Parasitology

Veterinary clients are often in the dark about the risk ticks present for their pets. Use these tips to tackle tough tick talks, region by region.

Most parasitologic diagnoses are straightforward, but there are several situations where making diagnosis of parasitic infection or disease is more difficult and potentially confusing.

The challenging area of heartworm prevention and control has become even more challenging in the past few years as new information becomes available.

Giardia and Isospora spp coccidia are the protozoan parasites encountered most frequently in small animals.

Traditional livestock species are becoming more popular in suburban and semi-rural areas where small animal clients may own several acres of land and in municipalities that are becoming more lenient with restrictions on livestock and poultry.

In recent years, concern about the zoonotic potential of parasites encountered in small animal practice has risen substantially.

Ticks are increasing in importance in small animal practice because of their ability to cause irritation and tick paralysis and because they vector several diseases.

At a minimum, veterinary practices should be able to perform in-house diagnostic tests for heartworm infection and detection of parasites in fecal samples.

In addition to the common parasitic infections encountered frequently in practice, veterinarians need to be alert for the occasional parasite new to you because it typically is limited to other parts of the US or the world.

One of the most familiar genera of nematodes in small animals, Toxocara, has been the focus of several recent studies and the results of these studies alter some of our basic understanding of these parasites.

Share these tick tips with your veterinary clients to help them keep their pets safe.

Regardless of whether you work in the front or the back of the clinic, you can play a vital role in identifying and preventing hemoparasitic infections.

Read on for tips to help you prepare a readable blood smear and identify what you see.

Lincoln. Neb. - Researchers at the University of Nebraska have been awarded a five-year, $2.35 millioin grant by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to find what makes some livestock "supershedders" of food-borne pathogens.

National Report -- As a shortage of the heartworm treatment Immiticide® looms, the American Heartworm Society unveiled an interim management plan for veterinarians yesterday.

A new tick-borne bacterium causing ehrlichiosis has been discovered in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

In my opinion, the introduction of in-house enzyme-linked immunosorbant assays for infectious disease screening has been one of the most useful innovations in veterinary medicine. On occasion however it can create a mild "dilemma" for us as clinicians.

RMSF caused by Rickettsia rickettsii is an acute systemic disease of dogs and humans. RMSF is generally seasonal (Apr.-Sept.) correlating with the Dermacentor sp. lifecycle.

Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease caused by bacteria in the genus Leptospira. The taxonomy of genus Leptospira is complex and continuing to evolve. Historically, there were only two recognized species, L. interrogans and L. biflexa, that were further divided into nearly 300 serovars.

Canine babesiosis was first described in South Africa in the late 1800's and was originally presumed to be a "biliary form" of canine distemper. Most researchers assume that this was actually a case of babesiosis caused by Babesia canis rossi.

Fever is defined as a higher than normal body temperature (>102.5) due to altered thermoregulatory mechanisms in the hypothalamus. Fever of unknown origin (FUO) is a fever that does not resolve spontaneously and for which no obvious cause is identified. Infectious disease, immune-mediated conditions and neoplasia account for over 75% of FUO cases.

Bartonellosis is an important emerging disease in humans and has been recognized to cause clinical disease in several other species, including dogs and cats. Bartonella henselae is the primary etiologic agent in Cat Scratch Disease, which causes fever and lymphadenopathy in humans.

Dogs with IMHA are usually older than 1 year of age. There does not appear to be a significant gender predisposition. Several breeds have a higher incidence of IMHA, such as cocker spaniels, miniature poodles, old English sheepdogs, and Doberman pinschers. Hereditary erythrocyte disease (PK and PFK deficiency osmotic fragility).

Cytauxzoonosis is a tick-transmitted protozoan disease of cats caused by Cytauxzoon felis that was first reported in Missouri in 1976. Over the next thirty years the disease was only recognized in the southcentral and southeastern United States. Recently the geographic range of the organism has been recognized to extend east and north.

This online on-demand archived Webinar will provide a comprehensive review of developing diagnostic, therapeutic and prevention strategies for emerging tick-borne diseases and will evaluate how to use the latest screening test to manage infection in patients. (1 CE credit)