As global security issues surrounding mad cow disease, avian influenza and the West Nile virus increase, veterinarians across the globe gathered in Louisville, Ky., at the 2006 ACVIM Forum, to discuss preventative and control strategies to make animals and humans safer.
“In the past decade, there has been an increase in emergent zoonotic disease episodes,” said Dr. Frederick A. Murphy, a veterinarian from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and the keynote speaker at the 2006 ACVIM Forum. A zoonotic
disease is a disease transmitted from animals to humans.
“In fact nearly all episodes of new, emerging or re-emerging diseases have involved zoonotic or species-jumping infectious agents,” said Dr. Murphy. Dr. Murphy’s keynote address, Emerging Zoonoses, is just one of the over 350 scientific sessions, workshops, special interest groups and case discussions on animal healthcare presented attendees from over 40 countries at the 2006 ACVIM Forum.
Other sessions on zoonotic diseases include practical biosecurity considerations for beef operations, the bacterial infection Bartonellosis, commonly known as cat-scratch disease, and a session on how another common bacterium, Salmonella, can be used as a nonsurgical cancer therapy in animals. The sessions will discuss how to improve early detection systems for zoonotic diseases so a stand-by plan for readiness is available.
“To meet our national need requires that we rebuild a cadre of career-committed professionals, including most prominently a new cadre of veterinarians,” said Dr. Murphy.
The 2006 ACVIM Forum was four days of continuing education for general and specialty veterinary practitioners, veterinary technicians, and veterinary students focusing on new, unpublished data, including a wide range of topics from internal medicine, oncology, neurology, and cardiology from the largest names in veterinary medicine.
The American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) is the national certifying organization for veterinary specialists in large and small animal internal medicine, cardiology, neurology, and oncology. The ACVIM hosts an annual continuing education meeting (ACVIM Forum) each year where cutting-edge information, technology, and research are showcased for the veterinary community.
SOURCE: American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine