A GOOD OLD AGE · magazine of the cummings school of veterinary medicine spring 2009 vol. 10 no. 3...

MAGA ZINE OF THE CUMMINGS SCHOOL OF VE TER INARY MED IC INE SPRING 2009 VOL . 10 NO. 3

VETERINARY MEDICINE

PLUS: AN ELEPHANT TALE ■ ONE MAN’S LEGACY ■ DISEASE FIGHTERS

A GOOD OLD AGE

A guide to caring for your senior pet

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PHOTO: ALONSO NICHOLS

IT’S NOT EVERY DAY THAT A BABY GIRAFFE ARRIVES ON THE DOOR-

step— but that’s what happened at Tufts one morning inFebruary. Caring for large animal babies is nothing new for vet-erinarians at the Cummings School, where horses, alpacas andeven camels are treated. But the baby giraffe was a fi rst.

The female calf, named Molly, was born just after dawn onFebruary 23 at Southwick’s Zoo, a family-owned zoo in Mendon,Mass. Things did not look good. Her mother, a fi rst-time parent,was not producing milk, and the infant was unable to suckle.Southwick’s chief veterinarian, Peter Brewer, V98, was con-cerned that the calf was not receiving vital antibodies fromher mother’s colostrum, known as “fi rst milk,” because itconfers immunity from disease. Molly was fed cow colostrum, acommon substitute. But by the next morning, it was clear thatMolly was not gaining strength quickly enough, and she wastransported to the Cummings School.

Daniela Bedenice, an expert on camelids, a biological fam-ily that includes llamas, alpacas and giraffes, took charge ofthe case. Molly, who had a low white blood cell count and wassuffering from dehydration, was given intravenous antibiotics,fl uids and glucose and was bottle-fed goat milk.

Molly quickly gained weight—and energy. At three days old,she weighed 86 pounds and stood more than 5 feet tall. Shealso became a media darling, appearing twice on the Todayshow as well as in other national and regional news outlets.“She’s a trouper,” says Bedenice.

On March 9, ready to gallop, Molly returned home. Onceshe’s weaned from the bottle, she’ll be reunited with her mother,Mauzy, and the zoo’s two other giraffes. “She’s getting sostrong,” the zoo’s executive, Betsey Brewer, says. She notesthat although Molly is “on the small side for a giraffe,” she’llprobably grow to a statuesque 12 feet. —CATHERINE O’NEILL GRACE

A Tall Order

C A S E S O LV E D

Cover photo by Steven Vote

departments

2 FROM THE DEAN

3 UPFRONTP E O P L E , P L AC E S & A N I M A L S

13 GRAFTON TALES

14 RESEARCHT H E PAT H T O D I S C OV E R Y

18 ON CAMPUSC U M M I N G S S C H O O L N E W S

21 BEYOND BOUNDARIESPROV I D I N G TH E M E A N S F O R E XC E L L E N C E

23 ASK THE VET

features 6 The Foster Legacy

The man everyone called “Hank” was a tirelessadvocate and ambassador for New England’s onlyveterinary school.

C OV E R S T O R Y

8 Aging WellThe recommendations for helping your older pet livethe good life might sound familiar: a healthy diet,moderate exercise and regular medical care.by Catherine O’Neill Grace

14 Disease FightersA new state-of-the-science laboratory at Tufts willhouse a regional research enterprise in infectiousdiseases and medical biodefense.

19

contents S P R I N G 2 0 0 9 V O L U M E 1 0 N O . 3

s p r i n g 2 0 0 9 t u f ts ve t e r i na ry m e d i c i n e 1

8

2 t u f ts ve t e r i na ry m e d i c i n e s p r i n g 2 0 0 9

VETERINARY MEDICINE

F R O M T H E D E A N

VO L . 10 , N O . 3 SP R I NG 2009

Executive EditorDeborah T. Kochevar, DeanCummings School of Veterinary Medicine

EditorCatherine O’Neill Grace

Editorial DirectorKaren Bailey

Design DirectorMargot Grisar

Design2COMMUNIQUÉ

Contributing WriterLeslie Limon

Editorial AdvisorsShelley Rodman, DirectorVeterinary Development and Alumni Relations

Joseph McManus, Executive Associate DeanCummings School of Veterinary Medicine

Tom Keppeler, Associate DirectorPublic Relations

Tufts Veterinary Medicine is fundedin part by the Edward Hyde Cox Fundfor Publications. It is published threetimes a year and distributed to keyuniversity personnel, veterinary students,veterinarians, alumni, friends and others.

We welcome your letters, story ideas,and suggestions.Send correspondence to:Catherine O’Neill Grace, EditorTufts Veterinary MedicineTufts UniversityCummings School of Veterinary Medicine200 Westboro RoadNorth Grafton, MA 01536 oremail [email protected]

The Cummings School’s website iswww.tufts.edu/vetThe telephone number is 508.839.5302.

Printed on recycled paper.

deborah turner ko chevar, d.v.m, ph.d.dean

by any measure, the current economy has presentedextraordinary challenges. Reductions in endowment income,clinical revenues, external research funding and state supporthave stimulated Alice-in-Wonderland-like moments whenwe—and many other schools—have asked, “Which way to gofrom here?” I am pleased to report that we are fi nding our waywith support from our friends, the university, and our faculty,staff and students.

To the great credit of the Tufts community, the excellence ofour programs has not only been sustained, but, as you will read

in these pages, is steadily growing, to the benefi t of both animal and human health. Inthis issue you will appreciate the contributions of the Cummings School to caring forand understanding the needs of aging animals; the development of innovative drugs forthe management of clotting disorders in human patients; and the creation of biocon-tainment laboratories to support infectious diseases research with worldwide impact.

Our faculty, staff and students serve as outstanding spokespersons for our school’sachievements and for the importance of veterinary medicine and veterinary education.Among our audiences are legislators in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, who evalu-ate the state’s investment in higher education and who must weigh these costs to constructan annual budget. We welcome your involvement in conversations with Massachusettslegislators to help them understand the value of New England’s only veterinary school.If you would like to learn more about our legislative efforts, please visit https://wikis.uit.tufts.edu/confl uence/display/SupportVeterinaryTraininginMassachusetts/Home.

Veterinarians who refer cases to our hospitals are both our customers and our col-leagues and play a key role in telling the story of veterinary medicine in New England.The Cummings School enjoys tremendous support from the Massachusetts VeterinaryMedical Association in the form of volunteer teaching and mentoring for our students,fi nancial support for student activities like the White Coat Ceremony and professionalpartnerships around projects such as the UMass Donahue Institute study of the eco-nomic impact of veterinary medicine in New England (www.tufts.edu/vet/about/eco-nomic_impact_study.html).

As we approach the end of our academic year and enter the fourth quarter of thischallenging fi scal year, we are dedicated to keeping the Cummings School at the topof its game. We are thankful that so many, including our champion, the late Dr. HankFoster, who is honored in this issue, have joined with us to keep the school strong.

Please plan a visit if you are in the area. You are always welcome at the CummingsSchool of Veterinary Medicine.

Moving Forward Together


upfront

PHOTO COURTESY OF LAURA EIRMANN

Laura Eirmann temptsa fussy patient with a

nutritious meal.

aura eirmann’s golden retriever, sprocket, is well-nour-ished, but not over-nourished. Eirmann makes sure of that.

“I am little neurotic about it,” she says. “If he gains a pound, Iadjust his diet. We know that leaner dogs live longer.”

It’s no surprise that Eirmann keeps a close eye on her dog’sweight. Since 2005, she has been living and breathing animal nutrition in bothher professional and her academic life. This spring, she is in the fi nal phase ofa non-traditional, multi-institution residency in veterinary nutrition, workingwith advisers at the Cummings School, the University of Pennsylvania, AngellAnimal Medical Center in Boston and Nestlé Purina PetCare Co. She is also apart-time veterinarian at the Oradell Animal Hospital in Paramus, N.J., andthroughout her four-year residency, she has worked as a veterinary communi-cations manager for Nestlé Purina.

Multi-tasking is nothing new forEirmann, who received her veterinary de-gree from the New York State College ofVeterinary Medicine at Cornell in 1993, andthen completed a small animal internshipat the Animal Medical Center in New YorkCity. She returned to Cornell’s veterinaryschool as an instructor, and then relocatedto New Jersey in 1997, joining the OradellAnimal Hospital staff. Soon after, she alsowent to work for Nestlé Purina, which hasprovided numerous research grants to theCummings School, as well as many otherveterinary schools.

“Part of my responsibility at NestléPurina is to visit veterinary colleges andbe the liaison between the company andthe university,” Eirmann says. “As I got toknow what Cummings faculty were doingin clinical nutrition, I became more andmore interested in studying it myself.”

The rewards of a non-traditional residency in veterinary nutrition

Multiple Choice

L

PEOPLE, PLACES & ANIMALS


U P F R O N T

PHOTO: ANDREW CUNNINGHAM

DOGGED BY SUCCESS

For the third consecutive year, Your Dog, a newsletter that draws on the expertise of facultyat the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, has won fi rst place for the best professionallyproduced canine or all-animal newsletter or newspaper in a competition sponsored by the DogWriters Association of America.

