As the threat of biological weapons increases, there is a growing need to understand and prevent any outbreaks to the human population. Ohio State's response to this is a new veterinary public health specialization.
Starting next fall, the Department of Veterinary Preventive Medicine in the College of Veterinary Medicine and the School of Public Health will unleash its collaborative effort for students that are interested in the veterinary or public health field.
"Everything is ready to go, all the courses are ready to go," said Armando Hoet, doctor of veterinary medicine and clinical assistant professor in the Department of Veterinary Preventive Medicine.
Thomas Wittum, associate professor in the Department of Veterinary Preventative Medicine, said this new specialization will be one of six students can choose from for the master of public health. Others include biometrics and health services management and policy.
The specialization will focus on zoonotic diseases, which are diseases that can be transmitted from the animal population to the human population, Hoet said.
Hoet said many diseases are zoonotic and most biological weapons include zoonotic diseases.
"The specialization will provide information about how to respond to zoonotic outbreaks and outbreaks of food borne disease," he said. "This specialization focuses on how we can prevent and control them."
Some examples of zoonotic and food borne diseases include the West Nile virus, salmonella, anthrax, mad cow disease, E. Coli, malaria and avian influenza, Hoet said.
Hoet said there are many doctors that work with animals that know how to see symptoms in animals and treat them, and doctors that work with humans that would know how to treat a person bitten by animals and how to cure them, but there is a need for doctors knowledgeable in the interaction between animals and humans.
"Everything you see (in the media) is related to outbreaks in zoonotic diseases, and there is a need for people in the United States to be ready in this area and take charge of that responsibility," Hoet said. "The need (for this education) has always been there. We need to be ready to respond and minimize the human losses and animal losses."
2008 Woodie Awards