m a g a z i n eM A G A Z I N E O F T H E C U M M I N G S S C H O O L O F V E T E R I N A R Y M E D I C I N E SUMMER 2007VOL. 8 NO. 4

VETERINARY MEDICINE

m a g a z i n eM A G A Z I N E O F T H E C U M M I N G S S C H O O L O F V E T E R I N A R Y M E D I C I N E VOL. 9 NO. 3

VETERINARY MEDICINE

P L U S : C E N T R I F U G A L F O R C E S T H E W O R M S ’ T U R N

Forging HealthyPartnershipsVeterinarians work to keeplivestock farmers farming

SPRING 2008

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caption_fr

IFC_HED

PHOTO: MELODY KO

C A S E S O LV E D

WHAT WAS THAT ODD-SHAPED OBJECT IN THE ABDOMEN OF SUZANNE LEBLANC’S

horse, Aly Cat? The diagnostic ultrasound performed by Dr. GustavoAbuja, a veterinary intern at the Hospital for Large Animals, revealedtwo mysterious parallel rods with a space between them. Aly Cat hadbeen ill for several weeks and was experiencing unusual swelling on hisabdomen, symptoms which stymied his local veterinarian.

The ultrasound image brought even more questions, since no onecould fi gure out just what the object was. Particularly puzzling was thefact that no obvious entry point existed. The only avenue left was ex-ploratory surgery, which was performed by Dr. Carl Kirker-Head, sectionhead of Large Animal Medicine and Surgery. He emerged with an objecthe’d never seen inside a horse: a porcupine quill. The “parallel rod”image was simply a view of the quill showing its porous interior. Howit entered Aly Cat’s abdomen in the fi rst place, through heavy winterblankets, remains a mystery.

That solved, the next question became how to treat the injury.Consulting with clinicians at the Henry and Lois Foster Hospital for

Small Animals—who are all too familiar with treating quilled pets—Kirker-Head and Abuja learned that antibiotics would most likely notbe needed. Quills, as it turns out, are coated with a fatty acid that hasantibiotic properties. This seems to be nature’s way of limiting injury toporcupines when they fall from trees (a common fate) or get quilled byanother porcupine by mistake.

Aly Cat went home after a week, but complications landed him backin the hospital for a second seven-day stay. By the last week of Febru-ary, both the horse and his owner were in high spirits. “We had our fi rstcanter today and he felt fabulous. I don’t know who was more excited,him or me, but he didn’t want to stop and neither did I!” Leblancenthuses. “We were lucky to get him to Tufts, as he probably would nothave recovered otherwise.”

If you have a “case solved”—a clinical puzzle with a happy outcome,an “aha” moment in your research, or an animal-related civic challengeyou helped meet—we invite you to share it with us. Send your ideas toveteditor@tufts.edu.

The Quill to Live

With Aly Cat’s fullrecovery, SuzanneLeblanc is all smiles.

s p r i n g 2 0 0 8 t u f ts ve t e r i na ry m e d i c i n e 1

C O N T E N T S

On the cover: Dr. Eugene White of the Tufts Ambulatory Serviceinspects a herd in Colchester, Conn.Above: White consults with dairy farmer Liz Gilman. 21

4D E P A R T M E N T S

2 Letter from the Dean 3 In Brief 19 Research22 Advancement 25 Who Knew?

S P R I N G 2 0 0 8 V O L U M E 9 , N O . 3

C O V E R S T O R Y

6 Forging HealthyPartnershipsby Leslie Limon

The work of the modernfarm animal veterinarianextends into economics,public health, and landconservation.

The secrets of schistosomes

Cape die-offs probed

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 8

VETERINARY MEDICINE

v o l . 9 , n o . 3 s p r i n g 2 0 0 8

executive editor

Deborah T. Kochevar, DeanCummings School of Veterinary Medicine

editorial advisor

Shelley Rodman, DirectorVeterinary Development and Alumni Relations

editor

Gail Bambrick, Director

contributing editor and writer

Leslie Limon

art director

Margot Grisar

graphic designer

Kelly McMurrayHeather Clark2communiqué

photographers

Andrew CunninghamJodi HiltonMelody Ko

Tufts Veterinary Medicine is funded in part bythe Edward Hyde Cox Fund for Publications. Itis published three times a year and distributed

to key university personnel, veterinary students,veterinarians, alumni, friends, and others.

We welcome your letters, story ideas, and sug-gestions. Send correspondence to: Editor, TuftsVeterinary Medicine, Tufts University, Cum-mings School of Veterinary Medicine, 200

Westboro Road, North Grafton, MA 01536 oremail veteditor@tufts.edu.

The Cummings School’s website iswww.tufts.edu/vet.

The telephone number is 508-839-5302.

F R O M T H E D E A N

In this issue you will learn how our

school contributes to the health of family

farms in New England, including how our

faculty and staff encourage students to con-

sider food animal medicine as part of their

veterinary careers. Sadly, one of our most

passionate faculty spokespersons on this

topic, Dr. Howard Levine, passed away this

February. The faculty, staff and students of

Cummings School revered Dr. Levine for

many reasons including his commitment to

advancing food supply veterinary medicine.

Please take a moment to read about and cel-

ebrate Dr. Levine’s life and contributions to

the profession and our school.

Veterinarians not only champion the ru-

ral, agricultural lifestyle, they also educate

others on how a strong food safety system

protects consumers and promotes food ani-

mal welfare. Articles in this issue highlight

veterinarians’ roles in public health both

here and abroad. In response to the shortage

of veterinary public health and food animal

practitioners, Cummings School has joined

with the Association of American Veteri-

nary Medical Colleges to promote federal

legislation to expand the veterinary public

health workforce.

We are proud that the efforts of our

faculty and students address public health

through both policy and research. As part

of the Food and Waterborne Diseases Inte-

grated Research Network, scientists in the

Division of Infectious Diseases at Cum-

mings School are highlighted in this issue

for their work to detect, understand, pre-

vent, and treat diseases that threaten global

public health.

I hope this issue of Tufts Veterinary

Medicine expands your vision of the mis-

sion of veterinary medicine and of Cum-

mings School. We welcome your comments

and invite you to visit the school to see in

person the good work of our faculty, staff

and students.

d r . d e b o r a h t u r n e r ko c h eva rd e a n

To Our Healthwhen the commonwealth of massachusetts deeded 585 acres of the

old state hospital to Tufts University in the seventies to create a veterinary

school, there were more than forty working farms in the Grafton area. Now

there are fewer than ten, including the one located on our campus. Residential

developments have overtaken much of the agricultural land in Grafton and

across the state. Despite this change, there is good evidence that residents of

Massachusetts and New England value sustainable agriculture and seek out

locally grown and raised commodities.

s p r i n g 2 0 0 8 t u f ts ve t e r i na ry m e d i c i n e 3PHOTO: ANDY CUNNINGHAM

I N B R I E F

In Memoriam

dr. howard levine, a member of the cummings school faculty for

23 years, passed away February 14 after a courageous battle against mul-tiple myeloma. Levine was the head of the Tufts Ambulatory Service andthe associate chair of the Department of Environmental and PopulationHealth. He was a man “of great passion for life and for veterinary medi-cine,” recalls Dr. George Saperstein, a colleague and friend. “Throughouthis illness Howard wanted to keep working at all costs.”

Levine came to the veterinary school in 1985 from private veterinarypractice in Vermont. He spent his Tufts career in the Ambulatory Service,serving clients and teaching students every day. A board-certifi ed the-riogenologist, he taught courses in the discipline (the study and practiceof animal reproduction) as well as Clinical Skills and Animal Behavior.The educational CDs and videos he created for dairy science and vet-erinary medicine students include an interactive CD on dairy nutritioncompleted in cooperation with two University of Connecticut facultymembers.

Levine’s nearly encyclopedic knowledgeof food and fi ber animals, as well as equineambulatory medicine, surgery, and therio-genology, made him an outstanding teacherand role model. He also cared deeply aboutclients and the sustainability of their farms.“On numerous occasions I saw him makegreat personal sacrifi ces in order to help hisfriends—our clients—in their time of need,”recalls Saperstein, who also praises him as“one of those rare individuals who was bothbook-smart and in possession of great com-mon sense. He saw the big picture at Tuftsand beyond in veterinary education.”

