Veterinary Experiences Affecting Environmental Health

As a new intiative by SAVMA's Global and Public Health Outreach Officer, The Vet Gazette will be highlighting student research projects that involve the third, often forgotten arm of the One Health triad -- the environment!

The first to be featured is Bonni Beaupied from Colorado State University!

"This summer, with the support of CSU's Veterinary Summer Scholars Program, I worked with our Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences on a budding One Health research project. The broad goal of this project is to evaluate the impact of air pollution on dairy cow health and to use that information to better understand the impact on human health in understudied populations. Exposure to air pollution, including criteria pollutants such as ozone (O3) and aerosolized fine particulate matter (PM2.5), has been associated with increased morbidity and mortality in mammals. These effects have primarily been studied in the laboratory or in humans living in urban settings. Situated in a controlled environment that facilitates data collection, dairy cattle present a unique, yet unexplored, opportunity to assess the correlation between subtle shifts in air pollution and mammalian health. Furthermore, ground-level O3 peaks during the hot summer months, when dairy production is lowest, and may therefore be an unexplored factor in reduced milk production. My research aimed to assess the effects of air pollutants on dairy cow health by comparing O3 and PM2.5 levels recorded by local US EPA air quality monitors to daily production data and bulk tank somatic cell counts. Initial results have supported the hypothesis that O3 exposure is associated with reduced dairy yield. The results of this study may uncover areas for intervention to improve these impacts at the dairy level. These data will also contribute to a translational model for using cattle health as a proxy for human health, particularly in rural settings or other regions with limited air quality data."

Congratulations, Bonnie!

Meet your new SAVMA Global and Public Health Officer-elect

Scott Dudis

Hometown: Wyoming, Ohio

Description of duties: The GPHO and GPHO-elect try to ensure that the Student AVMA House of Delegates works in conjunction with the long-term vision of the OneHealth Project. The main component of this mission is to coordinate local OneHealth events at veterinary schools across the nation. With financial sponsorship from the GHLIT, we are able to provide funding support for many of these programs. The most recent themes have promoted awareness of rabies and vector-borne illness, and the upcoming theme is food safety & food security.

Fun fact: A friend and I were once stranded on an island while backpacking through Greece. We slept in a lean-to and shared one Toblerone for lunch, dinner, and breakfast. A small pack of dogs started following us, so we named them all. Later on the same trip, a bus dropped us off on the highway 10 miles from our destination, so we walked. About half way there, it started to hail (in October), and a Greek woman who spoke no English took us into her home, fed us dinner, and we watched what I surmise to be Greek soap operas for an hour until the weather cleared. I quickly learned how to say "thank you" in Greek.

contact: rsd65 [at] cornell [dot] edu