Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Monitoring and investigating natural disease by veterinary pathologists in diagnostic laboratories.
- Journal:
- Veterinary pathology
- Year:
- 2010
- Authors:
- O'Toole, D
- Affiliation:
- Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory · United States
Plain-English summary
Veterinary pathologists play a crucial role in spotting new diseases in animals by examining samples sent to diagnostic laboratories. They work closely with veterinarians and wildlife experts to identify issues like chronic wasting disease in deer and West Nile virus in birds. A notable example is bovine neosporosis, which was discovered in California between the late 1980s and 1995 as a cause of reproductive problems in cattle. The pathologists not only identified the disease but also figured out how it spreads and developed tests to diagnose it. This case shows how important veterinary labs are in finding and understanding emerging animal diseases.
Abstract
Many emerging diseases in animals are initially recognized by diagnostic pathologists in animal health laboratories using routine laboratory submissions, in conjunction with clinical veterinarians and wildlife biologists. Familiar recent examples are chronic wasting disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, West Nile encephalomyelitis in North America, and postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome in pigs. The recognition of new diseases in animals requires that the curiosity of diagnosticians be articulated with the capacity of animal health laboratories to create effective diagnostic teams, solicit additional cases from the field at minimal cost to clients, and develop relationships with basic researchers. Bovine neosporosis is used as an example to illustrate how a disease investigation triggered by routine clinical accessions can have international ramifications. Between the late 1980s and 1995, diagnosticians with California's animal health laboratory system identified neosporosis as a cause of reproductive wastage in cattle, characterized the lesions, isolated the agent, defined routes of transmission, met Koch's postulates, and developed diagnostic assays. Diagnostic pathologists catalyzed the process. The neosporosis investigation in California suggests useful attributes of veterinary diagnostic laboratories that pursue emerging diseases identified through routine laboratory accessions.
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Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20080483/