Throughout his career at Cummings,“Howard kept dozens of farmers farming,encouraged scores of students to respectand commit to veterinary service, and pre-vented disease in tens of thousands of ani-mals. Honest, trustworthy, and a humani-tarian in its truest sense, he embodied allthat is good about the profession of veteri-nary medicine,” writes Saperstein.

Dean Deborah T. Kochevar, DVM, PhD,notes that Levine’s hallmarks were his “in-telligence, caring nature and commitmentto food supply veterinary medicine.” Recall-ing a talk she heard him give fi rst-year stu-dents on life as a farm animal veterinarian,she comments, “His description of the joysof working with farmers and their animalsand of knowing farm families over genera-tions made it clear that he loved his workand the profession of veterinary medicine.It is his legacy to have passed that love on togenerations of veterinary students who willcontinue the work he so valued.”

An accomplished musician, Levine be-longed to the Rambling Pitchforks Contra-dance Band, well known throughout the re-gion. Students fondly remember their musicat Heifer Hoedown, the school’s annual barncelebration. A devoted family man, he leavesbehind his wife Jo; daughter Corinna, soon tograduate from medical school; and Zeb, highschool class valedictorian and currently in hisfi rst year at Williams College. His family hasrequested that gifts in his memory be madeto Tufts University, Cummings VeterinarySchool, 200 Westboro Road, North Grafton,MA 01536, Attn. Development Office.Donations will support the Tufts Ambula-tory Service.

The Legacy of Howard Levine, DVM

Dr. Howard Levine

I N B R I E F

New Life for Livestock Conservationafter six successful years of operation, the embryo conservation project at

the SVF Foundation, Newport, RI, (svffoundation.org) has received funding for anotherthree years. SVF Foundation works in collaboration with the Cummings School to helpprotect the world’s food supply by preserving rare and endangered breeds of livestock.Its aim is to collect, freeze, and store embryo germplasm of endangered breeds, focus-

ing on rare breeds of food- and fi ber-producing livestock. Cummings facultyinvolved in this effort include Dr. KevinLindell and Dr. David J. Matsas.

“This is the only privately fundedprogram of its kind in this country withthe focused mission of cryopreservinggermplasm,” states Matsas. “The Foun-dation has been committed to seeingthis through from day one, and Tufts isanswering the need to help them out.”

Livestock breeds deemed commer-cially valuable are selectively bred for optimal production, narrowing the genetic pool.Since rare breeds of little commercial value have had little or no selective breeding, theystill carry potentially valuable traits such as disease or parasite resistance, heat toler-ance, and mothering qualities. Rare breeds were also developed to thrive in particularenvironments, almost always on pasture, so most are better suited for life on the rangethan many modern breeds.

Reintroducing these traits would be necessary if a current popular breed were jeop-ardized due to infectious disease or overdemand. With a goal of storing 200 embryosand 3,000 straws of semen per breed, SVF Foundation hopes to be able to reawaken abreed with its full genetic diversity within one generation.

4 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 8 PHOTOS: (TOP) COURTESY DR. DAVID J. MATSAS; (BOTTOM RIGHT) CORBIS

WHEN A MASS MORTALITY OF EIDER DUCKS OCCURRED ON CAPE COD LAST

October, seabird ecologist Julie Ellis, PhD, went to investigate. Ellis isthe director of Seabird Ecological Assessment Network (SEANET),which is based at the Cummings School. On the shoreline she andSEANET colleagues found hundreds of ducks lying dead. The Octoberoccurrence was the fi fth since just 2006, bringing total deaths toabout 2,000.

Why these northern sea ducks are dying in such numbers remainsa mystery that researchers are determined to solve. Those on the caseinclude Ellis and Cummings School students, as well as scientists fromWoods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Cape Cod National Seashore,Cape Cod Stranding Network, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and theNew England Aquarium.

Multiple causes—such as parasites, viruses, toxic algae, bacteria,and pollution—may be at the root of these deaths. In the spring of2006, Cummings students studied samples and found acanthocepha-lans, intestinal parasites that are known to cause eider deaths inother areas. But the parasites are always present in victims of othermortalities. “We still know no cause of death for this event,” says Ellis,“and it’s driving us crazy!” Researchers have explored many hypoth-

eses through countless avenues—including enlisting the help of duckhunters—yet a defi nitive answer continues to elude them.

Ellis recently issued yet another call for volunteers to help SEANETby walking the beaches to provide a more accurate count of deadeiders.

RABIES INTERNSHIPAWARDEDTHE EXECUTIVE BOARD OF THE

Student Chapter of the American Veteri-

nary Medical Association (SCAVMA) has

named James Desmond, V08, the winner

of the World Rabies Day 2007 Field In-

ternship Essay Competition sponsored by

the Alliance for Rabies Control (ARC). In

his essay, Desmond detailed the increas-

ingly important role of veterinarians in

public health and the benefi ts of raising

public awareness of rabies as a zoonotic

disease. Citing a volunteer experience at

an orangutan rehabilitation center, where

he witnessed the impact of habitat loss

and illegal trade on orangutans’ vulner-

ability to human disease, he writes,

“The realization that infectious disease

could have such catastrophic impact

on entire populations of animals had a

profound effect on me and played a major

part in my decision to attend veterinary

school.” Desmond’s prize: an internship

with an ARC research site in and around

Serengeti National Park in Tanzania.

SEANET INVESTIGATES DUCK DEATHS

s p r i n g 2 0 0 8 t u f ts ve t e r i na ry m e d i c i n e 5PHOTO: COURTESY MARK POKRAS

CUMMINGS STUDENTS VISIT THE CDC

LAST JANUARY, ELEVEN CUMMINGS STUDENTS WERE AMONG THOSE WHO TRAVELED TO

Atlanta, Ga., to participate in the second annual Veterinary Student Day sponsored by the Cen-

ters for Disease Control (CDC). The event attracted more than 300 veterinary students and 60

faculty members interested in public health. Participants interacted with scientists and staff

from several organizations and government agencies to learn about opportunities in the fi eld of

public health. They also participated in a tabletop exercise that simulated a disease outbreak.

The faculty advisor for the trip was Joann Lindenmayer, V85, associate professor in the Depart-

ment of Environmental and Population Health.

FACULTY NEWSMark Pokras, V84, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, IS A SPEAKER AND PANELIST AT THE PEREGRINEFund’s international conference in Boise, Idaho, this May. The object of the conference is toexplore the effects on wildlife and humans of lead contamination from spent ammunition that

has been ingested. (Pokras is currently writinga book on the issue in which he brings anhistorical perspective geared to educating thegeneral public.) The conference brings wildlife,public health, and environmental professionalstogether to identify ways to raise public aware-ness of contamination risks and encourageresearch on public health concerns. “In manyareas of environmental health, there’s little orno cross-communication among professionalswho work on animals and those who work onthe environment or on humans,” states Pokras.“This is the fi rst meeting anywhere to bring ustogether.”

Mary Labato, V83, R86, has been promoted to the rank of clinical professor. She has servedon the clinical faculty since 1987, and has served as head of the Section of Small AnimalMedicine since 2003. A productive clinical researcher in the areas of nephrology and hyper-tension, Labato has helped bring technologies such as hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, ure-thral pressure profi les, cystoscopy, and laser lithotripsy to the Henry and Lois Foster Hospitalfor Small Animals. In the exit survey that was taken of the class of 2007, she was most oftencited as the faculty member who best characterized students’ ideal of a truly excellent instruc-tor, and as one who contributed signifi cantly to their intellectual and personal development.

Dr. Jay Merriam, clinical instructor of Clinical Sciences at Cummings, has been inductedinto the International Equine Veterinarians Hall of Fame. Chosen for his “accomplishments,achievements, and contributions in advancing equine foot care,” he is noted for his pioneer-ing work in advancing knowledge about the role of the foot in equine lameness. He operatesMassachusetts Equine Clinic in Uxbridge, Mass., specializing in sports medicine and equinepodiatry. The clinic shares with the Cummings School a post-DVM internship program that ishighly sought after by graduates for its combination of academic and private-practice training.His nonprofi t organization, Project Samana, takes him to the Dominican Republic twice a yearwith a team of veterinarians, technicians, students, and farriers to care for mules, donkeys,and horses, which are vital to many inhabitants’ livelihoods. The fi rst person to chair the horsewelfare committee of the American Association of Equine Practitioners, Merriam is a board-certifi ed equine surgeon.

