A surveillance system for diseases of companion animals in the Veneto region (Italy)

Abstract

Experts and international public health organisations stress the lack of surveillance systems for companion animal diseases and the need to implement such surveillance as a priority of the 'One Health' perspective. This paper presents the features of a system for the collection, analysis, interpretation and dissemination of data regarding the health status of pets in the Veneto region (Italy). The system involved the construction of a Web-based database containing the diagnoses of transmissible and non-transmissible diseases of dogs and cats made by veterinarians in their practices, hospitals, kennels and catteries. Each diagnosis constitutes a single record, also containing data on the identification of the individual animal and on several characteristics of epidemiological relevance. The World Health Organization (WHO) 10th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) for human diseases has been adapted to canine and feline diseases to standardise the diagnostic nomenclature. Software has been specifically created for online data entry and data management. The first results show that the main disorders were digestive (21%), dermatological (18%) and cardiovascular (11%) among 1,087 diagnostic records in dogs, and digestive (23%), dermatological (15%) and urinary (14%) among 289 diagnostic records in cats. The main causes of death are represented by cardiovascular (21%) and gastrointestinal (21%) diseases in dogs and by urinary (31%) disorders in cats. At present, no institutional surveillance system for companion animal health exists in Italy, and veterinarians joining this project and sharing the outcomes of their clinical activity are acting on a voluntary basis.

‘It's our job’: Constraints to investigation of atypical disease events—Opinions of Australian veterinarians

“…This situation is not unique to Australia; structured surveillance is uncommon in companion animals, and is currently only operational in the United Kingdom (Hale et al., 2019). A system proposed and trialled in America (Kass et al., 2016) and a pilot programme trialled in Italy (Martini et al., 2017) do not appear to have been implemented. These systems are/were privately funded and not formally linked with government animal and human health bodies.…”

Clinical Evaluation of a Rapid Diagnostic Test Kit for Canine Parvovirus and Coronavirus

“…1인 가구 증가 및 고령화 등으로 인해 전 세계적으로 반려동 물 보유 가구가 증가하면서 반려동물의 건강에 대한 관심도 높 아지고 있다 [17]. 개는 반려동물 중 가장 많은 비율을 차지하고 [12], 개의 내원과 사망의 주된 원인은 소화기 질환이다 [18,19]. 소화기 질환 증상인 설사와 구토는 3세 이하에서 특히 많으 며 [18], 설사는 심한 탈수로 사망에 이르게 할 수 있어 치료를 위 한 원인 병원체 감별이 중요하다 [1,3].…”

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“…However, a memorial site has been created that contains an extensive list of service dogs that have died or been euthanised in service from 1940 to the present day, and new cases are regularly added (Cortina, 2022). M. Martini et al (2017) note that collecting data on the causes of injury or death in dogs can help develop new treatment, care, and training strategies that can increase their survival.…”