The award was announced in New York City on the eve of the 2009 Westminster KennelClub Dog Show. The monthly newsletter, which reports on canine health, medicine and behav-ior, is published by Tufts University. John Berg, chair of the Cummings School’s department ofclinical sciences, serves as editor-in-chief, and works with the editor, Betty Liddick of Venice,Fla., to produce the newsletter. For subscription information, email [email protected].

ake no bones about it. joseph f. chabot is wild aboutelephants. In pursuit of that passion, he convinced HarvardUniversity’s department of mammalogy to loan him some el-ephant bones for his eight-week selective on elephant anatomy,

behavior, migration patterns and reproduction. His Cummings School stu-dents were lucky enough to be able to handle the precious pieces of pachy-derm. (Selectives are pass-fail courses or activities that veterinary studentstake to enrich their main course of study.)

“I was going to try to get the bones from South Africa,” says Chabot, an as-sociate clinical professor of biomedical sciences who recently retired. “But wequickly realized that the red tape would be prohibitive.”

Enter Harvard. An associate curator agreed to a personal loan to Chabot,something that had never been done before. “I had to sign my life away,”Chabot says. “The bones were up in an attic. I was like a kid in a candy store,”he says. “I said, I’ll take one of those and one of those…”

Among the loaner bones: a skull from a 1923 Sumatran elephant, as wellas a femur and toe bones. “The skull weighs about 85 pounds, and the femuris almost as tall as I am,” Chabot notes. “It was quite a coup,” he says. “I took

such care of them—I wasn’t go-ing to leave them at the school,so I carried them back and forthin my car.” The bones are nowsafely back in Cambridge.

Chabot was in private veteri-nary practice for 36 years beforehe joined the Cummings facultyto teach small and large animalanatomy—which piqued hisinterest in elephants. “I real-ized what majestic, complex,compassionate and intelligentcreatures they are,” he says.“The Maasai call them the onlyanimal with a soul.”

An Elephant Tale

M

Joseph F. Chabot and his studentsexamine the loaner elephant bones.

Veterinary practice had already taughther how critical nutrition is. “I observedevery day how much healthier lean animalsare,” she says.

In 2005, the American College ofVeterinary Nutrition approved an alterna-tive track for residency in the fi eld, allow-ing Eirmann to tailor a program to fi t herprofessional obligations and her clinicalinterests. At Cummings, she worked withveterinary nutritionist Lisa Freeman, J86,V91, N96. (Two other mentors—KathrynE. Michel, V83, now on the faculty at theUniversity of Pennsylvania veterinaryschool, and Rebecca L. Remillard, V87, ofAngell Animal Medical Center in Boston—also trained at Tufts.)

Creative scheduling and technologyhelped Eirmann manage the challenges ofher multi-site program. “I did a lot of myclinic time at Oradell Animal Hospital,”she says. “My husband Franco—he’s myIT director—designed a website so I couldpost my cases online. I would call my men-tors, and we would talk about them.”

For her residency research, Eirmannworked closely with Freeman, examiningthe health differences between lean andoverweight dogs, including markers forinfl ammation.

“When you are going to vet school, fatlooks so boring under a microscope,” shesays. “Until the early 1990s, no one hadany idea that it’s a whole lot more compli-cated than we thought. It turns out thatbeing overweight is more dangerous thanjust carrying a few extra pounds aroundand putting stress on your joints. Sciencehas shown that fat tissue makes signalingagents that put the body in a pro-infl am-matory state. That’s probably why over-weight people are more prone to gettingdiabetes.”

Eirmann plans to continue workingin veterinary nutrition. “My fi rst love isworking with patients and seeing clients,”she says. In the meantime, she will fi nishup her course and clinic work this sum-mer, and then sit for her board certifi ca-tion exam in June 2010.

“The huge perk of my program,”Eirmann says, “is that I am getting trainedby some of the best nutritionists in thecountry.”

s p r i n g 2 0 0 9 t u f ts ve t e r i na ry m e d i c i n e 5PHOTO: ISTOCK (TOP)

From Barn to Bedside

hen gtc biotherapeutics announced inFebruary that the Food and Drug Administra-tion had approved its drug for treating peoplewith a hereditary disease that puts them at high

risk for blood clots, it was big news. The approval of the antico-agulant ATryn was the fi rst for a pharmaceutical created from agenetically engineered animal, in this case, a goat.

The technology that enabled the breakthrough was developedat the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine.

ATryn is a therapeutic protein derived from the milk of goatsthat have been genetically engineered by introducing a segment ofDNA into their genes. The genetic material instructs the goat toproduce human antithrombin in its milk. Antithrombin is a pro-tein that acts as a natural blood thinner in healthy people. Patientswith the rare disease known as hereditary antithrombin defi cien-cy develop life-threatening blood clots during surgery, childbirthand other medical procedures.

From 1988 to 1998, Karl Ebert, then an associate professor ofanatomy and cellular biology at Tufts, perfected the micro-injec-tion technology that resulted in the fi rst transgenic goat, called“Number 1.” The animal grew from a goat embryo that was in-jected with human DNA using a microscopically small needle.The resulting genetically engineered, or transgenic goat—the fi rstin the world born to a host mother—produced milk containingthe life-saving protein.

“We were jumping up and down with excitement,” Ebert says.“There was not enough humanized protein from the milk forcommercial production, but it was proof of principle. ‘Number 1’made news all over the world.”

Scientists at GTC Biotherapeutics, based in Framingham,Mass., “made all the gene constructs and did the molecular biol-ogy,” says Ebert. “We were the animal side of it.”

EYES FOR YOU Veterinarian and award-winning artist RobinTruelove Stronk created the painting “Eyes on the Future,”which was commissioned by the Veterinary ScholarshipTrust of New England to celebrate its 50th anniversary. Theartwork, which appeared on the cover of the October 2008issue of the Journal of the American Veterinary MedicalAssociation, is now on display in the Cumming School’s JeanMayer Administration Building. The trust provides assistanceto veterinary students studying in New England. For moreinformation, go to www.veterinaryscholarshiptrust.org.

O V E R H E A R D

� The children learn a lotwhen they read to thedogs, and the dogs loveto be around children�We bring people andanimals together, and itdoes wonders for both.�

—harue midtmoen,of the cummings school paws for

people program, which links reluctantreaders with dogs, quoted in the

worcester telegram & gazette

W


TFrom the beginning, Hank Foster

was the veterinary school’s

ambassador and champion

In the foyer that opens onto this tab-leau of human and animal drama hangs aportrait of a smiling Henry L. Foster andhis wife, Lois. It presides over the hospital,which opened in October 1985 and wasmade possible, in large measure, by theirsupport. Today the Foster Hospital providesveterinary services, including specialtyreferrals and emergency 24-hour care, formore than 26,000 dogs, cats and exotic petseach year.

“Our Henry and Lois Foster Hospital forSmall Animals could not have been a real-ity without Dr. and Mrs. Foster’s vision andgenerosity,” says Deborah T. Kochevar, theCummings School dean and the Henry andLois Foster Professor, an endowed chairfunded by the couple.

Foster, who died in October 2008 at age83, was instrumental not only in establish-ing the small animal hospital, but also in

founding Tufts University’s veterinaryschool 30 years ago. He was “truly the heartand soul” of the school, says Kochevar. “Hetouched nearly every element of our schoolwith his thoughtful guidance and generoussupport.”

“Of all the things my husband did, thisgave him the most pleasure,” says LoisFoster. “He was completely and thoroughlydevoted to the vet school and loved every-one associated with it.”

Foster, who asked everyone to call himHank, was born in Boston and grew upin Roxbury and Brookline. In 1946, hegraduated from the Middlesex VeterinaryCollege. The college closed a year later,and in 1949, its campus became the site ofBrandeis University, where Foster wouldlater serve as a trustee.

In 1947, Foster founded Charles RiverLaboratories, the Wilmington, Mass.-basedfi rm that works globally to accelerate drugdiscovery and development by providingthe pharmaceutical and biotechnologyindustry, as well as government and aca-demia, with custom research models andpreclinical and clinical support services.James Foster, one of Foster’s three sons, isthe company’s president and CEO. Anotherson, Neal, is a program director at CharlesRiver Laboratories. By 2006, the companyreported net sales of $1.06 billion, accord-ing to its website.

In the spirit of Hank Foster’s generos-ity to the veterinary school, Charles RiverLaboratories has provided funding for stu-dent scholarships to bolster the school’sacademic programs in laboratory animalmedicine, helping to address a growingneed for veterinarians trained in that fi eld.

“My father was a visionary in elevat-ing the science of lab animal medicine toenhance the quality of research aroundthe world,” says James Foster. “He was apassionate believer in the essential impor-tance of the Tufts veterinary school andthe prominence it could achieve through-out our country. Charles River and theveterinary school have a steadfast com-mitment to expand comparative medicine

THE FOSTER LEGACY

BY CATHERINE O’NEILL GRACE

the henry and lois foster hospital for small animals is a busy place at almost

any time of day. Old dogs and young dogs cautiously touch noses in the dog waiting room;

cats peer warily from their carriers. A parakeet awaiting treatment chirps in its cage. Clients

waiting to speak to Cummings School veterinarians or veterinarians-in-training about their

animals strike up conversations. “They saved my lab who had cancer.” “My kittens ate lilies,

but they tell me they’re going to be fi ne.” “I lost my elderly dog last year, but they treated her

with such compassion. This is my younger dog. I wouldn’t bring her anywhere else.”


progressively to benefi t future generations of veterinarians.”