Faculty BookshelfATLAS OF SMALL ANIMALULTRASONOGRAPHYedited by Dominique Penninck, DVM, DVSc, and

Marc-André d’Anjou, DVM.

ISBN:978-0-8138-2800-8.

Hardcover, 520 pages. March 2008,

Wiley-Blackwell.

Veterinary diag-nostic ultrasoundis rapidly gainingpopularity as a clin-ical modality. Thegrowing numberof veterinary prac-titioners who useultrasound imagingas a diagnostic tool in the treatment of smallanimals will fi nd this an invaluable referencetool to guide them through the most com-mon procedures. In addition to serving asco-editor, Penninck wrote the chapters onthe gastrointestinal tract and the pancreas.

NEUROBIOLOGY OF THE PARENTAL BRAINby Robert S. Bridges, PhD.

ISBN-13: 978-0-12-374285-8.

Hardcover, 500 pages. July 2008,

Elsevier Science & Technology Books.

This book, geared to-ward basic scientists,clinical researchers,psychiatrists, andpracticing physicians,is a compilation ofproceedings from theParental Brain Con-ference that Bridgeshosted in Boston inJune 2007. It presents the cutting-edge fi nd-ings of internationally recognized research-ers on the roles of the brain, physiologicalstate, genes, and environment on parentalbehavior in disorders such as postpartumdepression, anxiety, and inadequate bond-ing to infants. Bridges heads the Section ofReproductive Biology at Cummings and di-rects the Masters Program in ComparativeBiomedical Sciences.

Edited by

Robert S. Bridges

Neurobiologyof the

Parental Brain

6 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 8 PHOTOGRAPH: MELODY KO

s p r i n g 2 0 0 8 t u f ts ve t e r i na ry m e d i c i n e 7

ForgingHealthy Partnerships

Since the TAS was established in rentedquarters in 1980, the staff has quadrupledto meet rising need in the region. Today itsseven veterinarians, with fourth-year stu-dents in tow, deal mostly with dairy herdsranging in size from a dozen to severalhundred, but also beef cattle, sheep, goats,and swine. In January 2008, a brand-new6,000-square-foot facility opened to accom-modate this growth. Located on a 25-acreparcel of land in Woodstock, Conn., thesite uses fi ve acres with the rest preservedas open space. The new facility includes alarge conference room named after the lateDr. Howard Levine, TAS director until hisdeath in February of this year (a tribute toDr. Levine appears on page 3).

One of the clinic’s most important fea-tures is a haul-in area for animal examina-tion and outpatient surgery, which didn’texist in the former space. “There aren’t a lotof large animal practices around,” states Dr.Eugene White, TAS director, “so it’s hard tosay no if somebody calls with a cow that’s

sick or calving. You constantly get pressureto go further and further. Before you know it,you have a hard time serving clients that areclose by, especially for emergencies. That’sone reason we built that haul-in.” Most clini-cal work, however, takes place during farmvisits, which entail travel of up to an hourand twenty minutes north to the Massachu-setts-New Hampshire border, south to theConnecticut coast and Rhode Island, andeverywhere in between.

The geographical range of the TAS touch-es on a critical issue that has gained nationalattention: the shortage of food animal vet-erinarians. In June 2006 the American Vet-erinary Medical Association (AVMA) pro-jected an increase in demand of about 12 to13 percent between now and 2016, coupledwith a shortfall of four to fi ve percent peryear. Dr. Lyle Vogel of the AVMA called theprojected shortage “catastrophic for the in-dustry and for society.” As a teaching facility,the TAS fulfi lls a key role in exposing Cum-mings students to food animal medicine. The

“adopt-a-veterinary student” program sendsfi rst-year students—most of whom have hadlittle or no agricultural background—to lo-cal farms for a brief stay to live and workthere. The fourth-year ambulatory rotationis a perennial favorite for its unique hands-on experience and the quality of the veter-inarian-farmer relationship that studentscome to appreciate.

Ambulatory Service faculty have alwayshad much to do with generating enthusiasmamong Cummings students. White says, “Ilove my job, and if I can communicate thatto the students, hopefully that will attractpeople to the fi eld.” While it can be intimi-dating to a new graduate to contemplatemaking recommendations that can cost afarmer tens of thousands of dollars—withthe risk that it won’t work—there are plentyof opportunities for them to gain their bear-ings by spending a few years in an establishedpractice tending to one sick farm animal ata time. Jen Hall, V08, who left a fi ve-year ca-reer in the Coast Guard to enter veterinaryschool, didn’t enter with the idea of doinglarge animal medicine. But she learned thather lack of background and the fact that shewasn’t “a burly six-footer” made no differ-ence. With encouragement and continuedexposure, she has gained the confi dence toenter mixed-practice medicine. “I’m so gladI didn’t have to pick a concentration,” shesays. “If I had, I would have gone into smallanimal medicine.” TVM

this is how dr. george saperstein, amelia peabody professor and chair

of the Department of Environmental and Population Health, characterizes the

role of the modern farm animal veterinarian. In this issue—in honor of the May

2, 2008, Grand Opening of the new facility for the Tufts Ambulatory Service

(TAS)—we take a closer look at that role. In particular, the articles in this section

focus on the contributions of farm animal veterinarians with respect to education,

economics, public health, and land conservation.

“The old-fashioned way of looking at veterinarians was as the plumber youcall when the pipes break. Now our clients also see us as trusted advisors:partners in their operations.”

B Y L E S L I E L I M O N

8 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 8

“back in 2006, because of fuel inflation,

everything that comes in the door related totrucking went up,” says Tom Murdock, ownerof a Pomfret, Conn., dairy farm with a herdof about 80. Murdock, whose Yankee speechmatches his hardscrabble, bushy-beardedappearance, took over the farm from his un-cle, who started it in 1949. “Yup. Vehicle taxes,medicine for cows, tractors, tires, everything,”chimes in his son Tim. His burly size is barelya match for the irritated 1,200-pound Hol-stein, her rear leg in a sling so that DaveHernke, V08, can work on her foot.

Rising costs—the Murdocks pay $2,400for a load of grain mix that not long agocost $1,900—hit hard in an industry of fl atprices. “These guys are getting roughly whatthey were getting back in the 80s,” says Dr.Eugene White, director of Tufts AmbulatoryServices (TAS) in Woodstock, Conn. “Theyneed to make a living on the same $14 for100 pounds of milk that they made in 1988.”Keeping unit production costs below that

requires greater efficiency, and veterinar-ians are an important ally. Their fi rst job ismaintaining herd health through vaccina-tion and nutrition, performing services suchas de-horning or hoof trimming, assistingwith breeding and pregnancy, and treatingillness and injury. As consulting partners tofarmers with herds that range from a hand-ful to thousands, they also monitor farmproductivity and health.

Alan Clarisse, V01, who works mostlywith dairy herds in Vermont, deals with theproblems that affect dairy cows’ jobs: eat-ing, breeding, and producing milk. “Lots ofsore feet means cows are not getting to thefeed bunk. Is the problem the ration? Hous-ing? Foot trimming?” Once he identifi es thefactors, he works with the farmer to correctthe problem, which is where medicine andeconomics can intersect. Should the farm-er install rubber mats in his free stalls—ahuge investment—or is there a reasonablealternative?

Partnerships with farmers veer into economics

Sustained Efforts

That Pay Off

PHOTOGRAPHS: MELODY KO

Ultrasound is one way to checkthe fertility of a dairy cow.

s p r i n g 2 0 0 8 t u f ts ve t e r i na ry m e d i c i n e 9

10 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 8

PRODUCTION MEDICINEDr. David Matsas, TAS clinician and assis-tant professor in the Division of Environ-mental and Population Health (DEPH),describes the intersection of health andprofi tability as “production medicine.” Vet-erinarians spend as much time reviewing

data or discussing cases as they do touch-ing cows. The Dairy Herd ImprovementAssociation gathers data farm by farm;in monthly visits, a representative checksa milk sample from each cow for fat andprotein content and somatic cell count (thelower it is, the higher the milk quality).Each cow’s milk production and breedingdata is also recorded. TAS clinicians down-load the data from a central database andreview it before farm visits. An overall risein somatic cell counts (suggesting mastitis,a common bacterial infection of the ud-der) would lead them to zero in on the seg-ment of the herd experiencing the rise andinvestigate possible contributing factors:contaminated bedding, a malfunctioningmilking system, or inappropriate milkingtechnique.

