Externs on The Hill

During the second week of my externship with the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Government Relations office, I had the privilege of meeting with members of the AVMA Board of Directors during their visit to Washington, D.C., attending congressional committee hearings, and attending multiple receptions (including Pet Night on Capitol Hill!) During the AVMA Board of Directors meeting, the AVMA’s advocacy team provided updates to the Board of Directors on the status of state and federal legislation important to the veterinary profession and shared the many advocacy-related accomplishments over the past year (including the AVMA Congressional Advocacy Network, the AVMA Ambassador program, and the AVMA Political Action Committee.)

Additionally, I had the opportunity to attend a congressional briefing on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) hosted by the American Society for Microbiology, where global stakeholders shared their perspectives on AMR detection, treatment, and prevention as key global health security priorities. While AMR is a growing animal and public health concern, it was great to hear about the commitments the United States has made to help address AMR and the opportunities for the United States to be a leader in supporting AMR countermeasures globally.

Meeting with veterinarians who work in a diverse range of public-facing roles has been such a valuable experience and an interesting contrast to the veterinarians I have worked with in clinical practice settings. A significant portion of our training in veterinary school is focused on developing the skills necessary for careers in clinical practice but many of the skills we develop translate to careers in public practice as well. As individuals trained to protect animal and human health, veterinarians possess knowledge and skills in a range of areas, including scientific communication, food safety and security, zoonotic and transboundary diseases, emergency management, and many more. Additionally, veterinarians are trained to manage the political, ethical, legal, and social challenges that present in all fields of veterinary medicine. It is this unique training that equips veterinarians with the skills necessary to play a significant role in public practice settings. This week I met with veterinarians working with the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges and the United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.  

A portion of my week was also spent tracking technology-related legislation that could impact veterinary medicine, public health, or animal agriculture. As technology advances, veterinary professionals must have a seat at the table when legislation is being considered that could negatively impact these key areas. By staying engaged with public policy leaders, the AVMA can take appropriate action when the time is right and ensure the voice of the profession is heard and taken into consideration.

I am excited to see what the next two weeks of my externship hold. I look forward to learning more about the skills that veterinarians bring to public policy, the opportunities to advocate for the veterinary profession, and the career opportunities for veterinarians in public practice.  

The second week of my externship with the American Veterinary Medical Association’s DC office was filled with meetings from veterinarians working in public policy. Throughout my time in veterinary school, the focus is preparing veterinarians that plan on going into clinical practice. Refining your ability to manage pancreatitis or efficiently spay a dog or detect a heart murmur are skills most fourth year students are trying to soak up with only two months left until graduation. Meanwhile, I am getting lost on the metro and meeting every veterinarian involved in policy I can. And I love it. In the clinical setting, I can only treat one animal at a time, but in policy I can create a lasting impact that might prevent the disease from needing to be treated in the first place.  

I did not realize how many different jobs a veterinarian could do outside the clinical setting.

With the U.S. House of Representatives being out of session this week, a different genre of meetings filled my calendar. This week I met with veterinarians working with United States Agency for International Development, National Institute of Health, United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, and more! Yes, it is a lot of acronyms, but luckily vet school prepared me for that (I’m looking at you PTE, HCM, and GDV). Meeting with these veterinarians made me realize all the skills I learned in veterinary school I developed unknowingly. As veterinarians we are trained to negotiate, communicate, budget, compartmentalize, and how to use our instincts when responding to emergency situations. Veterinarians working in the government or other non-traditional roles have taken these transferable skills and built upon them. Other skills needed to work in this field include strong writing skills. Science communications in the form of writing and speaking is essential to be an effective advocate of important public health, food security, and food safety issues.   Another large portion of my week was spent following up with veterinarians across the United States to gauge their interest in advocating for veterinary issues with their state representatives. There is a strength in numbers when it comes to advocating for what our profession needs moving forward. So, while sending letters and making calls to your local representative may feel like a small drop in the pool, it is very meaningful when we all pitch in. This weekend I am going to take a trip out to explore the US National Arboretum and spend some time wandering around!