When the Middlesex Veterinary College closed, the New England region was with-out a veterinary school—and that worried Hank Foster. “My father was just from the ground fl oor up passionate about getting a veterinary school in New England,” says John Foster, the Fosters’ third son and a new member of the Board of Overseers to the Cummings School. “Between the gover-nor, the then-president of Tufts University, Jean Mayer, and other trustees, this became his passion. He immediately wanted to do-nate the hospital for small animals. And from the time he started to the very end of his life, this was his number-one cause: to be the ambassador for it, to promote it and to champion it.”

“The Cummings School would not ex-ist today but for Hank Foster’s steadfast support and leadership from the very be-ginning,” says Tufts University President Lawrence S. Bacow. “Hank was there for us through thick and thin. He was generous with his time, wisdom and resources. He was as good a friend as the school ever had. We miss him dearly.”

Hank Foster chaired the Cummings Board of Overseers for 18 years and made frequent visits to campus. In 2001, the

Fosters established the Henry L. Foster, D.V.M., Scholars Program, which provides financial assistance to eight Cummings School students each year. “He would insist on meeting with the group at graduation in May to congratulate them,” says John Foster. “He was genuinely interested in their summer projects and their research, their future plans and their career goals. He loved all of them.”

The feeling was mutual.Foster Scholar Julia Paxson, V04, stayed

at the Cummings School for an intern-ship and residency in large animal inter-nal medicine. Now she is doing research on lung regeneration in the laboratory of Andrew Hoffman, head of the school’s Lung Function Testing Laboratory. “Completing an internship and residency helped further my dream of a career in academic veteri-nary medicine,” Paxson says, “and would not have been possible if I had fi nished vet school with extensive fi nancial obligations. The scholarship truly helped me realize my career dreams, for which I will always be grateful. Dr. Foster was an amazing and very generous man.”

One of the first Foster Scholars was Megan Whelan, V04, now a senior staff member in the Emergency and Critical Care Unit at Angell Animal Medical Center

in Boston. She completed her residency in emergency medicine at Cummings in 2007 and is board-certifi ed in the specialty.

“Being mentored by Dr. Foster helped me personally and professionally,” she says. “He followed my progress through veterinary school. Dr. Foster and I spoke and emailed often about the challenges that veterinary students face, both academi-cally and fi nancially, and how these chal-lenges could infl uence our career paths. He encouraged me to do research and explore aspects of veterinary medicine that had not been readily apparent to me,” she says. “For example, I did an externship at Charles River Laboratories and learned about the methods and applications of research and the role of veterinarians in this setting.”

Foster celebrated the personal as well as the academic milestones in Cummings students’ lives, Whelan says. “He cared greatly about veterinary students’ needs and recounted to me his initial struggles as a new veterinary graduate. I still have my Foster Scholar plaque displayed at my house alongside a beautiful picture frame that he gave me upon learning about my en-gagement. Dr. Foster taught me about the importance of having a vision.”

And on a campus in Grafton, that vision continues to thrive. TVM

Opposite page, from left: Lois and Hank Foster at the rededication of the Henry and Lois Foster Hospital for Small Animals; veterinarians at the Foster Hospital care for more than 26,000 pets every year; Hank Foster administering the veterinarian’s oath at a Cummings School commencement ceremony.


For the nation’s 40 million elderly pets,

advances in veterinary care ensure

the twilight years can be good ones

AGING when stefano pizzirani, a veterinary ophthalmologist, examined rocky, a

15½-year-old Standard Poodle, the dog was blind. White, dense cataracts clouded the lens-

es of both eyes. During a pre-operative workup for cataract surgery at the Foster Hospital

for Small Animals at Tufts, a chest X-ray revealed small metastatic masses in the poodle’s

lungs. Was the eye operation advisable?

“We discussed with the owner how appropriate it would be to do the surgery,” says

Pizzirani, an assistant professor at the Cummings School. “The masses were small and

were not causing any problems at that point, but they would progress. The owner said that

the dog was young-behaving and very happy to play outside, but his blindness had caused

some depression. ‘I want to offer my dog the best quality of life for whatever time he has

left to live,’ the owner told us.”

The morning after the cataract surgery, Rocky was able to see and was soon chasing after

his toys. “The dog was active, alert and very, very joyful,” says Pizzirani.

Rocky lived another year after the surgery. “His owner was so pleased about the results,”

Pizzirani says. “Rocky was an old animal with lung cancer, and common sense would have

suggested not doing his eye surgery—but he lived one more year, happy to play outside and

to see again.”

Aging animals like Rocky comprise more than a quarter of the U.S. pet population,

according to the American Veterinary Medical Association, which reports that 28 percent

of dogs and 25 percent of cats are at least eight years old—a common benchmark for clas-

sifying an animal as a senior citizen. The most recent pet population statistics from an

American Pet Products Manufacturers Association survey in 2007–08 reported 74.8 mil-

lion dogs and 88.3 million cats in U.S. households.

Using a rough defi nition of “senior” status, that means that more than 40 million pets

in the U.S. are elderly right now—or getting there. Older pets suffer from many of the

same ailments as aging humans—failing vision and hearing, heart problems, arthritis and

cancer. And the prescription for living well in those sunset years is remarkably similar: a

healthy diet, moderate exercise and regular medical care.

BY CATHERINE O’NEILL GRACE PHOTOGRAPHS BY STEVEN VOTE

w


An older dog undergoes an eye examination at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. Companion animals are living longer, thanks to advances in medical treatment and care.

ell


HOW OLD IS OLD?The defi nition of a senior pet varies widely, depending on species and breed. The old saw that one human year equals seven dog years is just that—urban legend. Even the American Animal Hospital Association’s (AAHA) se-nior care guidelines, published in 2005, are not definitive. The AAHA recommends that dogs and cats should get senior well-ness screening exams starting at age seven or eight (see “Caring for Your Senior,” page 11), although large-breed dogs may reach that screening threshold a year or two earlier. Instead of trying to equate animal age with human age, the AAHA recommends “apply-ing senior guidelines to animals that are in the last 25 percent of the predicted lifespan for their breed and species.”

For example, a Saint Bernard may be considered a senior citizen at age six, while medium-sized dogs usually don’t show signs of aging until they are between nine and eleven. Small breeds, such as toy poo-dles, probably won’t exhibit age-associated problems until they’re eleven or older. “A nine-year-old Great Dane is ancient; an eight-year-old mastiff is a very old dog,” says Lisa G. Barber, an oncologist at the Cummings School. “But an eight-year-old Chihuahua or Yorkie is a youngster.”

Most cats are considered old at seven to eleven years of age—but some live much longer. The average life expectancy of a cat has nearly doubled since 1930, according to the Humane Society of the United States, and indoor cats live an average of eight to sixteen years.

In aging animals, just like in humans, things simply start wearing out. Older peo-ple and animals suffer from vision changes, loss of hearing, dental problems, high blood pressure, heart disease, arthritis, kidney and thyroid problems and cancer. And, as a result of better medical treatments and care and healthier lifestyles, both are living longer.

“We are seeing a whole bunch of new problems because animals are living lon-ger,” says Mary A. Labato, V83, head of small animal medicine at the Foster Hospital. “Diets are better, and more people are con-sidering a pet a family member instead of just a barn cat or a backyard dog. They’re family members. People don’t [take their pets] to the vet just for a rabies shot. Now

it’s yearly checkups—and a lot of people are willing, for animals that fall into the geri-atric category, to get twice-a-year checkups when necessary. We are much better at pain management, which is another reason for longevity.”

In her 27 years at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, Labato, a kidney specialist, has seen many success stories with her senior patients. One of her favor-ites was a cat named Annabelle.

“Annabelle lived to be twenty-three,” Labato says. “She had chronic kidney dis-ease for the last fi ve or six years of her life. She weighed only four pounds. She was a tiny little cat but with lots of spunk. Her owners brought her in for repeated urinary tract infections. We treated her kidney dis-ease, gave her a special diet, controlled some blood pressure and heart problems that she

had—and she did fantastically well.”The most common ailment in older cats

is hypertension, Pizzirani says, “and the eye is the target organ. We see cats with hyper-tension that are twelve, thirteen, fourteen years old.” He recommends annual exams for cats older than eight. “You can pick up the early changes that can make a real dif-ference. We can prevent retinal detachment and blindness. It’s treatment for the quality of life—and that is the whole point.”

Older dogs also are susceptible to age-related eye problems, specifically opacity, or cloudiness of the lens, a condition that worries owners, he says. “It is not causing any problem in vision,” Pizzirani says. “The pupil may become grayish or whitish, but they can still see. This is what causes people over age forty to have to wear glasses—the lenses change shape. We think that dogs do

Orthopedist Randy Boudrieau checks a dog’s joints for signs of arthritis.


not experience the problems that people do with far- and nearsightedness.” And besides, Pizzirani says, animals “don’t have to read.”

Arthritis is another age-associated ail-ment that dogs and cats share with hu-mans. “We see dogs with bad knees, bad elbows and bad hips, as well as arthritis in the spine—they’re very similar to people,” says Randy Boudrieau, head of small ani-mal surgery at the Cummings School. Hip replacement surgery is done routinely, and in March, Tufts veterinarians performed their fi rst elbow replacement on a Labrador retriever.

For older animals, the management of arthritis is similar to what physicians rec-ommend for their human patients: control the weight and exercise in moderation. Boudrieau adds that there is a lot of evi-dence that overweight dogs’ arthritis will improve if they drop a few pounds. “We tell people if their dog is overweight you may have to back off and keep them on the slen-der side—no more table scraps.”

