gaps in cardiac data. This collaborative effort of more than 70 zoos pools together cardiac exams and other medical information from gorillas, orangutans, chimpanzees and bonobos in a large, singular database.
This post originally appeared on the Phillyvoice website on 5th March, 2016 authored by Meeri Kim. Available at: http://www.phillyvoice.com/zoobiquity-conference-explores-cooperation-human-and-animal-medicine/
Sad news out of Washington this weekend for the Conservation Medicine world!
Lethal white-nose fungus affecting bats is now in the Pacific Northwest → this has a huge negative implication for farmers. Why?
“In a single summer, a colony of 150 brown bats can eat enough adult cucumber beetles to prevent the laying of eggs that result in 33 million rootworm larvae, according to a study cited by Bat Conservation International. Without bats, insects would be free to ravage farm crops and trees, among other things. Their value to U.S. farmers has been estimated at $3 billion a year.”
Read more here→ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/04/01/bad-news-for-bats-lethal-white-nose-fungus-is-now-in-the-pacific-nw/
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has held a day’s consultative meeting with stakeholders in the Agriculture sector to assess Ghana’s situation with regard to Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) and antimicrobial use (AMU) to enable it to begin the process of developing a “One Health” National Action Plan to address threats in agriculture and public health sectors in Ghana.
AMR refers to the ability of micro-organisms to withstand antimicrobial treatments
The overuse or misuse of antibiotics has been linked to the emergence and spread of micro-organisms which are resistant to them, rendering treatment ineffective and posing a serious risk to public health.
AMR occurs when micro-organisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites change in ways that render the medications used to cure the infections they cause ineffective. When the micro-organisms become resistant to most antimicrobials they are often referred to as “superbugs”.
The consultative workshop which brought together over 50 participants representing government, private sector, farmer’s organisations, academia and the media was meant to sensitize stakeholders on the subject matter and to create a constructive dialogue among the actors.
It was also to identify policy strategy, legal constraints and gaps in the current situation and propose solutions for consideration in the national AMR action plan
According to FAO, AMR is a worldwide health threat at the human–animal-environment interface. It overuses and misuse in different sectors, it said, could result in ineffectiveness of previously successful human and animal treatments of diseases.
Antimicrobials or their active components, FAO maintains, could also play a role in the resistance development if they are present in the environment such as in manure for agriculture purposes from treated animals or humans, water from fishponds or in waste water from the antimicrobial producing industry, or other waste products from hospitals and clinics.
The Organisation said preventing or reducing pathogens acquiring AMR could be achieved by applying responsible use of antimicrobials in humans, animals, and plants in all countries, and also by regulation of the use of waste products from these and the pharmaceutical sectors.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the workshop, the FAO Representative to Ghana, Dr Abebe Haile-Gabriel underscored the critical need for collaboration among all the stakeholders involving all the relevant sectors and the subsequent commitment of resources in achieving this cause.
Dr Abebe noted that the outcome of the workshop would enable the stakeholders to better organize and work pro-actively towards a national action plan on Antimicrobial Use and Antimicrobial Resistance.
Participants recommended surveillance to detect AMR and monitor its spread into the environment.
To address the global threat of AMR, a Global Action Plan (GAP) was developed on AMR and adopted by the World Health Assembly in May 2015. The Member Countries committed to develop National strategies and action plan by May 2017.
On its part, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has established an inter-departmental Working Group on AMR (AMR-WG) initially at its headquarters. The AMR-WG developed an Action Plan on AMR to support the GAP.
This article originally appeared on the newsghana website on 4th April, 2016 authored by Mohammed Suleman. Avaulable at: http://www.newsghana.com.gh/fao-to-launch-one-health-action-plan-for-agric-sector/
What does a killer disease have to do to get attention these days? Last year, people watched with horror as Ebola ravaged West Africa and spread fear around the globe. Now it’s the turn of the upstart Zika virus to grab the headlines as an international health emergency.