Student Abstract

Submitted by Danielle Chorba, Michigan State University

Equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) myeloencephalopathy (EHM) is a detrimental disease affecting horses of all ages, but particularly elderly horses ages 15 and older.  Neurological deficits from EHV-1 infection occur in roughly 10% of infected horses but cause severe impacts. Determining what the differences are in the respiratory tract immune response between infected horses of young and older age groups is crucial for effective vaccine development of EHM. The purpose of this study is to utilize the equine respiratory epithelial cell (EREC) culture system to characterize and compare the respiratory immune response profiles of both horse age groups.

ERECs were inoculated with Ab4-GFP wildtype strain of EHV-1 and collected at 1-, 6-, 12-, 24-, and 48- hours post inoculation (hpi). The RNA from those infected cells were then extracted and converted to cDNA. Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) was used to quantify inflammatory cytokines as a part of the respiratory tract immune response of these horses. Viral load was also determined for each horse using Real Time quantitative PCR from extracted DNA from the infected ERECs.

 We expect there to be a decrease in respiratory tract immune response of the older horse age group as compared to the younger age group. The virus avoids and hides from the host immune system by infecting or “hijacking” immune cells, such as monocytes and T-cells, to promote further infection of secondary lymphoid tissue. We suggest that older horse epithelial cells may be secreting insufficient amounts or types of cytokines, leading to an inappropriate immune response of the host. Determining exactly what those differences are is vital to developing a vaccine that will effectively target the underlying cause of this devastating disease.

Creative Corner

Submitted by Gabriela Hansen, Texas A&M University

INTERNATIONAL VETERINARY EXPERIENCE SCHOLARSHIP

Submitted by Juliette Nye, The Ohio State University 

My experience in Madagascar started as soon as I got off the plane. Once arriving in Antananarivo and meeting up with Dr. Randy Junge from Columbus Zoo and Dr. Andrea Baden from Hunter College, we all settled in for a good nights sleep before taking a 12 hour van ride to run and find Ranomafana National Park the next day. The van ride allowed us to travel through beautiful scenery and many small towns throughout the countryside of Madagascar. It was amazing to see all of the different landscapes, ranging from populated cityscapes to desert-like areas to dense rainforest. I quickly learned about the significant degree of poverty that the people of Madagascar experience, easy to see through just brief moments spent driving through each of the small towns. Madagascar is considered one of the ten most impoverished countries in the world, creatining a stark contrast to the landscape seen in the United States.

Once we arrived in Ranomafana National Park, we unloaded all of our gear at Centre ValBio, our “home away from home” in Madagascar where we sorted through our research materials and prepared ourselves for the trip to Mangevo, the research site where there is a long-standing study on a large group of Black and White Ruffed Lemurs (Varecia variegata), a lemur species classified as critically endangered by the IUCN. But before the hike to Mangevo, we had other important business to attend to: there were two small, malnourished lemurs being housed at Centre ValBio that were victims of the pet trade and part of a recent confiscation. The team and I got to evaluate these little lemurs with general physical exams, in which I was able to assist with examination, blood draws, and giving subcutaneous fluids. I learned that lemurs (like many animals) tend to get cold while sedated or under anesthesia, so while they were waking up we had to hold them inside of our jackets to keep them warm! What a shame!

The next day, we hiked about 19 miles from Ranomafana town into the National Park center to get to the Mangevo campsite. We thankfully had porters to help us carry our heavy equipment (generator, research equipment, centrifuge, etc.) to the campsite, since the hike was already very difficult with just my water bottles and snacks! I thought it was incredible that the porters carrying our heavy research equipment and and the majority of our belongings (in sandals or barefoot, no less) were able to get to Mangevo campsite and back to Ranomafana town in about half the time it took for us to go one-way! It started raining as soon as we began the hike, which ranged from climbing (mostly up) huge hills, to walking next to (and often through!) rice paddies, to traversing rivers and streams on planks of wood. Often, the rice paddy and river water went up to my hips since it was so deep! Needless to say, I was entirely soaked from head to toe! I had been training for this hike for about 4 months by joining a local hiking club, but my training did not hold up well on the Madagascar jungle paths and the hike proved very difficult, both physically and mentally (especially when going uphill!). Once we reached the campsite after about 7 hours of hiking (I lost track), we were greeted with a cup of tea and a campfire. And then we had to pitch our tents!