He also cautions owners against over-exercising their elderly animals.

“Dogs have no common sense,” he says. “If they are outside having fun and see a squirrel, they will run after it. If they are playing with your kids, they won’t stop for a break. And like you after you shovel the

driveway, they will have a fl are-up the next morning. They slow down, but they don’t recognize that they’re slower, so you have to do it for them.”

EATING FOR HEALTHWeight control and good nutrition are criti-cal for maintaining an aging pet’s health and preventing or minimizing disease, says

Lisa Freeman, J86, V91, N96, a veterinary nutritionist. Many owners ask her about feeding their pets one of the many “senior” diets on the market.

“There is no one best diet for every older animal,” she says. “Just because a pet turns seven or ten or even thirteen doesn’t neces-sarily mean it’s old. Just because a food is marketed for older animals doesn’t mean it’s right for every older dog or cat.”

Individual differences aside, there are a number of changes that occur with aging that can affect nutritional requirements. Little research has been done on the di-etary needs of aging companion animals, Freeman says, although dietary adjust-ments may help improve the symptoms or even slow the progression of diseases such as arthritis, hypertension and cancer.

“Many of our assumptions are based on research in other species in which diges-tion and absorption of nutrients can be impaired with aging,” Freeman says. “Dogs tend to have decreased energy require-ments, decreased activity and gain fat and lose muscle. Immune function and kidney function also decline with age, although the degree to which this occurs depends on the individual animal,” she notes. There needs to be more research to determine “the op-timal nutritional levels required by older dogs and cats.”

Ophthalmologist Stefano Pizzirani examines his

canine patient for signs of age-related eye problems.

CARING FOR YOUR SENIOREven if your elderly dog or cat appears to be in robust health, a yearly checkup is recom-mended. You can expect your veterinarian to do a complete physical examination, as well as focus on areas of special concern for the senior pet. Routine elements of a wellness visit include:

■ Assessing weight gain or loss and changes in body condition or conformation■ Evaluating the skin, coat, paws and nail bed■ Analyzing abscess lumps and bumps■ Checking for lymph node enlargement, or for cats, the presence of a thyroid nodule■ Palpating the abdomen to determine the size and shape of kidneys and liver■ Evaluating vital signs: temperature, pulse and breathing■ Listening to the heart and measuring heart rate and pulse to evaluate the cardiopulmo-

nary system■ Screening vision and hearing■ Performing an orthopedic exam to test mobility, gait and range of motion■ Running baseline laboratory tests, including blood work, fecal analysis and urinalysis

SOURCE: AAHA SENIOR CARE GUIDELINES FOR DOGS AND CATS, 2005


Many older dogs and cats do very well by continuing to eat a good quality com-mercial diet designed for adult pets. Others will benefi t from a “senior” diet. “It is im-portant to understand that there is no legal defi nition for ‘senior’ or ‘geriatric’ foods,” says Freeman, although such products gen-erally contain less protein and phosphorus and fewer calories.

The bottom line in deciding what to feed an older pet, Freeman says, is the animal’s overall health. For cats with diabetes, for example, increasing fi ber or using a high-protein, low-carbohydrate food may help to control the disease and reduce the need for insulin. A low-salt diet may help dogs with advanced congestive heart failure.

LIVING WITH CANCERIn animals, as in humans, cancer is an-other disease of old age. “We think of it as being the cumulative result of repeated as-saults on an animal’s DNA over the years,” says Lisa Barber, the veterinary oncologist. Lymphoma is the most common cancer she sees in older dogs. Osteosarcoma, or bone cancer, is prevalent in large-breed dogs.

“Cats get cancer less often than dogs do,” says Barber, “but when they do, as a

rule of thumb, it tends to be a more malig-nant disease.”

While some animal cancers can be dis-covered during a general physical exam, cancers that occur internally are not easy to recognize and tend to be diagnosed af-ter they have started to cause other prob-lems—for instance, when a tumor pushes on a dog’s intestines and causes gastric symptoms.

“What’s unfortunate about internal tu-mors is that they are often diagnosed at the later stages,” Barber says, “but that does not mean that it’s hopeless. For instance, if there’s a tumor that’s pressing on the in-testines and stopping the fl ow of food, that animal could be very sick. And yet if the

tumor is amenable to surgery, the animal can do very well afterward.”

The treatment of animal cancers mir-rors that for malignancies in humans: surgery, radiation or chemotherapy—or a combination of them. When dogs undergo chemotherapy, Barber says, “they often do better than their owners would. We’re very fortunate in our veterinary patients, partic-ularly dogs, that they don’t seem to get the same gastrointestinal side effects” as people undergoing chemotherapy do.

For an owner of a pet with cancer, the ability to have more time with a beloved companion is indeed a gift. “I enjoy every minute with Zeus as he responds so well to his chemotherapy and acts like a three-year-old—not a fourteen-year-old, cancer-aff licted cat,” wrote Agnes Varis, H03, a Tufts University trustee and overseer to the Cummings School. To help other ani-mal owners afford the cost of cancer treat-ment, Varis, a longtime benefactor of the Cummings School, established the Zeus Varis Fund.

“People think of cancer as a hopeless dis-ease, but it does not have to be,” says Barber, who consulted about Zeus. She remembers a dog she worked with during her early training. “The dog had relapsed lymphoma and came in very sick. It was treated with a new drug, and I had to go to the owner’s house to deliver some paperwork about it. It turned out to be an important moment in my career,” she says. “The dog was out in the backyard running around. The owner thought it was a miracle. She said, ‘You have to feel the lymph nodes; they’re so much smaller.’ I did, and I couldn’t believe it was the same dog thirty-six hours later.

“We can help animals,” Barber says. “This is a fi eld that is growing and expand-ing in terms of therapeutic options. Of course it is heartbreaking at the end—and that is true of heart disease or kidney dis-ease or any other illness. But in between the diagnosis and the end, there are many pets that can live very happily—even if only for a year. And that year is precious.” TVM

Catherine O’Neill Grace, the editor of this magazine, can be reached at [email protected].

HORSE SENSE

Equine veterinarians Lais Costa, an assistant professor of clinical sciences at the Cummings School, and Mary Rose Paradis, an associate professor of clinical sciences, are investigating the relationship between nutrition and health in aging horses.

Costa has developed an online survey about geriatric horses over age 20 that is be-ing sent this spring to owners within a 30-mile radius of the Cummings School in North Grafton, Mass. The survey will compare the nutrition of the older horses with that of horses between the ages of 3 and 15 living on the same farms. Horse owners will be asked about the medical history of their animals, what kinds of grain and supplements they eat, and the amount of hay they consume.

In May and June, during the second phase of the study, Costa and Paradis will visit the farms and collect hay to analyze its nutritional value in terms of protein, calories and micronutrients. They will also examine the horses and score them on body condition and muscle tone. “We’re developing a test to look at muscle wasting by using ultrasound on certain muscle groups of old horses,” says Paradis. “Our hope is that we will be able to determine the nutritional needs of the older horse in relationship to their body condi-tion and health problems, and eventually make recommendations about nutrition and exercise.” The study is being conducted by the Dorothy Havemeyer Foundation, which supports research to improve the health and welfare of horses.

Lisa Freeman, a veterinary nutritionist,

cuddles her dog Pokey, who’s 16½.

U N I V E R S I T Y N E W STHE WIDER WORLD OF TUFTS

PHOTO: ALONSO NICHOLS s p r i n g 2 0 0 9 t u f ts ve t e r i na ry m e d i c i n e 13

G R A F T O N TA L E S

orah, a 16-week-old Rottweiler, learns how to “sit” and“stay” for her owner, Kristy Silva, during a puppy socializa-tion class at the Tufts Animal Behavior Clinic. “Owners whobring their pups to class learn techniques to foster a strongand lifelong human-animal bond,” says Nicole Cottam,

MS01, the behavior service coordinator at the Cummings School. “It helpsnew owners by providing them with a plan for dealing with stress-inducingpuppy issues, such as chewing, nipping and house-training.” Over six weeks,puppies are acclimated to loud noises, strangers and other dogs; they alsolearn basic obedience skills. “The class uses multiple short-duration activitiesthat involve lots of yummy food treats and praise,” says Cottam.A 2000 survey sponsored by the National Council on Pet Population foundthat the largest number of dogs relinquished by their owners are less than twoyears old, aren’t house-trained, have damaged things and are overly activeand fearful—behaviors the puppy classes are designed to overcome. If you’reinterested in a puppy socialization class, which costs $156 for six sessions,email [email protected].

Good Dog

Z

research

14 t u f ts ve t e r i na ry m e d i c i n e s p r i n g 2 0 0 9 PHOTO: FRANK GIULIANI

New lab redefi nes public health research By Catherine O’Neill Grace

The New England RegionalBiosafety Laboratory at Tufts

Disease Fighters

nvestigators from tufts university and around new englandwho are working on the frontline of the nation’s infectious disease re-search and medical biodefense programs now have a state-of-the-artregional biocontainment laboratory in which to conduct these criticalpublic health inquiries.

The New England Regional Biosafety Laboratory (NE–RBL), located in theGrafton Science Park on the campus of the Cummings School of VeterinaryMedicine in North Grafton, Mass., is a $31 million, 41,000-square-footBiosafety Level 2 (BSL–2) and Biosafety Level 3 (BSL–3) facility, with spacefor 29 faculty and staff. Their mission: better detection, treatment and preven-tion of infectious diseases.