The ration formula is often at the rootof problems. Clarisse once spotted a trou-bling number of lame cows in a herd of400 despite excellent footing on rubbermats. He suspected a nutrition problemand discussed it with the farm’s nutritionconsultants—who were not convinced—but Clarisse’s testing showed he was right.The farm hired a new nutritionist, and to-gether they changed the ration. “In aboutsix months we saw a signifi cant reductionin lameness,” he says. Plus, not only did the

grain bill drop, but milk production roseseven to eight pounds per cow.

Education is an essential element offood animal veterinarians’ work. Farm-ers learn to perform basic veterinary tasksthemselves because “it would put them outof business in a month if we charged them

to go out to give every shot,” Matsas states.Given the geographic spread that veterinar-ians cover, it makes sense to train farmersto give an injection, de-horn a calf, inserta nasogastric tube, or trim a hoof, insteadof traveling an hour or more each way todo it themselves. And when a cow is sick, afarmer often calls with an accurate descrip-tion of disease signs and even a diagnosis.White appreciates that level of partnership,stating, “The more we train farmers to beself-suffi cient, the more effi cient they are.And if that keeps them in business….”

SHARING BEST PRACTICESTo that end, TAS also encourages farmer-to-farmer interaction. When one farmerbuys new equipment that works well, vet-erinarians can help spread the word. Whiteand Assistant DEPH Professor Dr. KevinLindell also hold monthly producer meet-ings for farmers to share best practices witheach other and set the agenda of issues toaddress. The herd project, in which teamsof about eight Cummings fourth-yearstudents consult with an assigned farm toaddress a specifi c issue or problem, addsanother source of ideas to boost farm ef-fi ciency and productivity. Students learn,for example, that if a farm’s practices differfrom the textbook approach but are effec-

“The more we train farmers to be self-suffi cient,the more effi cient they are. And if that keepsthem in business….”

— d r . dave m ats a s , t u f ts a m bu l ato ry s e rv i ce s

“Production medicine” is as much about handling data as it is about handling animals. Here, Dr. EugeneWhite of the TAS and Sarah McCormack, V09 (bottom center), check the herd of dairy farmer Liz Gilman(bottom right).

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12 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 8

tive, there’s no point in recommending a$100,000 investment to change them. Oneteam recently helped one of Connecticut’slargest dairies fi nd out how much it couldexpand its herd, given current capacity. Theteam did a cost-benefi t analysis, projectedgrowth numbers, and recommended waysto improve effi ciency. Team member KellyHackett, V08, noted that working with afarm owner and herd manager of differingopinions was good practice in maintain ingobjectivity.

Using that objectivity, veterinarians canadvise farmers on how far to go to boostprofi ts without harm. Increasing rationsusually leads to higher milk production, sofarmers may be tempted to feed cows more.But too much grain leads to gastrointestinalproblems and lameness. “We’re in a goodposition to keep an eye on animal welfare,”White says. “When you see your cows every

day, you might start to think that having10% of your herd lame is normal. We cancome in and say, wait a minute, this isn’tright. Let’s take a look.”

Where do these efforts lead? For a farmlike Murdock’s, success likely depends onits ability to “fi ll a niche market such as saferaw milk, grass-fed beef, or designer cheese,”states Matsas. Diversifying, he adds, helpssmall farms succeed by offering premiumproducts that entice consumers into sup-porting the local economy. Since the suc-cess of dairy farming is all about the nextgeneration, TAS’s own success can be seenin a healthy local farm that the clinic hasworked with since the 1980s. For a while itlooked like it would become a golf course.“But now the daughter is home from theUniversity of Wisconsin and all fi red up,”White notes, “so it looks like that herd’s go-ing to go on.” TVM

A BOOST FOR AZULUNA

Renewed USDA funding and the support of a major retail food chain recently gave a liftto Azuluna™, the brainchild enterprise of Dr. George Saperstein (see “Spotlight on Azu-luna,” winter 2006) and the brand name for sustainable agriculture based at the Cum-mings School. Azuluna veal from naturally milk-fed, free-roaming calves is now availablein many stores of Whole Foods Market™, the leading worldwide retailer of natural andorganic foods. Azuluna’s model of farm diversifi cation and sustainability targets smallcottage livestock operations in New England that have mostly transitioned out of dairyfarming. “Many of my producers are from Vermont, with a lot of pasture and all kindsof beef, dairy breeds, and cross-breeds,” Saperstein explains. Raising Azuluna veal isan easy task for them, he says, “because you just have to breed the cows and let themraise their calves.”

Overcoming initial resistance to retail distribution, he forged a connection withWhole Foods Market through a series of serendipitous meetings and agreed to a testmarketing program. That meant conforming to the supermarket chain’s animal welfarestandards and arranging distribution. After the veal was on the shelves, Sapersteinreceived an E-mail from a Whole Foods Market vice-president who had tried it and lovedit, smoothing the way for continued supply. Azuluna eggs, distributed in various storesdirectly matched to local producers, also have a loyal following. One Rhode Islandgrocery store regularly sells out in one day the eggs delivered by a local farmer. Foodeditors, chefs, and consumers seeking locally produced foods give these premium NewEngland farm products high praise for taste and quality

12 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 8

White is one of seven TAS veterinarians who—together with Cummings School residents and students—work with farmers to boost effi ciency and production in herds of all sizes. Pictured here: Cato CornerFarm in Colchester, Conn. Its herd of about 30 dairy cows supports dairy farmer Liz Gilman’s cheese-making operation.

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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 8

a high-profile beef recall, like that

following the revelation of harmful cattlehandling practices at Hallmark Meat Packingin California, brings the issue of food safetyto the forefront. Yet, notes Dr. Dave Matsasof the Tufts Ambulatory Service (TAS), theU.S. has arguably the safest food supply in theworld. Though the regulatory process typi-cally starts in the slaughterhouse, oversightbegins on farms under the watchful eyes offood animal veterinarians. The benefi t ofinvolvement at this stage, states Dr. GeorgeSaperstein, Amelia Peabody Professor andchair of the Department of Environmentaland Population Health, is that veterinariansact impartially. “We’re not advocates of oneparty or the other; we see ourselves as pub-lic health proponents, and communicate thefacts with appropriate risks.” Veterinariansin private practice carry no regulatory clout,yet their authority as a trusted advisor to thefarmer is signifi cant.

Paul Biagiotti, V88, who works on bothdairy and beef herds in Idaho, says his fi rstpublic health responsibility is to protectdairy workers from diseases that are zoonot-ic (transmissible from animals to humans).“The two diseases we commonly deal withare salmonellosis and cryptospiridiosis,” henotes. “Some dairy workers have minimalunderstanding of the germ theory of disease,so we train them in personal hygiene to pro-tect themselves.”

Biagiotti, like nearly all food animal vet-erinarians in private practice, is accreditedby the US Department of Agriculture (USDA)Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service(APHIS). Accreditation, which involvestraining in the recognition of zoonotic andother diseases, must be renewed every fewyears. This includes keeping an eye out forBovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE,or “mad cow disease”), which affects theanimal’s central nervous system. While this

ILLUSTRATION: MARLENA ZUBER

The Front Line

of Public HealthMonitoring the food supply at the source

s p r i n g 2 0 0 8 t u f ts ve t e r i na ry m e d i c i n e 15

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 8

country has yet to see a large-scale outbreakof BSE, surveillance gains in importance asmore dairy farms become CAFOs, or “con-centrated animal feeding operations.” Bia-giotti works with herds that range in size

from 500 to 10,000 cows; other farms holdas many as 20,000 cows. “That kind of struc-ture could lead to potentially disastrous dis-ease spreads, since you have more animalsin very close contact,” he says. His role is toreport unusual occurrences up the chain tothe state veterinarian or the USDA regionalveterinarian.