Meanwhile, I’ve just been quietly doing my thing, killing about 60,000 people per year in the most gruesome way imaginable. But hey, I’m just rabies — nothing to get worked up over, right?
I’ll admit Ebola and the Zika virus are particularly nasty. Aided by air travel they are capable of spreading at jet speed, infecting susceptible populations across the globe. Adding to the fear factor is the fact that at the start of the recent outbreaks, no vaccines were readily available.
Every death is devastating to family and friends, so maybe comparisons aren’t helpful. But just look at the numbers! Every year I am responsible for more than five times the number of deaths reported during the most recent Ebola outbreak and many of my victims are children younger than 15. Surely that deserves some proper recognition?
Like Zika and Ebola, I can jump from animals to humans. Yet somehow, I barely get a mention in the news. Rabies is one of many that the World Health Organization has referred to as Neglected Zoonotic Diseases.
Once I infect someone they die. End of story. The number of my victims that survive is almost always zero. My record is strongest in rural Africa and Asia where more than 95% of my victims live. I think of myself as a silent but smart killer.
My preferred partner in crime is the humble domestic dog. I turn man’s best friend into a ferocious, fearless foe. Most of my human victims are either bitten or scratched by an infected dog. Many are unaware of the seriousness of the threat and, in any case, in less developed areas, they probably lack access to life-saving rabies vaccines.
Yes, there is an effective vaccine that can beat me — it’s actually been around for more than 100 years, thanks to Louis Pasteur. But it remains expensive and has yet to find its way onto the Global Alliance for Vaccine Initiative list of life-saving vaccines for children living in the world’s poorest countries. And without the vaccine I can easily travel through the body to the brain. That journey takes about a month, by which time most of my victims have long forgotten the original bite.
After poisoning my victims’ minds, I make my way to their salivary glands. I make my victims want to bite. I make them scream. I make them fear water so much that they panic and sometimes violently shake at the sight of liquid. It’s an awful way to go, and yet still I don’t provoke the same level of panic as other diseases.
To catch a killer
Of course the irony is that my relatively low profile on the global viral “most wanted” list is precisely what allows me to continue to be so devastating.
People know I use the domestic dog as a gateway to human infection and it’s comparatively cheap to vaccinate dogs against rabies. To halt the spread of the disease, only 70% of dogs in a given region need to be vaccinated.
In fact I am the poster child for diseases that are cheaper to control in animals than in humans. But nobody seems to be paying attention.
In Kenya for example, it costs less than a dollar to vaccinate a dog against rabies, but around a hundred dollars to vaccinate a single bite victim. Oh and the number of dogs in Kenya is approximately 5 million compared to a population of over 40 million people that are at risk.
Where there’s a will
But the truth is, I can’t afford to be complacent. Kenya is one of the many endemic countries that has committed to ending human deaths due to rabies by 2030. International bodies such as the World Health Organization, World Organization for Animal Health, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and the Global Alliance for Rabies Control are also backing the target.
If more countries joined the movement and signed up to a Pan-African Rabies Control Network that is helping share experiences and coordinate efforts towards the elimination of rabies – well I’d be in serious trouble.
It could be done. Humans managed to eradicate small pox, and rinderpest in cattle. Now even the end of polio is in sight. Nigeria has recently celebrated no new polio cases for two years, which leaves only two countries — Pakistan and Afghanistan — still afflicted by the transmission of wild poliovirus.
So on reflection, perhaps it is better for me that Zika and Ebola, and before them swine flu and bird flu, have hogged the spotlight. They are absorbing precious resources and attention that could otherwise be targeted at me.
Fame could be my downfall. Because rabies can be eliminated. But only if affected countries and the international health bodies choose to make it a priority.
This post originally appeared on the Huffpost website on 4th April, 2016 authored by Thumbi Mwangi. Available at: http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/rabies-just-cant-get-any_b_9609168.html
Thumbi Mwangi teaches at Washington State University, is an Aspen New Voices Fellow and a Wellcome Trust Fellow leading research towards rabies elimination in Kenya.