A chilly spring rain was falling on March 30 as federal, state and local dig-nitaries and the Cummings School community gathered to dedicate the NE–RBL. But, noted Tufts University President Lawrence S. Bacow, “It’s a beauti-ful day for science; it’s a beautiful day for public health.”

Scientists use biocontainment labs to study contagious diseases safely andeffectively. The labs are designed not only to protect researchers from contam-ination, but also to prevent microorganisms from entering the environment.The NE–RBL at the Cummings School, which will be up and running earlythis summer, will serve as a resource for investigators from Tufts and otherNew England universities as well as the private sector. It is part of a networkof 13 BSL–2 and BSL–3 biocontainment laboratories in the country. A $23

million grant from the National Institutesof Health (NIH) and a $9.5 million invest-ment by the Massachusetts Life SciencesCenter funded most of the constructionand equipment.

Tufts was chosen as the site for the labo-ratory through a competitive process. “TheTufts veterinary school and the Tufts medi-cal school have always had a very strongprogram in enteric infections. The NIH rec-ognition of this strength allowed us to com-pete successfully for this award,” says SaulTzipori, director of the NE–RBL and headof the Division of Infectious Diseases at theCummings School, which will conduct re-search in the lab. The division houses oneof the nation’s leading research programs infood- and waterborne diseases, infectionsspread by mosquitoes and ticks and in dis-eases that animals transmit to people.

The Centers for Disease Control andPrevention assigns biosafety levels topathogens based on their ability to causeillness. A Biosafety Level 1 (BSL–1) labstudies disease agents that pose the small-est threat to human life and for which vac-cines or cures are available.

In a BSL–2 lab, researchers are pro-tected by lab coats and gloves. Security ina BSL–3 lab is high, and safety measuresare intensive. The BSL–3 facilities at the

THE PATH TO DISCOVERY

I


NE-RBL could be used to study contagiousagents such as West Nile virus and Easternequine encephalitis, both of which are car-ried by infected mosquitoes. Tuberculosis,a global cause of illness and mortality forcenturies, will also be studied.

To enter the BSL–3 lab, researchersmust gain access with a security card andthen a fingerprint reader; they’ll be re-quired to shower and change into scrubsbefore entering the work space. To leavethe lab, researchers must shower again anddispose of their protective clothing andequipment, which will be run through ahigh-temperature autoclave before dispos-al. Each lab is sealed, and air is drawn infrom the corridor, to the anteroom, to thelab and then up into HEPA fi lters beforebeing released into the atmosphere. Thisintensive fi ltration process means the airleaving the laboratory is cleaner than theair outside.

The development of the regional bio-containment laboratory network is partof the NIH biodefense research program,undertaken in response to the anthrax at-tacks in 2001. Those attacks “were a sober-ing reminder that the threat of deliberatelyreleased microbes can be used as a form ofterrorism,” Hugh Auchincloss, deputy di-rector of the National Institute of Allergyand Infectious Diseases, which is part ofNIH, told a congressional oversight com-mittee in 2007.

“Moreover, naturally occurring mi-crobial outbreaks pose a serious threat todomestic and global health,” he said, cit-ing the 2003 severe acute respiratory syn-drome (SARS) pandemic, which rapidlyspread from the Guangdong province ofChina to 37 other countries, and the ongo-ing outbreaks of avian infl uenza and drug-resistant tuberculosis. These outbreaks,Auchincloss said, “have reminded us thatdefense against naturally emerging mi-crobes must be a top national priority.”

In 2002, the National Institute ofAllergy and Infectious Diseases estab-lished a competitive program to fund the

design, construction and commissioningof biocontainment laboratories around thecountry, from Massachusetts to Hawaii, toconduct research on pathogens.

Why locate a BSL–3 facility at a veteri-nary school? In her remarks at the dedi-cation, Deborah T. Kochevar, dean of theCummings School, said that veterinaryresearchers bring special expertise to un-derstanding infectious diseases, which kill14 million to 17 million people around theworld every year. Seventy percent of newlyemerging infectious diseases are zoonot-ic—that is they move from both wild anddomestic animals to humans.

“The great strengths of the centralMassachusetts and greater Boston researchcommunities are collegiality and coopera-tion,” Kochevar said. She and other Tuftsoffi cials are anticipating that the new facil-ity will be the anchor tenant of the GraftonScience Park, a 100-acre parcel with702,000 square feet of developable spacewhere fi rms doing similar work can locate,providing new tax revenue for the town ofGrafton and creating a critical mass of lifescience researchers.

That collegiality was evident at thescientific symposium that followed thededication of the NE–RBL, as scientistsfrom the National Institute of Allergy andInfectious Diseases (NIAID), the medicalschools at Harvard, Boston University andthe University of Massachusetts and theCummings School presented their schol-arly work.

“Major public health threats are anational security matter, whether theyare political or from Mother Nature,”Michael Kurilla, director of the Offi ce ofBiodefense Research Activities at NIAID,said at the symposium. “The expectationfor 21st-century science and medicine re-quires 21st-century facilities. You at Tuftshave this facility now, and it will continueto push forward the frontiers of science.”

For more information about the NE-RBL,go to http://vet.tufts.edu/ne-rbl.

SAFETY NET

The federal government has fundeda network of 13 BSL–2 and BSL–3regional biocontainment laboratoriesat these locations:

Colorado State University

Fort Collins

Duke University Medical Center

Durham, N.C.

George Mason University

Fairfax County, Va.(under construction)

Cummings School of Veterinary

Medicine at Tufts University

North Grafton, Mass.

Tulane National Primate ResearchCenterCovington, La.(under construction)

University of Alabama at Birmingham

School of Medicine

University of Chicago

University of Hawaii

at Manoa

(under construction)

University of Louisville


University of Medicine and Dentistry

of New Jersey

University of Missouri–Columbia

College of Veterinary Medicine


University of Pittsburgh

University of Tennessee HealthScience Center(under construction)

SOURCE: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGYAND INFECTIOUS DISEASES

16 t u f ts ve t e r i na ry m e d i c i n e s p r i n g 2 0 0 9 PHOTO: ISTOCK PHOTO

R E S E A R C H

The mystery began in 2004 onCape Cod, Massachusetts. Whathad killed 20 percent of the off-spring of the Common Tern, the

graceful sea swallows that migrate northeach spring to breed? The massive die-offsat the Monomoy National Wildlife Refugecontinued in 2005 and 2006.

It was a case ripe for the Seabird Eco-logical Assessment Network (SEANET),a cadre of wildlife researchers, agencies,organizations and volunteer “citizen-sci-entists” based at the Cummings School ofVeterinary Medicine. The school’s WildlifeClinic and Center for Conservation

Medicine established SEANET in 2002 tooversee a long-term shorebird and seabirdmonitoring program along the eastern sea-board, from the Northeast to the barrierislands of the southeastern United States.With the help of the citizen-scientists,who monitor and report seabird deaths,researchers are sharing information withcommunities and agencies to develop re-gional programs to protect aquatic birdsand their habitats.

The Monomoy Refuge, located inChatham, at the elbow of Cape Cod,is home to one of the largest CommonTern colonies in North America, says

Julie Ellis, a seabird ecologist who is thedirector of SEANET. Between 8,000 and10,000 breeding pairs inhabit the refugein a given year.

Earlier studies by the National WildlifeHealth Center in Madison, Wisc., and theCummings School found that between500 and 2,000 fl edgling terns died fromSalmonella enterica serovar Typhimuriuminfect ions between July 2004 andAugust 2006. It is not uncommon for S.Typhimurium to kill wild birds, howev-er a die-off of this magnitude has neverbeen reported at any tern colony in NorthAmerica. “It’s possible that the Salmonellawas coming from sewage-contaminatedwater,” Ellis says.

But the exact source of the Salmonellaat Monomoy remains elusive. No otherSalmonella outbreaks or sizable die-offsoccurred during the same period at anyother Common Tern colony on Cape Cod,suggesting that the phenomenon is uniqueto the 7,600-acre Monomoy Refuge.

The die-offs are especially troubling,Ellis says, because Massachusetts has des-ignated the Common Tern as a species of“special concern,” meaning that the birdsare protected under the MassachusettsEndangered Species Act.

The black-and-white Common Tern is,as its name suggests, ubiquitous in NorthAmerica and Europe. The terns probablynumbered in the hundreds of thousandsduring the 19th century, but are con-siderably scarcer today, according to theMassachusetts Division of Fisheries andWildlife. Efforts to protect and restorenesting colonies have allowed tern popula-tions to gradually increase.

To pursue their investigation intothe Monomoy die-off, SEANET and theMassachusetts Audubon Society’s CoastalWaterbird Program received a grant ofnearly $30,000 from the MassachusettsEnvironmental Trust that was fundedthrough the state’s wildlife license platecampaign.

Rebecca Harris, G01, the director ofthe Coastal Waterbird Program and afounder of SEANET, worked with Ellis andMonomoy Refuge staff to collect tern fecesand dead birds from the refuge as well asbeach sediment and other environmental

caption_fl

Seabird SentinelsTracking the cause of a massive tern die-off on Cape Cod

Researchers are tryingto fi gure out what isdecimating a colonyof Common Terns atthe Monomoy NationalWildlife Refuge.

s p r i n g 2 0 0 9 t u f ts ve t e r i na ry m e d i c i n e 17PHOTO: MELODY KO/TUFTS PHOTO

By the NumbersEach year, researchers at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine receive

funding through competitive grants awarded by a variety of foundation, industry

and government sources. Here is a sampling of grants won by faculty this year to

support the school’s programs and research enterprise.