Biagiotti also conducts tuberculosis test-ing of cattle slated for interstate shipment.“TB at one time was eradicated in the US,but keeps popping up. Just recently thedisease was diagnosed in a dairy herd inFresno, California,” he comments. Livingin Idaho, he must also vaccinate his Idaho

herds against brucellosis, a zoonotic diseasethat causes abortions in cattle and undulantfever in humans. The disease has now beeneradicated within US farm herds, but Idahocattle must be vaccinated since reservoirs of

the disease exist in bison and elk in Yellow-stone National Park.

STRONG PREVENTION,PRUDENT CAREThe veterinarian’s main line of defense ispreventive medicine through vaccinationsand wellness promotion through goodhealth programs. New animals are isolatedand vaccinated before being allowed tomingle with the rest of the herd. Proceduresare set in place to handle outbreaks, some ofwhich may involve antibiotic use. “We stressprudent use of antibiotics to minimize thecreation of multi-drug-resistant bacteria,”

states Biagiotti. “We write up standard op-erating procedures for big dairies, and trainand educate the people who work with thecows.”

Dr. Patricia Scharko, who served as anintern and then an instructor at TAS in the1980s, educates producers with respect tomeat and milk withdrawal times (minimumintervals between drug treatment and prod-uct sale) when antibiotics or any other drugsare needed. Scharko, now ruminant exten-sion veterinarian at the University of Ken-tucky and past President of the AmericanAssociation of Bovine Practitioners, notesthat if a farmer buys an over-the-countergeneric drug without advice from a vet-erinarian, he may not notice the prescribedwithdrawal time printed on the label, or awithdrawal time may not be stated for thedrug. This presents a two-sided problem: ifa beef animal goes to market too soon aftertherapy, before the drug has cleared the sys-tem, and gets “caught,” the farmer is in seri-ous trouble. If it doesn’t, the beef enters thefood supply. Herds tagged for “no antibiotic/no growth hormone” programs present theirown challenges, Scharko adds. Since use ofany antibiotic will eliminate that cow fromthe program, a producer may delay treat-ment, placing the animal’s health at risk.

Farm practices can occasionally be trou-bling in terms of animal welfare as well as pub-lic health, and farm animal veterinarians areusually the fi rst to spot those. Matsas stresses,“We conscientiously encourage dairymen tosalvage cows way before they get to the stage ofbeing ‘downer’ cows.” The goal is to promotenot only good health but humane treatmentof sick cows. Dr. Eugene White, director of theTufts Ambulatory Service and member of theanimal welfare committee for the AmericanAssociation of Bovine Practitioners, sees afuture of third party auditing for animal wel-fare, a policy he favors.

In monitoring for bacterial infectionsor zoonotic diseases, “it really is up to lo-cal practitioners to let proper authoritiesknow that diseases are being seen,” assertsScharko. As far as farm practices are con-cerned, including drug administrationprotocols, veterinarians are in the bestposition to be vigilant, to help establishstandard operating procedures, and to pro-vide education and training to farmers andfarm workers. TVM

EXTENDING THE REACH

The Cummings School’s efforts to protect the public health through livestock monitoringextend beyond U.S. borders. The school’s Participatory Disease Surveillance and Response(PDS/R) project in Indonesia with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)has established a nationwide community-based network of more than 600 teams that monitorand respond to outbreaks of highly pathogenic Avian Infl uenza (HPAI). This disease, which ex-ists primarily in poultry, is considered endemic in nearly all provinces in Indonesia.

The FAO/Tufts team supports the training and operation of surveillance and responseteams in 165 districts across the islands of Java, Bali, Sumatra, Kalimantan, and Sulawesi. Acritical element of the project is to train local animal health offi cials in the basics of participa-tory epidemiology, poultry health, community mobilization, and disease control. The goal is toreduce infections to poultry, thereby reducing the public health risk.

Eric J. Brum, A99, V04, the chief technical advisor of the PDS/R project, is one of sevenTufts graduates recently honored for distinguished service by the Tufts University Alumni As-sociation. Brum, a member of the FAO/Tufts team since 2006, returned from Indonesia toaccept the Young Alumni Achievement Award at the association’s annual awards dinner onApril 12.

With the support of the Rockefeller Foundation (see article on page 19), Cummings willtake the lessons learned by our faculty engaged in that project and assess the need to en-hance veterinary public health education in Indonesia. The ultimate goal is to improve animaland public health.

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 8

“It really is up to local practitioners to letproper authorities know that diseases arebeing seen.”

— d r . pat r i c i a s c h a r ko, u . o f ke n t u c k y

s p r i n g 2 0 0 8 t u f ts ve t e r i na ry m e d i c i n e 17

Stewards of theEnvironmentProductive farms are critical to land conservation

corn burning stoves, like pellet stoves

and others that burn biomass fuel instead offossil fuel, are popular today as both cost-savers and a step towards a cleaner environ-ment. Which they are—except for the ironicconsequence this trend creates for farmerslike Tom Murdock.

The ration of Murdock’s small Con nec-ticut dairy herd contains the same corn thatends up in people’s stoves. “If you start burn-ing food that the cows can eat, the price goesup because there’s now more demand,” hesays. “You need it, my cow needs it.” This en-vironmental solution creates a pinch that, inan industry where prices are fl at, contributesto the growing trend of livestock farmers tosell their land to developers. According to the

American Farmland Trust (AFT), a nationalnonprofi t organization that advocates forfarm and ranch land conservation, 1.2 mil-lion acres of farmland are converted eachyear to residential and commercial use.

That loss of farmland is tragic not onlybecause of the loss of valuable contributorsto our local food supply, but also because ofits impact on the environment. Farm andranch lands sustain wildlife populations andsupport biodiversity. They also help controlfl ooding, protect wetlands and watersheds,and maintain air and water quality. Thinkabout where storm water goes in a residen-tial or commercial area, as opposed to whereit goes in a pasture. Instead of fi ltering natu-rally through the soil, it falls on roofs and

paved roads. There it picks up debris, chem-icals, dirt, and pollutants before entering,and remaining untreated, through stormdrains into our water system or bodies ofwater and wetlands. What’s more, develop-ment of farmland not only fails to increaselocal revenues, it depresses them. In “Cost ofCommunity Services Studies: Making theCase for Conservation,” published by AFTin 2002, Julia Freedgood reports that openspaces, including farmland, cost a commu-nity 43 cents in services for every tax dollargenerated, while residential areas cost morethan one dollar. Which is one reason whyresidents in communities with higher de-velopment rates tend to see a greater hike intheir tax bills.

PHOTOGRAPH: VISIONSOFAMERICA/JOE SOHM/GETTY IMAGES

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STAVING OFF FARMLAND LOSSTo stem the loss of farmland in Connecticut,a coalition of more than 200 organizationscalled the Working Lands Alliance drove thepassage of legislation that makes at least $10million available for landowners to sell agri-cultural conservation easements to the state.Its Farmland Preservation Program works atthe state level with the federal “purchase ofdevelopment rights” (PDR) program to pur-chase an easement on all or part of a farmer’sland to restrict future non-agricultural uses.The farmer continues to hold the deed andpay local property taxes at a reduced rate. The

proceeds from the sale of developmentrights provide the farmer with capital toboost operations, buy land, reduce debtload, and pay bills.

In Kentucky, where former Tufts Ambu-latory Service intern and instructor Dr.Patricia Scharko works at the state univer-sity, the impact of land conversion wouldbe enormous: there are about 40,000 beefproducers. To keep farmers on their farms,most of which are small—the average herdsize is only 28 cows—the state offers fi nan-cial incentives. Producers receive tax benefi tsif they sign an agreement that the farm will

not be converted to non-agricultural uses fora specifi ed term. But most food animal farm-ers don’t really want to sell to developers, oranyone else, for that matter, stresses Scharko.“A lot of producers want to maintaintheir land as much as possible. It may be alivelihood, but when we ask beef produc-ers why they’re in the business, they saythey do it primarily because of the qualityof life.”

