Purdue University–Banfield National Companion Animal Surveillance Program for Emerging and Zoonotic Diseases

Abstract

A National Companion Animal Surveillance Program (NCASP) was established at Purdue University to monitor clinical syndromes and diseases using the electronic medical records of >80,000 companion animals visiting >500 Banfield hospitals weekly in 44 states. With funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, NCASP was initially developed for syndromic surveillance of Category A agents of bioterrorism. Surveillance was expanded through inclusion of electronic reports from Antech Diagnostics, a nationwide network of integrated veterinary diagnostic laboratories serving >18,000 private veterinary practices. NCASP characterizes and displays temporal and spatial patterns of diseases in dogs, cats, and other companion animals. It detects unusual clusters of potential emerging/zoonotic infections and monitors flea and tick activity. Data is processed and analyzed using SAS and ESRI software products. The NCASP can be used by veterinarians to enhance their practice of evidence-based medicine by providing information needed to individualize vaccine protocols for animals in specific geographic areas.

Companion Animals as Sentinels for Community Exposure to Industrial Chemicals: The Fairburn, GA, Propyl Mercaptan Case Study

“…NCASP was initially developed with funding from CDC with the goal of monitoring the medical records of companion animals to detect increases in the frequency of syndromic events related to exposure to biothreat agents or emerging infections that have zoonotic potential. 3 However, NCASP can also be used to evaluate whether the release of a chemical into a community or other types of environmental insults such as fires or floods are associated with adverse health consequences for exposed individuals.…”

A practical approach to designing syndromic surveillance systems for livestock and poultry

“…Detecting influenza epidemics (Ginsberg et al, 2009) Identifying changes in endemic diseases in companion animals (Glickman et al, 2006) …”

From “Us vs. Them” to “Shared Risk”: Can Animals Help Link Environmental Factors to Human Health?

“…Dogs have provided indicators of environmental risk to humans from infectious diseases including Lyme disease (Olson et al, 2000) and Rocky Mountain spotted fever (Elchos and Goddard, 2003). A National Companion Animal Surveillance Program has been established to monitor clinical syndromes in pets presented to veterinary hospitals in order to detect unusual clusters which may represent potential emerging or zoonotic diseases (Glickman et al, 2006). Table 1 outlines how taking a ''shared risk'' approach could develop two related concept areas: viewing a wider number of species as potential models for human environmentally induced disease, and incorporating animal sentinel data into clinical and public health decision making.…”