Infectious Diseases & Epidemiology

Vaccination GUIDELINES for the cat were first published in 1998; canine GUIDELINES followed in 2003. By the end of 2006, both sets of GUIDELINES had been reviewed extensively, updated, and published.

Closely related to Bordetella pertussis, the cause of "whooping cough" in humans, Bordetella bronchiseptica is a gram negative, Aerobic coccobacillus particularly well adapted to colonize the ciliated respiratory epithelium of dogs and cats.

Clinical signs related to the upper respiratory tract, in both dogs and cats, are among the most common presenting complaints encountered in small animal practice and, interestingly, are frequent reasons for referral to specialty practices and veterinary teaching hospitals.

If, according to an old English proverb, the eyes are the windows to the soul, then for horses and humans the nails and hooves may well be the windows to inner health or medical problems.

The convergence of people, animals and the environment could be the most critical risk factor to the spread of infectious disease.

International Report -- World leaders team up this weekend to spread rabies education and vaccines.

No longer confined to the southeast portion of the United States, canine heartworm infection has spread across the nation-notably increasing its distribution and prevalence throughout the western states during the last two decades.

It's a big year for mosquitoes in Florida, and one result is a much higher incidence of Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE).

Bradenton, Fla. -- A sixth horse tested positive for equine piroplasmosis (EP), this one on a second Manatee County property, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (DOACS) reported.

Houston -- The Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Texas Medical School has been awarded a $150,000, two-year grant by the Norman Hackerman Advanced Research Program and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to study a mysterious infection affecting Texas and other southern states.

Missouri - A number of Potomac Horse Fever (PHF) cases, normally not seen in Missouri, have been reported along the Mississippi River.

Bradenton, Fla. -- State officials quarantined a Manatee County property where five cases of equine piroplasmosis (EP), a disease not reported in the United States since 1988, were confirmed.

Ottawa, Canada - Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) was confirmed Aug. 15 in a six-year-old beef cow, according to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).

Prescott, Ariz. -- Imulan Biotherapeutics announced a study to test the effectiveness of a new immuno-therapeutic to treat dogs with coccidiodomycosis, or valley fever.

New Orleans -- An outbreak that spread through an animal shelter in Louisiana led to the euthanasia of about 170 animals.

Please provide a review of anti-emetic and prokinetic drugs - I am confused.

Indianapolis - Three horses on a south-central Indiana farm recently tested positive for equine infectious leukemia (EIA), prompting the State Board of Animal Health to issue an alert.

Q: Please provide a review on canine babesiosis and canine leptospirosis.

Infection with the pathogenic fungus Histoplasma capsulatum can result in systemic disease in several species of animals, including dogs and cats.

Influenza A viruses are divided into subtypes according to the serological reactivity of the surface glycoproteins hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA).

Leptospirosis: Spirochete with more than 200 "serovars."

Vector-borne infectious diseases have been identified more frequently in humans and domestic animals in recent years, and include some of the most important emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases.

Empiric antibiotic therapy is the appropriate use of antibiotics without knowing the agent or before its susceptibility is known.

Cough is one of the body's defense mechanisms to prevent the entry of noxious materials into the respiratory system, and to clear potentially harmful debris from the lungs and respiratory tract.

Bronchial diseases are common causes of loud cough and dyspnea in dogs and cats.

Feline herpesvirus-1 (FHV1) and feline calicivirus (FCV) are the two major viral causes of upper respiratory tract disease (URD) in cats.

Distemper is very contagious disease of dogs that may involve the gastrointestinal, respiratory and/or neurologic systems.

Despite improvements in our understanding of the pathogenesis of FIP, FIP remains a leading cause of death in young cats, especially purebred catteries, shelters.

Causes of anemia in cats include decreased red blood cell (RBC) production, blood loss, and increased RBC destruction.

Parenchymal pulmonary diseases usually restrict expansion of the lungs leading to dyspnea, and may be occasionally with soft cough.