With Wisconsin's bow deer hunting season underway and gun season not too far off, the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory is urging hunters to test their kills for chronic wasting disease. Adding to the urgency this year is a recent preliminary study that suggests the illness could spread beyond the deer to other mammals.
The Joplin Humane Society has tested and treated all of its dogs for the canine distemper virus after an outbreak. They were able to get an accurate diagnosis from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Veterinary School, which has been working with the shelter to treat and test the dogs.
The Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, the UW-Madison lab that checks deer carcasses for a deadly brain disease, said Monday there may be increased urgency for hunters to test for chronic wasting disease this year based on new scientific research.
A contagious disease was found in many dogs at the Dane County Humane Society this week, but the University of Wisconsin Shelter Medicine Program is working to diagnose and stop its spread, officials said.
Experts at UW-Madison are helping Dane County Humane Society manage cases of a contagious illness that showed up at the shelter earlier this week. The UW Shelter Medicine Program and the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory are testing dogs showing symptoms at the shelter. The illness is a contagious respiratory disease that had closed the shelter's dog kennels to the public and halted adoptions.
With the help of Region V – Great Lakes Public Health Training Collaborative, Miranda Braithwaite, a University of Wisconsin-Madison DVM-MPH candidate, completed her public health field experience with the Wisconsin Companion Animal Resources, Education and Social Services (WisCARES), which provides no-cost veterinary care for the homeless population in Dane County, Wisconsin.
The quest for greater comfort dates to The Dairyland Initiative project undertaken by Dr. Nigel Cook at University of Wisconsin’s School of Veterinary Medicine. The Breunig’s Mystic Valley Dairy became part of the study.
Douglas A. Freeman, DVM, PhD, dean of the Western College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan, transitioned to the immediate past-president position. Mark Markel, DVM, PhD, DACVS, dean of the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine, will remain treasurer, and Paul Lunn, BVSc, PhD, MRCVS, DACVIM, dean of the North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine, was named secretary, the release states.
Matthew Aliota, from the department of pathobiological sciences at the University of Wisconsin's School of Veterinary Medicine in Madison, said, "I do believe herd immunity is developing where Zika virus is endemic, but that does not mean Zika will go away."
A team of researchers, working with the University of Wisconsin’s Dairyland Initiative, is helping farmers have happier herds.