College of Veterinary Medicine Research Brochure

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Helping Frail Foals Survive“I see my missionas improvingequine health.”Dr. Steeve GiguèreWWhen he was a boy,the formula seemed simpleto University of Floridaresearcher Steeve Giguère:become a veterinarian, own ahorse, keep riding.Today, his research into equineneonatology brings him intocontact with plenty of horses,although he doesn’t own them orride them. But that’s OK withGiguère, who says he has founda new mission in helping frail foalssurvive. And he likes knowing hiswork makes a difference.“If you do clinics, you deal withhorses and their problems everyday,” Giguère said. “That way youknow what kinds of research reallywill help, as opposed to somethingthat is interesting fundamentally butnot really helpful clinically.”Since the mid-1980s, Giguère said,the UF College of VeterinaryMedicine has built up itsneonatology program, publishingthe first equine neonatal text in1990. The university long has been atop referral center for clinical care ofneonates and is playing a key role inequine neonatology research.“The discipline of equineneonatology started here,” Giguèresaid. “Every project helps inunderstanding better ways to treatequine neonatal diseases.”A big part of Giguère’s research isfocused on an anomaly that makesnewborn horses highly susceptibleto Rhodococcus, which causespneumonia, while adult horseslargely are immune to it.“With Rhodococcus, we are tryingto discover why only the babies getit, not adults. What is different inthe immune system of the babies?”Giguère said.Rhodococcus is the leadingcause of illness and death in foalsin the United States and theleading cause of pneumonia infoals from 3 weeks to 5 monthsof age. It is financially devastatingfor horse breeders, who sometimessee 40 percent of their foal cropcontract the disease. Foals thatdo recover are much less likelyto race as adults.Giguère says a long-term goal is todevelop a vaccine to protect foalsfrom Rhodococcus. But first, heneeds to find the reason for foals’peculiar susceptibility to theinfection. Preliminary results showthat the immune systems of adulthorses rapidly dispatchRhodococcus infections. Foals’immune cells, however, fail toreact, allowing Rhodococcus tocause pneumonia.“Rhodococcus lives in theenvironment, so it’s very difficult toget rid of. Oftentimes, foals don’tshow clinical signs till the disease istoo advanced,” Giguère said. “I wantto try to find better ways to identifythe disease earlier so we can starttreating it sooner. One day maybewe can prevent it, possibly with avaccine. It’s a big challenge. Sincethe infection occurs so close tobirth, there is a small window tobuild an immune response.”In his work in UF clinics, Giguèrefound himself faced with a need tomeasure blood pressure and cardiacoutput in critically ill foals, but withfew well-standardized, non-invasiveways to perform those tests. So heembarked on studies to find moreprecise and less invasive ways totake the measurements.In one study, he looked at theaccuracy of blood pressure monitorsand foals and he evaluated the effectof the site of cuff placement on theaccuracy of the measurements.He found that most blood pressuremonitors commonly used workedwell but found that the bestplacement for the cuffs was on afoal’s tail. The non-invasive monitorsare portable and easily used on thefarm or in a veterinary office.To improve methods to measurecardiac output in critically ill foals,Giguère decided to evaluate manynon-invasive methods. He foundthat ultrasound examination ofthe heart was very accurate inmeasuring cardiac output andeasily used without causing distressto the sick foals.Giguère also evaluated kitscommonly used on horse farmsto measure concentrations ofantibodies in newborn foals.He found the kits varied widelyin accuracy and made his resultsavailable to veterinarians andfarm managers. Giguère also hasbeen studying multipleantibiotics for use in foals in anattempt to improve treatmentof bacterial infections. Systemicbacterial infection is the leadingcause of mortality in foals.Giguère’s work has beenfunded by Morris AnimalFoundation and Florida’s Pari-Mutuel Trust Fund as well asthe Florida ThoroughbredBreeders’ and Owners’Association. In fact, support fromthe association allowed thecollege to establish a breedingherd of 17 mares that providefoals each year for research.Once the research is completed,the foals are adopted, Giguère said.“With access to the foals, we cananswer more questions so thebreeding herd is very important,”Giguère said. “These projects arepractical for the horse owner.“We can change the way wepractice, discover better therapies,”Giguère said. “I see my mission asimproving equine health.”Photo left: Dr. Steeve Giguère andveterinary care technician Maria Goremonitor a foal using ultrasound technology.10Research • University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine••Infectious Diseases • www.vetmed.ufl.edu11