This observation flies in the face of acommon misconception: that farmers andenvironmentalists are adversaries. “Farmersare very frustrated that they’re not acknowl-edged as good stewards of the land, whichthe vast majority are,” asserts Paul Biagiotti,V88, who works on dairy and beef herds inIdaho. “They don’t get enough credit forwhat they do. They do like their cattle andtry to keep them healthy—because they un-derstand that a healthy, happy cow is moreproductive.” Food animal veterinarians arekey partners in maintaining that productiv-ity, which is as necessary as any incentive orproperty tax relief program can be to keepfarmers farming. At least until they retire. Ifthere is no one to pass the farm on to andit ceases to be a productive farm, then noeffort to preserve that farmland throughPDR programs and conservation trustswill maintain the health of that landscape.For it is the presence of livestock, whetherthe animals are allowed to graze or are con-fi ned, that brings the nutrients of manure tothe soil.

The 2008 Farm Bill, which remains stalledin Congress as of this writing, contains pro-visions to encourage transfer of farms to be-ginning farmers. The Senate and House ver-sions both provide for low-interest programsfor beginning farmers; the House versionalso includes an incentive for conservatorsto keep land productive by renting or sellingto beginning farmers and ranchers who usesustainable or organic practices. Initiativesencouraging traditional farm practices (see“A Boost for Azuluna” on page 14) contrib-ute by offering farmers new income streamsand creating reasons to put more animals onpasture. Citing the many small landholdersin New England who want to produce foodfor local consumers, Azuluna founder Dr.George Saperstein states, “It’s heartening tosee our nation’s leaders recognize the need tosupport them.” TVM

PHOTOGRAPH: STEVE DUNWELL/GETTY IMAGES

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T R A N S L AT I O N A L M E D I C I N E

Waterborne Threats

in this installment in our series on translational

medicine, we focus on research within the Division

of Infectious Diseases that benefi ts public health.

Tufts University is one of six institutions in the Foodand Waterborne Diseases Integrated Research Network(F&WD-IRN), created for detection, diagnosis, treat-ment, and prevention of food and waterborne diseasesthat threaten public health. The Division of InfectiousDiseases is an active member of this network.

The history of this division began with the arrival in1991 of Dr. Saul Tzipori, Agnes Varis University Chairin Science and Society, a specialist in chronic gastro-intestinal infections that accompany HIV/AIDS. Hisresearch program at Cummings initially concentratedon the parasites cryptosporidium and microsporidium.Over time, the focus and size of the division have grown

exponentially with an infl ux of fund-ing primarily from the National In-stitutes of Health, but also from theEnvironmental Protection Agency,the Department of Defense, and theprivate sector. In 2005, the divisionreceived a Gates Foundation GrandChallenge Award to develop vac cinesagainst childhood diseases for devel-oping countries.

Today the Division of InfectiousDiseases, which Tzipori continuesto head, includes more than a dozenfaculty researchers and a researchprogram staff of more than 50. Pro-grams have expanded to includework on diseases associated with

parasites, viruses, and bacteria. The recently renovatedTickborne Diseases and Tularemia Laboratory of Sam R.Telford, ScD, which focuses on tick-transmitted infec-tions, was recommissioned in early January. This smallBSL-3 laboratory leads the way for the New EnglandRegional Biosafety Laboratory (RBL), the CummingsSchool’s comprehensive BSL-3 laboratory, scheduled forcompletion in January 2009. The RBL’s functional open-ing is set for early summer of 2009 after an extensive com-missioning process.

In this issue we spotlight two ongoing research pro-grams in the Division of Infectious Diseases, both involv-

ing waterborne pathogens. These two disparate programshave now intersected to address a critical global publichealth problem.

WHAT ARE

“BIOSAFETY LEVELS”?

Biosafety levels are laboratory criteria that must be fol-

lowed to protect workers, the public, and the environment

from potentially hazardous microorganisms. The higher

the level, the greater the requirements for containment

devices, protective equipment and clothing, precaution-

ary procedures, and specialized laboratory design.

Biosafety Level 1 (BSL-1) containment is for work

involving biological agents that pose low risk to

healthy people and the environment. This level

of containment is typical in high schools and col-

leges teaching introductory microbiology classes.

It is generally open to all normal traffi c patterns.

Biosafety Level 2 (BSL-2) containment applies to a

laboratory working with biological agents of moderate

risk to humans and the environment, as in a labora-

tory for graduate level work in microbiology. This level

requires experienced supervision, a higher level of

worker protection, an autoclave for decontamination,

and restricted access.

Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3) containment is required

for work with high-risk infectious agents. Special-

ized protective devices, as well as safety features

such as double-door entry and directional inward

airfl ow, ensure against the spread of infection within

or outside the laboratory. Access is prohibited to

all but highly trained, experienced scientists.

Biosafety Level 4 (BSL-4) containment is required for

work with biological agents of major risk; laboratory

location and design, therefore, provide utmost isola-

tion and security. Access is prohibited to all but highly

trained, experienced scientists.

Dr. Saul Tzipori

R E S E A R C H

PHOTOGRAPH: ANDY CUNNINGHAM

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there is no shortage of sophisticated

technologies for detecting organisms in ourwater supply that cause disease. “The stum-bling block, the remaining missing link,”explains Dr. Saul Tzipori, “was developing amore effi cient method to concentrate thesepathogens from large volumes of water inorder to apply those sophisticated technolo-gies.” Filtering systems typically used to trappathogens clog after handling only aboutten liters of water. So if Cryptosporidiumparasites, for example, are present but notplentiful in the water supply, fi lters can’tprocess enough water to trap a detectableconcentration of them.

Tzipori’s recognition that Cryptosporid-ium was similar in size to human red bloodcells led to a brainstorm in the mid 1990s.Instead of using a fi lter system, why not usea centrifuge designed to separate plasma orplatelets from red blood cells? With a devicedonated by Massachusetts-based Haemon-etics®, a global manufacturer of automatedblood processing systems, he was able toprocess up to 50 liters of water to isolate ahigh concentration of the pathogen.

Tzipori found a chance to try the devicein the fi eld in Israel in 1995, where he metwith local researchers looking for a wayto detect Cryptosporidium in the JordanRiver. The group obtained the device andthe funding from Haemonetics to applythe technology—called continuous flowcentrifugation—in the waters of the Jordan.The device was operated on the riverbank(powering it with a car battery), demon-strating that the technology was not onlyfast and effective in recovering high concen-trations of the pathogen from large volumesof water, but also portable.

Several years later—with grants from theEnvironmental Protection Agency (EPA)and the Department of Defense (DoD)—the device has evolved from a refrigerator-sized machine to a lightweight unit thesize of a tabletop laser printer. Now EPA-certified, continuous flow centrifugationtechnology has become so portable and au-

tomatic that virtually anyone can be trainedto operate it.

The device’s capabilities have also ex-tended beyond Cryptosporidium, Micro-sporidium, and Giardia parasites to virusesand bacteria, which need different fi ltrationand concentration components due to theirdifferent size and physical characteristics.Because this single device can process largevolumes of water to trap multiple pathogenssimultaneously, there’s no need to use manydifferent technologies. Particularly useful isthe device’s compatibility with all detectionmodes. Coupled with a portable compactdetection kit, the system is a veritable river-side laboratory that can be used even in re-mote areas by a trained lay person, a boon indeveloping countries where public health isoften closely linked to the water supply andaccess to laboratories is, at best, limited.

As the laboratory works with Haemon-etics to commercialize the device, it is ex-plor ing new opportunities such as pharma-ceutical companies, which need to monitormanufacturing processes for bacterial con-tamination. The technology, which can also

be used for water purification, is not, infact, limited to water; juice and other bev-erage industries could also benefi t. “We’recollaborating with Texas A&M Universityto use it to concentrate spores and micro-organisms from milk,” notes Tzipori.“When their researchers compared the ef-ficiency of our technology against otherconcentration techniques, they were veryhappy with it.” Even solids—like meat—can be bro ken down for centrifugation andpathogen detection.

“We’re happy to see this device comethis far, going above and beyond what weexpected at the outset,” says Tzipori. In spiteof the signifi cant investments made by theEPA and the DoD, however, getting to thenext stages won’t be easy. With Phase I ofthe defense grant complete, he continues towait for go-ahead on Phase II prototypingand training. As for monitoring the publicwater supply, Tzipori states, “We could puta perfectly functioning device on the table,but if somebody doesn’t legislate that waterutilities should look for these pathogens,they’re not going to use it.”

