Year of the Veterinarian

Veterinary medicine as a profession was born 250 years ago with the founding of the first school of veterinary medicine in Lyon, France. The World Veterinary Association, along with other leading veterinary organizations, have designated 2011 as the "Year of the Veterinarian", and the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences is taking part in the effort to help promote the global spread of knowledge in veterinary medicine. 

"The Year of the Veterinarian is recognizing the first veterinary school in Lyon, France, but it is also about encouraging the advancement of the education of veterinarians and sharing knowledge so that we can raise the bar for veterinary medicine throughout the world," said Dr. Leon Russell, professor at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences. 

During the late 18^th century, Europe was facing a cattle plague that eventually led to the death of approximately 200 million cattle because of a disease referred to as Rinderpest.  This began to significantly affect the food supply, and the Pope ordered a decree for a method to be developed to eliminate the spread of the disease. King Louis the XV of France assembled a team in 1761, led by noted horseman Claude Bourgelat, in order to form a veterinary school in Lyon. The new school successfully stopped the spread of Rinderpest which eventually spurred the development of another veterinary school three years later in Alfort, France, whose original building still stands intact today. 

Today, veterinarians play vital roles all over the world concerning people and animals alike.  

"Almost three-fourths of diseases that have emerged within the last 20 years are zoonoses, or diseases transmitted between animals and humans," explained Russell, whose teachings focus mainly on topics in public health and epidemiology. 

Many diseases, such as HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) and SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), are believed to have originated in wild animals and then transmitted to humans. 

"A potential source of new diseases may arise due to the tremendous amount of international trading of animals, illegal trading in many cases, that usually involve wild animals," said Russell.  

Russell noted an example of a small breed of rats that were being shipped to a company in Texas via West Africa. While in Texas, the rats were housed with prairie dogs, then both animals were shipped to 17 different states to be sold as pets. Veterinarians later discovered that the animals carried a disease known as monkeypox that was being contracted by people in the United States.

"Veterinarians work hard to prevent zoonoses and are called on to work closely with physicians to help in identifying cases like these," said Russell. 

For example , In the state of Texas, when any animal bites a person there are certain public health laws that must be followed. If the animal that is believed to have inflicted the wound is captured and is a dog or a cat it must be quarantined for ten days, and a veterinarian must then okay that the animal is free of rabies before it can be released.  

Rabies is a classic example of a global zoonotic disease, which is responsible for the death of about one person every ten minutes somewhere in the world. The human rabies is mostly still seen in Africa or Southeast Asia as a result of dog bites.   

"Dogs are the main carrier of rabies throughout the world, although we are very fortunate in the United States to have eradicated the dog strain of rabies virus in dogs through our rabies vaccination program," said Russell.  

Russell explained that United States still has cases of rabies in wildlife however. The Eastern United States usually sees the virus in raccoons, the Southwestern states see it in foxes, and everywhere in the country will see it in the bat populations. 

"In Texas we just have to worry about seeing the virus in skunks and bats, but the important thing for people to realize is that at least three-fourths of the human cases of rabies in the United States have been traced back to bat origin," stated Russell. "Sometimes these diseases such as rabies can disguise themselves as something else and are not detected until it is too late, but we do have very effective vaccines to prevent contraction of the disease in high risk people. Also, post-exposure treatment is important in preventing the disease if one knows they have been exposed to a rabid animal and if they act quickly enough."  

Veterinarians also have public health oversight in many food industries such as beef, pork, and poultry. They also promote food security by supervising animal production hygiene.  

"Veterinarians are hired by the United States military to monitor the food quality and safety that the troops consume and also provide a safe food supply  for our U.S. government personnel in other countries, water included," said Russell.  

Russell noted that the United States Air Force especially is known to use veterinary assistance for their environmental safety officers. 

Veterinarians are also vital in protecting the environment and the biodiversity of our planet through research efforts made in the fields of conservation and genetics. 

Many of the faculty at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences have international reputations for their expertise in reproductive biology, cancer, neurology, biodefense, infectious diseases, equine and feline medicine, and cardiology to name a few. For more information about veterinary medicine, you can check the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine website for links to the World Veterinary Association Vet 2011 website, the American Veterinary Medical Association, and the Texas Veterinary Medical Association.  

Russell, who has served in the past as president of the World Veterinary Association, the American Veterinary Medical Association, and the Texas Veterinary Medical Association, noted that we are very fortunate in the United States to hold the gold standard in veterinary medicine. 

The Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences is one of only 28 veterinary schools in the United States, the only one in the state of Texas, and is consistently ranked in the top five. The college has planned three lectures to take place this year that focus on the past, present, and future of veterinary medicine.  Information on these lectures will be on the college website at www.vetmed.tamu.edu. 

So in celebration of the Year of the Veterinarian, please remember to take care of the health of your pets, and thank your veterinarian for all they do to keep pets, people, and our environment healthy!

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