While at Mangevo campsite, each day the field team would go out to track various Black and White Ruffed Lemurs and bring them back to us, the research team, to evaluate each lemur. I was absolutely amazed by the skill of the field site team in tracking, darting, and capturing lemurs from 40 feet up in very dense rainforest. I saw the incredible teamwork amongst the field team members to coordinate finding the lemurs and ultimately catching them in an enormous net all together, a testament to their dedication to working with this group of lemurs. While working with the lemurs, I was able to practice my physical exam, venipuncture skills and field anesthesia/ sedation monitoring skills, while also learning more in-depth about sedation protocols for darting. We performed a PCV/TP on each of the lemurs (if the generator running the centrifuge decided to work that day!). As part of my personal portion of the project, I used nasopharyngeal swabs to sample each of the lemurs for SARS-CoV-2 antigen.

It was amazing to work with lemurs, a species I have studied since my Masters degree coursework, in their natural habitat and experience such a remote part of the world as part of this program. Throughout my time at Mangevo, we often discussed the fragile ecosystems of Madagascar and the threats lemurs face, including habitat fragmentation, human encroachment, and the threat of constant predatory fossa (for prey) and humans (for bushmeat or for the pet trade). This trip allowed me to improve global health by better understanding the multifactorial causes of lemur population  decline, while also allowing me to assist with research on the potential threat of SARS- CoV-2 in remote lemur populations. Because this virus has yet to be detected in lemurs  (though they are primates) and due to their imperiled conservation status, it was important to assess each animal for viral infection as part of yearly stabbing efforts to answer the question if lemurs can become infected with SARS-CoV-2. Not only did this research component contribute to the body of knowledge surrounding SARS-CoV-2 infection in remote populations of non-human primates and lemur conservation, it also contributes to global health through its implications of human-wildlife interaction and potential interspecific disease transmission, and most of all, the interconnectedness of humans and wildlife. I recently was able to present my research results at the Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine (where I am now a veterinary student) Research Day, showing no active infection of SARS-CoV-2 in any of the 14 lemurs sampled. However, this still does not mean that lemurs cannot contract SARS-CoV-2 virus! I am hoping to continue this project in the future by testing the lemur blood samples we collected (that we couldn’t bring back to the United States in August 2023 due to permitting restrictions) for SARS-CoV-2 antibody to see if any of the lemurs in the study population had ever been exposed or been sick with the virus.

This travel improved my cultural competency by being able to work directly with Malagasy conservationists like Zo, an incoming Doctoral student at the University of Antananarivo who wants to further lemur conservation. He was so incredibly knowledgeable about the natural history of a myriad of lemur species, and his passion for lemur conservation was clearly demonstrated by his positive, helpful attitude, kindness, and of course the fact that he has worked with a variety of lemur research efforts. His willingness to teach what he knew about lemurs and share his lemur anecdotes, and also his willingness to have intercultural exchange conversations, was one of the highlights of this trip. Additionally, I was able to chat with many members of the Malagasy field site team and learn some of their techniques for tracking and then darting lemurs, as well as learning more about their daily lives as members of the research site field team, both when Dr. Baden (the study manager) is present and when she is away. One of my favorite memories was playing “Spot It!,” a game that doesn’t require speaking nor requires everyone to speak the same language, around the campfire with Zo and some of the other Malagasy field team members.

I am very passionnate about learning about exploring and trying to better understand the natural world. By participating in the Ranomafana Ruffed Lemur Project (as we dubbed it together as a team at the end of our field season), I was able to work with a species both closely related to humans and at critical risk of extinction, a privilege I do not take lightly. I am so thankful that I was able to have this unforgettable experience. I have the utmost admiration for the Malagasy field team, Dr. Junge, and Dr. Baden. Their dedication to conservation of the Black and White Ruffed Lemur and furthering lemur health is truly extraordinary. I am also eternally grateful to Tufts and the Glidden family for the funding to allow me to have this life-changing experience to solidify my love for zoological and conservation medicine, field work, and working outside of my comfort zone.

Photography

Submitted by Mallory Swanson, University of Tennessee