New Spin on a Novel SolutionCentrifuge that concentrates pathogens to be commercialized

Testing the waters atPratt’s Pond in Grafton, Mass

R E S E A R C H

Testing the waters atPratt’s Pond in Grafton, Mass.

s p r i n g 2 0 0 8 t u f ts ve t e r i na ry m e d i c i n e 21PHOTOGRAPHS: COURTESY PATRICK SKELLY

schistosomiasis afflicts about 200 mil -

lion people worldwide, killing hundreds ofthousands a year. The disease ranks secondin mortality and disability rates amongparasitic illnesses, according to the WorldHealth Organization. The culprit: schisto-somes, a type of platyhelminth, or fl atworm.This waterborne parasite can survive in thebloodstream for decades. And when live-stock are affl icted in developing nations,economic hardship is inevitable.

Those staggering statistics alone—andthe urgent need to find a vaccine—areenough to warrant a strong research focusin Cummings’ Molecular HelminthologyLaboratory. Presided over by Patrick Skelly,PhD, and Charles Shoemaker, PhD, the lab-oratory uses molecular biology to dig deep-er into the parasites’ interaction with theirhosts. For Skelly, however, another drivingforce is at work: he is fascinated by what hedescribes as “these extraordinary worms.” Itis no exaggeration to say that he views thecentimeter-long parasites with increasingrespect and admiration the more he learnsabout how they operate.

In the host’s bloodstream, schistosomesfi nd the sugars and amino acids they needto thrive and lay eggs. They have a mouthbut also feed through their tegument, orbody surface, which is one reason why theirskin is of interest. But the skin fascinates foranother reason: it holds a key to the para-site’s ability to creep “under the radar” intheir host’s body.

“With all the immune effectors in thebloodstream, you’d think it would be a dan-gerous place,” states Skelly, “yet they seemto be extraordinarily stealthy.” When cut-ting through a blood vessel of an infectedmouse, “we can see adult worms inside, butdon’t see immune cells attacking them. Howis it that they go about their lives for yearsand the body doesn’t see them?”

The eggs, on the other hand, do triggeran immune response, the primary cause ofdamage to the host. While many eggs areexcreted, they can do damage on the way

out; others lodge inside body tissues, oftenthe liver. The immune response builds upscar tissue that can block and damage bloodvessels. An effective anti-schistosome drugexists, but reinfection is common, and drugresistance is a worry.

By studying the molecules on the tegu-ment, Skelly hopes to identify how theworms remain undetected. The technol-ogy making this possible is RNA interfer-ence, or RNAi, a technique for using bits

of RNA to fool a cell into shutting downa gene. (RNAi is the Nobel Prize-winningdiscovery of Craig Mello, PhD, of the Uni-versity of Massachusetts, and Andrew Fire,PhD, of Stanford University.) By targetinga gene and turning it off to see what hap-pens, researchers can identify its function.Skelly’s laboratory is doing just that, mol-ecule by molecule, across the schistosome’sskin. They may be able to use RNAi itselfto kill the fl atworm, or use it to identify anessential molecule and inactivate it with adrug, killing the parasite.

The functions of a few surface moleculeshave already been identifi ed. One such tar-get: the schistosomes’ apparent ability tosuppress the body’s immune response toblood vessel damage they may cause. Celldamage releases ATP, a molecule that callsimmune cells to the injury and activatesthem. To regulate ATP’s effects, the bodyalso manufactures a set of enzymes that canconvert ATP to adenosine, which dampensthe immune response. Certain moleculeson a schistosome’s skin appear likely to dothe same thing, making the area safe forthe parasite. The laboratory will use RNAito test the hypothesis that these moleculessuppress the body’s immune response toparasite damage. The laboratory has alsoconducted vaccine trials using parasite sur-face molecules. Some have been promising,although Skelly acknowledges there’s still aways to go.

Since schistosome infection is contract-ed in water, it was only a matter of time be-fore Dr. Saul Tzipori would approach Skellyto spike water samples with the infectiousform of the schistosome to see if the con-tinuous fl ow centrifugation device wouldpick them up. Sure enough, it does. “Thisis very useful with large volumes of water,”states Skelly, “because even if there are veryfew parasites, you can still fi nd them.”

Skelly has published a review articleon schistosomes entitled “Fighting KillerWorms,” which appears in the May 2008 is-sue of Scientifi c American.

Combating Stealthy ParasitesUsing the power of RNAi to fi ght disease

Top and bottom: The femaleschistosome nestles inside the male

Top and bottom: The femaleschistosome nestles inside the male

22 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 8 PHOTO: ANDY AITCHISON/CORBIS

A D VA N C E M E N T

Rockefeller Foundation grant funds community-based research

Attacking Avian Flu

tect and respond to outbreaks of avian fl uin areas of the country where there is noorganized veterinary care.

A $206,600 grant from the RockefellerFoundation will help in studying the rela-tionship between veterinary public healtheducation and effective surveillance andresponse to infectious disease outbreaks inIndonesia. The long term goal of the work isto improve veterinary public health capac-ity, including participatory epidemiology,in ways that will enhance animal and hu-man health.

“Prevention is the key word here,” saidlead investigator Joann Lindenmayer, MPH,V85, associate professor of Environmentaland Population Health at Tufts’ CummingsSchool of Veterinary Medicine. “To preventan epidemic of avian fl u from becoming apandemic from person to person, we needearly detection and intervention.

“You can’t have good human healthwithout good animal health,” Lindenmayersaid. “’We’re all dependent on each other.”

Study colleague George Saperstein,DVM, Amelia Peabody Professor and chairof Environmental and Population Healthat the Cummings School, said, “The onlyway to control the epidemic is througheducation, so that people understand theimportance of controlling it at the locallevel. What’s different about this epizootic,or animal epidemic, is that it could kill thepeople themselves.”

Indonesia’s 220 million people arespread over 3,000 inhabited islands. Veryfew veterinarians in Indonesia are trainedin epidemiology. With little or no veterinarypublic-health infrastructure on which torely, teaching local people to recognize andrespond to signs of the virus is seen as key.

Ten Tufts researchers, nine of them veter-inarians, currently are engaged full-time inIndonesia training community surveillanceand response teams. Six hundred of theseteams are spread throughout the country tospot and respond to avian fl u.

Is this sort of educational outreach mod-el effective? Saperstein said the RockefellerFoundation grant enables a 12-month studyof their hypothesis that enhanced veterinaryeducation at the local level has a signifi cantimpact on disease prevention and control.

some villagers call it “plok” for the sound of a dead chicken

falling from its perch. Avian infl uenza, or bird fl u, in Indonesia has led tothe deaths of millions of birds, stricken by the virus or killed to preventit from spreading. This has been a blow to family livelihoods in a nationwhere 60 percent of households keep chickens, ducks or geese.

Ominously, the virus in some cases has spread to people. The 100th

human death from bird fl u recently was recorded in Indonesia, which hasseen nearly half of the worldwide human fatalities from the virus sinceit emerged in Southeast Asia in 2003.

Scientists fear the H5N1 strain of the virus could turn into a formreadily transmitted by humans, potentially causing a pandemic threaten-ing millions of lives. Because of the potential threat of a pandemic, aninternational effort is underway to stop the disease at its source.

Tufts researchers have been working with the United Nations’ Foodand Agriculture Organization (FAO) to train Indonesian villagers to de-

Community participation is vital inareas lacking trained veterinarians

s p r i n g 2 0 0 8 t u f ts ve t e r i na ry m e d i c i n e 23PHOTO: ANDY CUNNINGHAM

THANKS TO A $2.5-MILLION GIFT FROM PHILANTHROPIST AGNES VARIS, H03, A FUND-RAISING

drive for a new auditorium at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine is more than halfway home. The Cummings School seeks to raise $4 million for the auditorium that will be a showpiece of the Grafton campus. Construction is expected to begin this spring.