$457,000 From the U.S. Army Medical Research and Material

Command to Sawkat Anwer, associate dean, for increasing veterinary research

manpower for medical biodefense

$300,000 From the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, a three-year

grant to Christopher M. Schonhoff, research assistant professor of biomedical

sciences, for studies on the biology of the liver

$206,600 From the Rockefeller Foundation to Joann Lindenmayer, V85,

associate professor of environmental and population health, for work in

Indonesia to assess the need for

education and training in veterinary

public health and the management of

infectious diseases such as bird fl u

$120,000 From the

Kenneth A. Scott Charitable Trust,

a KeyBank Trust, to Annette Rauch,

V85, MS01, interim director, for the

Cummings School’s new program in

shelter medicine

$90,120 From the Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and

Response System of the Department of Defense to Julie Ellis, research assistant

professor, and Mark Pokras, V84, associate professor, in the department of

environmental and population health, to integrate SEANET bird health data into

a national system for reporting wildlife disease

$30,000 From Tufts Medical Center to Chieko Azuma and Lisa Barber,

assistant professors of clinical sciences, for a study on canine cancer

samples from sites near Monomoy. Theyfound Salmonella in the tern droppingsand E. coli bacteria in the bird and envi-ronmental samples. The researchers arecollaborating with Steve Jones, directorof the Center for Marine Biology at theUniversity of New Hampshire, to use ribo-typing—a DNA fi ngerprinting techniquethat will allow them to identify potentialsources of the pathogenic Salmonella. Theyare awaiting results from the ribotyping.

The DNA fingerprinting “gives yousubtle clues that can tell you somethingabout relatedness of [the Salmonella]strains and where bacteria may be movingin the environment—and that might sug-gest a source or a cause,” Ellis says. But, shecautions, “this is an ongoing project, andwe’re not sure what the answers will be.DNA fi ngerprinting is not infallible. It’ssuggestive. Science often generates morequestions than answers, and you have tobe led by the results.”

In a second phase of the project, theresearchers will work with state, local andfederal offi cials to mitigate bacteria levelsaround the Monomoy Refuge in the hopeof averting another large-scale die-off.

To help monitor seabird and shorebirdhealth, SEANET relies on citizen-scientists“who walk a stretch of beach once or twicea month to record the numbers of deadseabirds and shorebirds, as well as observelive birds,” Ellis says. The volunteers thenreport their fi ndings through a Web-baseddata entry system. “The volunteers’ infor-mation is helping us establish a baseline sowe know what’s normal and can tell whensomething bad happens,” she says.

Research on threats to seabird popula-tions is also important for understandingcoastal environmental health, which hasimplications for human health, Ellis says.“Seabirds are good sentinels for what is go-ing on in the ocean,” she says. “If the ternsare obtaining pathogenic bacteria fromcoastal habitats, then there may be causefor concern for human health as well.”

If you’re interested in volunteering for theSEANET bird monitoring program, visit theprogram’s new blog, where you can down-load the latest newsletter for volunteers:http://seanetters.wordpress.com.

18 t u f ts ve t e r i na ry m e d i c i n e s p r i n g 2 0 0 9 PHOTO: ALONSO NICHOLS

CUMMINGS SCHOOL NEWSO N C A M P U S

Mor traveled to Kampala, Uganda, tostudy patterns of cryptosporidiosis trans-mission in children who were hospital-ized for severe diarrhea. She particularlywanted to fi nd out how the children gotcryptosporidium in their lungs.

It had been thought that the parasiteonly invaded the lungs of people with HIV/AIDS whose immune systems are compro-mised. However, “we have shown that therespiratory tract is commonly involved ininfection in HIV-negative children, andthat is a breakthrough,” says Mor, notingthat her fi ndings suggest that people mayactually breathe in the pathogen.

Mor hastens to add that her conclusion,as well as previous research in Uganda, isbased on studying the disease in denselypopulated urban areas. She would like toreplicate these studies in rural Ugandato determine if the fi ndings also apply inmore sparsely populated regions. “Weneed to get out into the provinces,” shesays, acknowledging that the lack of infra-structure in rural Africa poses challengesfor this kind of public health research.

This winter, Mor successfully defendedher doctoral dissertation, “Epidemiology ofCryptosporidiosis and Related Infectionsin Sensitive Populations.” She joins ZendaBerrada, V08, in a very exclusive club—theonly Ph.D. graduates of Cummings.

Mor grew up in Australia and receivedher veterinary training at the University ofSydney. She started out thinking she wouldpractice equine medicine. But that changedwhen she arrived at the Cummings Schooland began doing cryptosporidium re-search with Saul Tzipori, professor of mi-crobiology and infectious diseases and theAgnes Varis University Chair in Scienceand Society. Led by Tzipori, infectious dis-ease researchers have been studying cryp-tosporidium for many years.

“My experience studying crypto taughtme that a vet degree is much more than avet degree,” says Mor. “I became fascinatedwith how our work can serve public health,not just veterinary health.”

She’ll be able to pursue that passionin her new job: she has been appointed aresearch assistant professor in the depart-ment of public health and family medicineat Tufts University School of Medicine.

group of hospitalized children in africa has given pub-lic health researchers new clues about the transmission of amicroscopic parasite that can kill people with weakenedimmune systems.

Cryptosporidium, a gastrointestinal bug that is foundaround the globe, can make just about anyone sick, even healthy adults. Theinfection—called cryptosporidiosis—is usually transmitted when peopledrink water contaminated by the feces of infected humans or livestock. Thedisease causes acute diarrhea, abdominal pain, vomiting and fever.

Some pathogenic detective work by Siobhan Mor, V09, the second studentto complete a Ph.D. at the Cummings School, has uncovered a new portal forinfection: the parasite can be inhaled.

“Crypto” is a worldwide public health issue, according to the Centers forDisease Control and Prevention, which reports that some 300,000 cases arediagnosed annually in the United States—an estimate that may be artifi ciallylow since testing for crypto is rarely done. The illness is widespread among un-dernourished children and vulnerable populations in Africa, including peoplewith HIV/AIDS.

Ph.D. student identifi es pathway for parasite transmission

Health Monitor

A

Research by Siobhan Morsuggests that people can

contract cryptosporidiosis byinhaling the tiny parasite.

s p r i n g 2 0 0 9 t u f ts ve t e r i na ry m e d i c i n e 19PHOTOS: ALONSO NICHOLS (TOP); ANDREW CUNNINGHAM (BOTTOM)

Student life at the CummingsSchool is enriched by 29 orga-nizations, ranging from AlphaPsi, the national veterinarystudent fraternity, to Wildlife,Aquatics, Zoo, Exotics (WAZE),the largest student organizationon campus. Many are studentchapters of national profes-sional organizations, such asthe American Association ofEquine Practitioners; others arecommunity- or animal-welfare ori-ented. One popular offering, theStudent Livestock Organization,known as SLO, provides opportu-nities to work with large animals.

Andrine Belliveau, V11,took on the leadership of SLOin fall 2008—and she’s beenbusy. “Our mission is to exposeTufts students to large animalmedicine so they get an idea ofwhat it’s like to handle differentlivestock species and what yourlife would be like to be a largeanimal vet,” she says.

There is a growing need

for large animal veterinariansin New England, according toa 2008 study commissionedby the Cummings School. Theregion faces a looming high rateof retirement among veterinar-ians treating dairy cattle andother food animals, with some25 percent expected to reachretirement age by 2014.

This year, the group’s 45members have been par-ticipating in a number of eventsdesigned for career explorationand hands-on training in caringfor livestock. The organizationhosted a visit from the Academyof Rural Veterinarians. TwentySLO members traveled to WestSpringfi eld, Mass., for theEastern States Exposition, andhelped out at a sheep farm. Inthe spring, the group takes partin Heifer Watch on the Graftoncampus, working in round-the-clock shifts to monitor cowsthat are due to calve. Studentsalso assist at a bovine artifi cial

insemination lab, learning tech-nique at Tufts and practicing withcows on a farm in Connecticut.

“Some students grew up inthe city so they never had anopportunity to handle cattleor anything like that,” saysBelliveau, who grew up on whatshe calls “a three-acre gentle-man’s farm” in Bolton, Mass.As a high school student,she raised goats, sheep andchickens and was active in 4H.“For people who haven’t hadlivestock experience, SLO is a

great way to get some exposureearly on.” (Cummings studentsdo a four-week rotation at theschool’s large animal veterinaryservice in Woodstock, Conn., butnot until their fi nal year.)

Belliveau decided long agothat she wanted to go into largeanimal practice. “I pretty muchalways wanted to be JamesHerriot,” she laughs. “I lovedraising the goats and sheep, andthe vet who cared for them hadan RV that he used as his vetoffi ce. I want that lifestyle.”

“It is with great honor that we accept our white coats on this fi neday,” intoned the 75 members in the Cummings School’s Class of2010 who took the veterinary student oath on March 13, during theschool’s White Coat Ceremony. “It is with strength and humility thatwe shoulder all the responsibility they represent.”