Seeking Solutions to Cat Overpopulation ProblemsUUniversity of Floridaresearcher Julie Levy has hereye on the big picture, a future inwhich there are no homeless catsbecause the cat overpopulationproblem has been solved.On her way to that future, Levyfocuses on today, sterilizing andvaccinating feral cats at monthlyclinics at UF’s College ofVeterinary Medicine. OperationCatnip sterilizes and providesveterinary care each year for about2,000 cats, which are trapped,neutered and returned to theirenvironment. The low-costoperation – Levy and otherveterinarians, veterinary techniciansand students donate their time andthe college provides the facilities –is an attempt to make a dent in aproblem of almost staggeringproportions.Since 1994, Operation Catnip’s threechapters have sterilized more than20,000 cats, yet estimates put thenumber of homeless cats nationwideat about 70 million.“There is a huge cat overpopulationproblem,” Levy said. “A largenumber of strays are fed by peoplebut receive no veterinary care. Thesepeople are trying to make a situationbetter that they had nothing to dowith creating.“We can help by providing freeveterinary care for the cats.We’re the machine that makes it allwork,” Levy said. “Our clinics arefull every month.”Operation Catnip in Gainesville ismodeled on a trap-neuter-return,or TNR, program Levy startedwhile in graduate school at NorthCarolina State University. Similarclinics are scattered across thecountry and she concedes thatsurgical sterilization alone won’tend the overpopulation problem.But her outreach program has fueledher research. Levy evaluatescontraceptive vaccines for use inferal cats. A successful vaccinewould work by triggering antibodiesthat suppress fertility. One suchvaccine that had been used onwildlife did not work in feral cats,and Levy says much work stillneeds to be done. Her researchgroup currently is conductingstudies on another vaccine thatlooks more promising. Questionsthat need to be answered withcontraceptive vaccines include howsoon they work and how long theyprovide contraception.If a high percentage of feral cats ina colony can be sterilized – eithersurgically or with a vaccination –that will bring down the birth rateand eventually the population.“With feral cats, you may only getto see them once in their life,” Levysaid. “So what we’re looking for isherd immunity. And it will beimportant to have a product thatworks on both males and females.“It’s a population that is breedingcontinuously so somehow we needto increase our capacity to sterilize,”Levy said.Levy said few things spark acontroversy in a community the wayferal cats do. On one sideare cat-lovers seeking a humane wayto bring the population undercontrol. On the other side arewildlife advocates who say thatferal cats harm native animals likebirds by hunting. In between is alot of misinformation.For example, one community’sdebate on feral cats centered onthe notion that feral cats spreadrabies. Not so, says Levy. Wildanimals are the reservoir for rabies,and cats and dogs are incidentallyinfected during encounters withwildlife. To decrease the risk ofrabid cats further, Levy recommendsvaccinating all cats that aresterilized in TNR programs.Levy also does research on felineinfectious diseases and says feralcats serve as a sentinel animal anda window on what pet cats mightface. So far, for example, surveysof cats exposed to West Nile virus,a mosquito-borne disease, show thatcats are commonly exposed to thevirus but seem to survive theinfection. Levy’s research alsoshowed that, contrary to a commonmisconception, feral cats are not morelikely than pet cats allowed outdoorsto be infected with feline leukemia,feline immunodeficiency virus andother common feline diseases.“Feral cats are a very poorlyunderstood population in termsof infectious diseases, systemicinfections, diseases that are athreat to other species or humans,”Levy said.The alternative to trap-neuterreturnprograms is euthanasia, apolicy that does not work, Levysays. Even if a community wanted toremove all its feral cats, whowould do it and who would payfor it, Levy asks. And studiesshow that as cats are removedfrom an environment, other catstake their place.Levy’s work on overpopulationof unwanted pets is so wellknownthat she was asked tojoin a team that went to theGalapagos for a wide-scale catand dog sterilization program in2004. In the past, the Galapagoshad used euthanasia for animalcontrol. In 2004, the islandersand the Park Service agreed totry neutering the animals.“In a lot of ways it was theperfect place to do this, with noanimals coming in fromsomewhere else to fill the void,”Levy said.After 15 years of working on the feralcat issue, Levy said she is beginningto notice more communities talkingabout the issue.“It’s a hugely controversial topic,but people are finally starting to dosomething about it,” Levy said.“Veterinary schools are an importantconnection for training veterinarystudents how to work safely withferal cats and how to contribute topet overpopulation solutions.“It is society’s problem; OperationCatnip is one solution,” Levy said.“Trap-neuter-return is an example ofthe really wonderful altruisticinstincts of human beings.“It’s the human-animal bond,” Levysaid. “We protect that.”Photo above: Dr. Julie Levy’s outreach program,Operation Catnip, has fueled her research.12Research • University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine••Infectious Diseases • www.vetmed.ufl.edu13
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