The gift launching the auditorium project is the most recent from one of the Cummings School’s, and Tufts’, most generous supporters. Varis already had given the naming gift for the new Campus Center to which the auditorium will be connected, as she had for a lecture hall and for a hospital ward for cats on the Grafton campus; university-wide, she has been

a benefactor of the Granoff Music Center and donor of the Agnes Varis University Chair in Science and Society. A pioneering entre-preneur in the generic drug industry, Varis, of New York City, has given away millions as a patron of causes in poli-tics, education, health-care, and the arts.

At the Cummings School, news of her latest generosity was received with appre-ciation. “Her gift is

perhaps the most important we have received to date,” said Andrew Hoffman, associate professor and director of the Lung Function Testing Laboratory in the Department of Clinical Sciences. “The ability to hold campus-wide meetings, national and international meetings, and community hearings on our campus will broaden our impact on society and academic life, while bringing faculty, students, staff, and the local community closer together. In addi-tion, it offers a major architectural enhancement of our campus that will be appreciated on a day-to-day basis by hundreds of passers-by.”

Deborah T. Kochevar, DVM, PhD, dean and Henry and Lois Foster Professor at the Cum-mings School, said, “The faculty, students, and staff of the Cummings School drive our programs with creative energy and commitment, but fi nding the resources to move projects forward can be a challenge. Agnes Varis has embraced key projects and has made them happen. She understands the importance of veterinary medicine and shares our passion for animals, people, and the world that we share.”

The 173-seat auditorium, designed to complement the Campus Center, will be a striking new addition to the Grafton campus, serving as an inviting academic hub for students and the entire community. The space will provide 81 conference-style seats and 92 traditional auditorium seats. With state-of-the-art acoustics, lighting, and audio-visual electronics, the auditorium will be made available for evening forums and other community gatherings.

A fund-raising drive to be announced this spring will invite friends of the Cummings School to sponsor seats in the new auditorium, at $2,500 for conference-style, and $1,000 for traditional.

— M a r k S u l l i va n

“We’re going to look at whether education indeed makes a difference, and whether it is possible to modify the educational process in the country to improve animal and hu-man health,” Saperstein said. “We hope what we learn will be applied to the infrastructure in Indonesia, to help in early response to an-imal disease that could have a major impact on animal and human health.”

The goal is to establish a model to guide response elsewhere in Asia whenever an an-imal epidemic strikes. “If it can be done in Indonesia,” Lindenmayer stated, “probably it can be done anywhere

Deborah T. Kochevar, DVM, PhD, dean and Henry and Lois Foster Professor at the Cummings School, said, “The project in Indonesia has taught us many things about how to mobilize communities against an infectious disease outbreak, and these les-sons can be applied to controlling zoonotic diseases around the world. Thanks to the support from the Rockefeller Foundation, we hope to expand this important public health project.”

The Rockefeller Foundation deserves praise for its “vision in seeing the role of the veterinarian in human health,” Saperstein said. He maintains that, while veterinarians play a large role in public health, their par-ticipation is often overlooked.

An associate director at the Rockefeller Foundation, Tara Acharya, PhD, MPH, said: “We see a divide between the fi elds of veterinary health and human health lead-ing to poor communication and ineffi cient use of resources to detect and respond to outbreaks.

“Animals are the likely source of 75 per-cent of the world’s emerging infections. In the event of a zoonotic disease outbreak, the world’s poorest people, who largely depend on animals for their livelihoods, are hit the hardest with threats of disease, malnutri-tion and economic destitution.

“We are pleased to support the efforts of Tufts University to improve community-level surveillance, responses and manage-ment of animal diseases that threaten the health of animal and human populations and the livelihoods of Indonesian families,” Acharya said.

— M a r k S u l l i va n

NEW AUDITORIUM LAUNCHED Varis gift allows spring construction to begin

.”

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 8

A D VA N C E M E N TA D VA N C E M E N T

CARA KNESER, V10, RECIPIENT OF THE EDWARD P. HAMILTON

Endowed Scholarship at the Cummings School, drives herold Mazda pickup to Grafton fi ve times a week from herhome in Bozrah, Conn., 78 miles away. At 46, the motherof four (ages 21, 17, 15 and eight) has spent years run-ning or working on dairy farms, and now is pursuing alifelong dream of becoming a veterinarian. “I want to bea large animal vet, working primarily with cattle and farmanimals,” she says. Fewer than 200 dairy farms remainin Connecticut, she notes. “I’m a big believer in New Eng-land agriculture. We have to save it. If I can do somethingto help, then I will have left something behind.” She cred-its the support of hometown friends and neighbors andher husband, Dan, “a good and patient man,” for makingit possible for her to go back to school. And she is mostgrateful for the Hamilton scholarship, created in 2006 bybequest of the late Edward P. Lee of Orange, Conn. “With-out fi nancial aid, I couldn’t do this,” she states. “I wouldlike people to know, you really can do anything if you havethe help.”

manhattan s hustle and

bustle may be miles awayfrom the bucolic beauty ofGrafton, but for Janet “JJ”Kovak, V98, the two worldscollide nearly every day.Thanks to her role as in-tern director for the AnimalMedical Center, New YorkCity’s largest facility for ani-mal care and research, Ko-vak frequently interacts withCummings School alumni.

“The students from Tuftsare often the best preparedto face the challenges thatarise daily in practice,” says Kovak, who spe-cializes in soft-tissue surgeries at the AnimalMedical Center. “They have strong clinicalskills and a solid knowledge base about the

use of cutting-edge tech-nologies. They also are well-poised to handle the rigor ofheavy caseloads that comewith internships in a busyhospital.”

This is not the fi rst timeKovak has been impressedby the degree of prepara-tion of Cummings Schoolgraduates. As a volunteer atthe Animal Medical Centerduring college, she encoun-tered several Tufts internswhose practice readinessconvinced her, years later, to

make Cummings her top choice when ap-plying to veterinary schools. “I visited cam-pus for the fi rst time during a snowstorm,but what I remember most from that visit

was the enthusiasm of the staff, the dedica-tion of the faculty, and the state-of-the-arthospital facilities,” she recalls.

The close-knit community that Kovakencountered in Grafton also made a lastingimpression. Since graduation, she has gath-ered annually with 10 to 15 classmates tocompare notes on their careers, and morerecently she has organized annual recep-tions for Tufts alumni in New York Cityto meet with the dean and other schooladministrators. Kovak is also a frequentparticipant in alumni panels and talks withstudents on campus.

Her involvement as an alumna is a waynot only of staying connected, but also ofshowing her appreciation for her Cum-mings education. “As alumni, we owe a greatdeal of our professional success to Tufts,”she says. — A n n e M e r r i l l

A Cummings Advocate in the Big Apple“As alumni, we owe a great deal to Tufts.”

DAIRY FARM WORKER REALIZES A DREAM

“Without fi nancial aid, I couldn’t do this.”

Janet “JJ” Kovak, V98

Cara Kneser, V10

PHOTO: (BOTTOM) MELODY KO

W H O K N E W ?

PHOTOGRAPH: COURTESY PATRICK SKELLY

No, explains Patrick Skelly, PhD, assistant

professor of Infectious Diseases. Schisto-

some larvae, which hatch in water, need a

specifi c type of freshwater snail as an inter-

mediate host before maturing to the next,

highly infectious stage. Those snails fortu-

nately are not found in the U.S. However,

in some parts of the country, schistosomes

that normally infect water birds can infect

humans to produce a temporary irritation

known as “swimmer’s itch.”

Can you catch schistosomiasis in the U.S.?

Main hospital switchboard and after-hours emergencies ........................ 508-839-5395 Henry and Lois Foster Hospital for Small Animals, appointment desk ...... 508-839-5395Hospital for Large Animals, appointment desk ...................................... 508-839-5935Wildlife 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.......................................................................... 508-887-4723

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 contact: Shelley Rodman, director of veterinary development and alumni relations, at 508-839-7907, or

e-mail: shelley.rodman@tufts.edu

HOW TO REACH US

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

Nonprofi t Org.U.S. Postage

PaidBoston, MA

Permit No. 1161

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Cummings School ofVeterinary Medicine

SUSTAINEDIMPACT

By helping to keep farm practices ashealthy as the livestock, veterinarians pro-mote the well-being of the entire enterprise.Their impact on the economy, public health,and the environment is immeasurable.

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