The annual ceremony marks the passage of third-year studentsinto the clinical phase of their training when they begin patient care.

Susan Mitchell, V90, assistant professor of clinical sciences,reminded the class, “You’re doing this because you love animals,and if that shows, you will have quite the ride. And, as corny as itsounds, what a noble profession. Oh, there will be bumps, lots ofthem. You’ll have your insecurities, stupid answers in rounds, noanswers in rounds or maybe even a real winner of an answer. It willbe all over the place. But as Winston Churchill said, ‘If you aregoing through hell, keep going.’

“I will add my personal favorites: Do the right thing, not the easything, and, have fun at work. Okay, V10. Off you go. Enjoy the ride…”

CATTLE CALL

Rite of Passage

New student clinicians, from left: Erin Casey, Jared Ravich,Lindsey Martell, Marilyn MacDowall, Vanessa Adams, AdamBoardman, Amy Land and Anthony Alario.

SLO members from left: DeandraDill, V12; Nate Theobald, V11;

Andrine Belliveau, V12; andAlison Keen, V12.


O N C A M P U S

ew faculty member suzanne cunningham, a car-diologist at the Foster Hospital for Small Animals, isno stranger to Tufts. She completed both her intern-ship and her cardiology residency at the Cummings

School, after graduating from the College of Veterinary Medicineat Cornell University in 2003. Certifi ed by the American College ofVeterinary Internal Medicine in cardiology in 2008, Cunninghampassed the notoriously diffi-cult examination the fi rst timearound.

“Suzanne is an outstandingclinician and teacher, and herresearch interests—clinicalinterventional cardiology andnovel therapies for cardiomyo-pathies and heart failure—willallow us to build upon our ex-isting strengths in those areas,”says John Berg, chair of the de-partment of clinical sciences.

When Tufts Veterinary Medicinecaught up with Cunninghamto ask her about her new jobshe had just finished treatinga 7-year-old ferret with a heartproblem.

Q: Is there a typical day atthe Foster Hospital for SmallAnimals?A: No—and that’s what I loveabout it. I love the busynessof the hospital and emergencyclinic here. There’s somethingnew every day because of our diverse caseload. The ferret I treatedcame in with a heart rate of about 80—when it’s supposed to be300. We thought he might require a pacemaker, but he respond-ed very well to medication. His owner said, ‘He’s a new weasel.’ Ihave given echocardiograms to rabbits, snakes, alpacas and evena gecko. I was involved with putting a pacemaker in a miniaturedonkey—and of course we work with many, many dogs and cats.

Q: What attracted you to cardiology as a specialty?A: I always had a gut feeling that I would pursue cardiology. WhenI sat in my fi rst lectures in it at Cornell, I realized this is it. It’scomplex, yet very logical—it all makes sense; all the pieces of thepuzzle come together. And it can have a high success rate. If I treata dog with PDA [patent ductus arteriosus, a congenital heart defect

in which blood circulates irregularly between two of the major ar-teries near the heart], I give an animal that may have only lived ayear or two a second chance at life. It’s a congenital disease that wecan fi x, and the dog will never have a problem with it again.

Q: What are you research interests?A: We’re interested in fi nding new therapies for dogs with heart

failure. We’re looking at sta-tins, which may delay the pro-gression of the disease in dogs.From a surgical standpoint,we’re interested in somethingwe haven’t tried yet—usinga cardiac sock, which is a de-vice that you put around theoutside of the heart to restrainit from getting bigger. It isused in people as a bridge totransplantation.

Q: Do you enjoy the teach-ing aspect of your role atCummings?A: During my residency Imostly was involved in clini-cal teaching with fourth-yearveterinary students. This yearI jumped right in and took oncommitments for the second-year students, teaching car-diovascular pathophysiology.I was pretty scared about thepublic speaking aspect of largelectures. But I turned out toreally enjoy it—I love putting

together the PowerPoints. I also like the small group case-baseddiscussions—the problem-based learning.

Q: Did you always want to be a veterinarian?A: When I was in high school I actually thought about going intopolitics. But I have always loved animals. I wondered, ‘Do I want tobe a lawyer and just have a lot of animals?’ But I was also interestedin science and medicine, so vet school was a good combination.

Q: Do you have any pets?A: I have a 12-year-old boxer named Roxie.

Cummings School intern Jessica Telemaque, a journalism student atWorcester State University, contributed to this story.


Heart of the Matter

NSuzanne Cunningham

s p r i n g 2 0 0 9 t u f ts ve t e r i na ry m e d i c i n e 21PHOTO: ANDREW CUNNINGHAM

B E Y O N D B O U N D A R I E SPROVIDING THE MEANS FOR EXCELLENCE

Pesky virus spawns broad research agenda By Leslie Limon

female alpaca at spruce ridge farm in new york’s hud-son Valley gave birth to an apparently healthy female cria(baby alpaca) in 2005. Soon after, a male cria in the herd fellill. Herd owner Steve McCarthy, president of the Empire AlpacaAssociation, brought the baby to the Cummings School, where

Daniela Bedenice, an assistant professor of clinical sciences, suspected bovineviral diarrhea (BVD), which is prevalent in the cattle industry.

There was just one problem: Back in 2005, BVD was not considered commonin alpacas. Yet the male cria tested positive, as did 39 other alpacas in McCarthy’sherd—including the newborn. Most of them recovered, but the newborn wasfound to be “persistently virus infected,” having been exposed in utero before itsimmune system could develop antibodies to combat the disease.

“The clinically healthy dam is a kind of ‘Trojan horse’ whose cria startsshedding the virus immediately after birth,” says Bedenice. “The newbornmay show no signs of illness for weeks as it silently spreads the virus through asusceptible herd.” Among those exposed in McCarthy’s herd were 12 pregnantfemales, which were taken off-site for birthing to evaluate the incidence ofinfection and isolate the crias. Nine had persistent infections, which Bedenicemonitored in strict quarantine.

After Spruce Ridge Farm became the fi rst in the U.S. to go public with acase of BVD in an alpaca herd, Bedenice began to research the virus, support-ed by a gift from the Empire Alpaca Association. The industry also stepped upits efforts to educate owners. The New England Alpaca Owners and BreedersAssociation (NEAOBA) requires show animals to be tested for BVD exposure.At conferences, Bedenice would show photos of healthy-looking infected crias

to debunk the myth that you can identify asick cria on sight.

Another focus of Bedenice’s research,Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE), a viraldisease that causes inf lammation in thebrain, was fi rst identifi ed in alpacas at theCummings School in 2004. The followingyear, NEAOBA funded a study to evaluatethe prevalence of natural EEE antibod-ies in alpacas, and the Alpaca ResearchFoundation supported a clinical trial todetermine if the EEE vaccine would pro-duce antibodies against the disease and tomake sure it was safe. It did, and it was.

Physiologically, alpacas share commonattributes with cows, horses and even cats.Intrigued by alpacas’ gentle and inquisi-tive nature, Bedenice saw an opportunityto use her research to improve the health ofthis species of South American camelid.

The cost of infectious diseases andother illnesses on alpaca herds is consider-able. The average proven breeding femalefetches anywhere from $20,000 to $50,000,and show animals considerably more. TheEmpire Alpaca Association, NEAOBA andNew England Alpaca Tours (composed ofAcorn Alpaca Ranch, Cas-Cad-Nac Farmand RiverView Alpacas) continue to con-tribute to Bedenice’s research. The EmpireAlpaca Association recently supported astudy to evaluate lung disease. The AlpacaResearch Foundation funded research onhow chronic and persistent BVD infectionaffects alpacas’ immune systems.

Among the cadre of donors to her workare clients who, Bedenice says, want to “fa-cilitate the acquisition of knowledge of aspecies about which they feel so passionate-ly.” Judith Zimbalist, of Chatham Alpacasin eastern New York, regularly gives tothe Alpaca Research Gift Fund. Ann andKevin Tarsagian, of Glen Ridge Farm inPortsmouth, R.I., donated equipment totest antibody transfer failure in crias. AndLou Eustance, of French Hollow Alpacasin Cambridge, N.Y., provided fencing for asafe outdoor environment.

“There is very little research done on al-pacas compared to other livestock, and weappreciate Dr. Bedenice’s commitment toour animals,” says Steve McCarthy. “Herunbelievable dedication and responsive-ness endear her to us alpaca owners.”

Amazing Alpacas

A

Research at theCummings School hasexpanded what we knowabout alpacas and thediseases that compromisetheir health.


Afoundation that chose toremain anonymous could havesimply made a gift for the newAgnes Varis Campus Center.

Instead, it leveraged its assets to light afi re in the Cummings School communi-ty: an all-or-nothing challenge to matcha $250,000 grant for the auditorium bythe end of December 2008. The $500,000

would go toward the $1.5 million neededto construct the new 173-seat auditorium,which opened in March and is outfittedwith state-of-the-art acoustics, lightingand audio-visual systems.

It would have been a stiff challenge, evenin the best of times. Nonetheless, it sparkedan outpouring of generosity among alum-ni, faculty, staff, parents and others, who

came through with 139 gifts and pledges,most of them less than $1,000. Alumniformed the largest donor contingent (87),and 25 were fi rst-time donors.

Through the Take a Seat Campaign(www.tufts.edu/vet/giving/opportunities/take_a_seat.html), many donated a mini-mum of $1,000 to name one or more au-ditorium seats in honor of a person, theirgraduating class or a pet.

Benefactor Agnes Varis, H03, a TuftsUniversity trustee, named seats for fam-ily members, including her cats, Mishi,Kallee, Zeus and Kiki. Biomedical sciencesfaculty and staff pooled resources to nameseveral seats in memory of Joanne Melesky,who had worked in the department. MayerAdministration Building staff also bandedtogether to name a seat.

Tania Kozikowski, V04, and Jane(Remeika) Gardiner, V04, used Yahoo andFacebook to mobilize 12 of their 80 class-mates to fund a seat in honor of the latedirector of the Tufts Ambulatory Service,Howard Levine. “We all appreciated oureducation at Tufts, but saw things that werelacking, including a better lecture hall,”said Kozikowski, an associate veterinarianat Alamo Pintado Equine in Los Olivos,Calif. “Together we hoped to play a smallpart in changing that.”

—leslie l imon


The new Agnes Varis Campus CenterAuditorium, which opened in March, givesthe veterinary community a place to hostcampus-wide meetings, national andinternational professional conferencesand community hearings.

Mission Accomplished

SUPPORT FOR SHELTER MEDICINE

The Cummings School’s emerging program in shelter medicine has received a boost with a trio of new gifts. The VanSloun Foundation has donated $8,000; TriMix Foundation followed up its initial gift of $50,000 with another $65,000;and the Bernice Barbour Foundation committed $150,000 over the next three years.

The development of the shelter medicine program coincides with a national spike in animal surrender and aban-donment as well as longer shelter stays due to economic hardship. This spring, one Cummings School student willcomplete a rotation at the Worcester Animal Rescue League; three others are working on shelter research projects atthe Animal Rescue Leagues of Worcester and Boston and in Nepal.

Eventually, the Cummings School plans to offer a certifi cate program in shelter medicine.

B E Y O N D B O U N D A R I E S


ISOLATION UNIT UPDATE

PHOTO: MELODY KO )ABOVE), ANDY CUNNINGHAM

T hree tufts veterinarians,Scott Shaw, V98; Mary Labato,V83; and John Rush, made quitean impression on Anne Engen

and her husband, Travis, when they caredfor the couple’s beloved corgis, Belle andDusty. The Engens were determined to fi nda way to honor them.

“I started thinking, I’ll bet they’ve all gota wish list,” Anne Engen says. The couple’sgift of $515,000 granted each clinician somewishes that aid research and patient care.

Rush, a cardiologist, can now maintaina supply of stents for dogs of all sizes fortracheal and other uses. The cost of thosestents previously made that impossible.“We’d anesthetize a dog to confi rm that itwas a candidate for the stent,” he says. “Ifwe didn’t have the right size, we’d wake thedog, order a stent, then re-anesthetize thedog 48 hours later to place it.” Now sur-geons are likely to have the right size readyto deploy, avoiding a second round of an-esthesia. The Engens’ gift will also sponsora half-time cardiologist, allowing Rush tofocus more on interventional radiology,a less-invasive alternative to traditionalsurgery.

The Engens’ gift “came at the perfecttime for us to add a renal resident withan interest in urinary tract issues,” says

Labato, a nephrologist. This will enablethe department to conduct more clinicalstudies. They will also purchase a new re-nal replacement therapy machine for dialy-sis on tiny or critically ill animals. At thisyear’s meeting of the American Society ofNephrology, the department will shop fornew equipment. “But instead of thinking‘someday,’ this year it’s ‘which piece do wewant to bring back with us?’ ” Labato says.

Shaw, too, has bought equipment. A newthromboelastograph will provide data onblood clots to aid research on anti-plateletdrugs used to treat a variety of diseases.Shaw, who specializes in emergency andcritical care, is seeking grant support for re-search on the drugs’ effect on coagulation.A new, more traditional coagulation ana-lyzer will support in-house testing at a costof about $20 per sample instead of sendingsamples out to be tested at $250 each.

Anne Engen is delighted that she andher husband had the opportunity to makea difference in the work of the three clini-cians, adding that Belle’s and Dusty’s treat-ments helped her see an important cross-over between human and animal medicine.“My fundamental belief is that you lookaround and ask, What draws me to help?”she says. “And you choose a worthy objectthat touches your heart.”

From left, John Rush, Anne Engen, Mary Labato,Scott Shaw and Travis Engen in Tufts’ Henry andLois Foster Hospital for Small Animals

Wishes Granted

A new stand-alone isolation

unit for the Hospital for Large

Animals will open this fall,

thanks to a second gift of up to

$1.45 million from the Manton

Foundation, which made an ear-

lier donation of $2.25 million.

The new facility will strengthen

the hospital’s capacity to treat

infectious disease, translat-

ing into an improved ability to

study—and contribute to the

body of knowledge about—infec-

tious disease in large animals.

“This generous gift not only

expands the capabilities of the

Hospital for Large Animals, but

it also speaks to our commit-

ment to understanding and

controlling infectious diseases,”

says Dean Deborah T. Kochevar.

“We thank the foundation for

allowing us to better serve our

equine clients.”

24 t u f ts ve t e r i na ry m e d i c i n e s p r i n g 2 0 0 9 ILLUSTRATION: JIM DANDY

ADVICE FOR OUR READERSA S K T H E V E T

HOW TO REACH USMain hospital switchboard and after-hours emergencies 508.839.5395Henry and Lois Foster Hospital for Small Animals, appointment desk 508.839.5395Hospital for Large Animals, appointment desk 508.839.5395Wildlife Clinic 508.839.7918Directions to Tufts (ext. 84650) 508.839.5395Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine administration 508.839.5302Veterinary Student Admissions Office 508.839.7920Veterinary Alumni Relations 508.839.7976Cummings Veterinary Fund 508.839.7909Tufts Pet Loss Support Hotline 508.839.7966Continuing Education 508.887.4723Public Relations 508.839.7910

Web site: www.tufts.edu/vet

If you are interested in learning more

about how you can support the Cummings

School of Veterinary Medicine, please con-

tact: Shelley Rodman, director of veteri-

nary development and alumni relations, at

508.839.7907, or email: shelley.rodman@

tufts.edu.

Scott Shaw, V98, assistant professor of clinical sciences and a specialist inemergency and critical care medicine at the Cummings School, responds to areader’s concern about a dog’s well-being in the hot summer days ahead.

Q:Now that the weather is starting to get warmer, I am worried aboutkeeping my dog safe when he’s exercising. How can I tell if my pet isoverheating, and what can I do about it?

A:Heatstroke in dogs is a life-threatening situation. It is more common on humiddays, particularly early in the summer when your dog hasn’t had time to adjust to thewarm weather. Older dogs as well as the brachycephalic breeds (dogs with short noses such

as pugs and bulldogs) are predisposed to developing heatstroke. When your dog’s body temperature risestoo high, numerous organs can be damaged, including the heart, liver, kidneys and brain.

The earliest sign of heatstroke is excessive panting with excessive salivation. As the condition getsworse, a dog’s gums will turn dry and dark pink, and the animal will become weak and may have troublestanding. At its most severe, dogs with heatstroke can develop seizures and severe bloody diarrhea.

The best treatment is prevention. You should make sure your dog always has access to plenty of freshwater. Avoid exercise during the hottest part of the day. If you are concerned your dog is becoming over-heated, you should cool him down as quickly as possible with cool, not cold, water. If your dog becomesweak or collapses, rapid cooling is the most important thing you can do before getting your dog to the vet.

Please send your questions for “Ask the Vet” to Catherine O’Neill Grace, Editor, Tufts Veterinary Medicine,Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, 200 Westboro Road, North Grafton, MA 01536. Or email yourquestion to [email protected].

Avoiding Heatstroke During the Dog Days

For more information please contact Tufts’ Gift Planning Office888.748.8387 giftplanning@ tufts.edu www.tufts.edu/giftplanning

MICHAEL AND ROBIN HESSION of Middleborough, Mass., first came to

the Henry and Lois Foster Hospital for Small Animals about 10 years ago

with a rescue dog that needed treatment for behavior problems. Robin says

she finds the Grafton campus “a welcoming place” and has returned for

Open House every September. Three years ago, the Hessions began sup-

porting current veterinary students with generous annual gifts designated

for scholarships. In addition, they have included a bequest intention for the

Cummings School in their estate plans. The Hessions’ thoughtfulness and

generosity will leave a lasting legacy.

“Every time we attend a

Cummings event, we are

always so impressed and

inspired by the diversity

of the students and their

stories. We have two

children, but animals are a

part of our family, too.

Our dogs truly enriched

our lives, and we wanted to

do something to honor

them as well. We’d like to

think that our philanthropy

has been instilled in our

children. We believe in the

greater good; the education

of one veterinarian positively

impacts thousands of

animals.”

NONPROFIT ORG.U.S. POSTAGE

PAIDBOSTON, MA

PERMIT NO. 1161

TUFTS

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Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine

200 Westboro RoadNorth Grafton, ma 01536http://www.tufts.edu/vet

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UNSOLVED MYSTERY

At a national wildlife refuge on Cape Cod, unprecedented numbers of Common Terns, which migrate north to nest each spring, are dying. What is killing the graceful sea swallows? Researchers with the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine’s Seabird Ecological Assessment Network (SEANET) are on the case. For more on the story, turn to page 16.

A GOOD OLD AGE · magazine of the cummings school of veterinary medicine spring 2009 vol. 10 no. 3...

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