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College of Veterinary Medicine Advance Newsletter

From WSU to the Mayo Clinic: My Summer as an Undergraduate Research Fellow

Pierce sitting on the steps next to a statue outside the clinic
Walking quickly through an underground tunnel that stretches nearly a half mile, I carried samples frozen on dry ice between two buildings on the Mayo Clinic campus to be tested as part of a clinical study on irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS. Analysis of the tissues may help physician-scientists understand the causes of IBS and one day find a cure. In other places, it could take hours or days for analysis to begin, but here at the Mayo Clinic, I was impressed by how almost instantaneous everything is. » More ...

Working together so Kenyans can help Kenyans

Bryan Slinker in Marsabit Kenya with camels
When Paul Allen visited East Africa, he saw how people’s daily lives could be improved and the desire for local institutions to better serve people in need. His experience motivated his generosity, and today the reach of his namesake Paul G. Allen School for Global Animal Health and its service to people has expanded even more than its founders could have imagined. » More ...

Allen School Working with Local Hospitals to Study the Zika Virus

Image of Zika team, Mombasa City Hospital
Walking into a public hospital on the southern edge of Mombasa, Kenya, around eight o’clock in the morning, there were already 10–15 pregnant women, most with children in tow, sitting on benches outside the clinic waiting to be seen by a health care worker for prenatal care » More ...

Does Zika Virus Cause Birth Defects in Africa?

Eric Osoro and Hariet Mireiri in front of an informational sign on Zika
On a typical day, the maternal and child health unit at Coast General Hospital in Mombasa, Kenya, will be bustling with dozens of pregnant women waiting to be attended by the doctor and find out how their babies were progressing. For the women, this is a reassuring monthly routine in a country with high numbers of maternal and infant deaths. Besides the maternal and neonatal deaths, a worry which occupies the pregnant women is the possibility of a baby born with birth defects. » More ...

Why Keep Chickens? A Chat with Tanzanian Farmers

Zoë Campbell talking to research team
A Tanzanian village is not complete without chickens. Hens scratching in the dirt for insects, dusty chicks pushing their tiny bodies through tall grass to follow their mother, roosters delightedly crowing at all hours. They are the most common form of livestock, kept by 48 percent of rural households. » More ...

Using Household Surveys to Understand Disease Control

Ashley Railey with survey team
Habari za asubuhi dada (good morning sister)! It is a little before 7:00 in the morning and the survey team slowly starts appearing at my residence ready to start another day in the field. The driver helps me load the charged computers, extra batteries, backup paper surveys, the paper visual aids, GPS devices, and peanut butter and jelly bag lunches into the car. Today we have a two-hour drive to the border of Tanzania and Kenya where we will ask 25 households to complete surveys. » More ...

Meet the Paul G. Allen School for Global Animal Health’s New Director

Closeup of Tom Kawula, director Paul G. Allen School for Global Animal Health
For the past 34 years when anyone asked me this question all I had to do was say that I was born and raised in Idaho, and it was enough to launch an entire dinner conversation. I’ve enjoyed describing to people what it was like to grow up in the west, and the fact that Idaho borders Washington and Canada, not Illinois. » More ...

Improving the Health of Children and Dogs in Rural Tanzania

East African children lined up to receive deworming medication
On February 1, we began our first field season to investigate whether administering mass dog rabies vaccinations, along with mass deworming of children in hard to reach communities such as Maasai villages in northern Tanzania, can more effectively reduce the incidence of both diseases. » More ...

Using Education to Reduce the Spread of Disease in Rural Guatemala

Maria Ortiz giving a presentation
Dawn in Candelaria, the day breaks; it will be cloudless and very hot. Following a breakfast with the family I am staying with during my community-based research work on zoonotic infectious diseases, I grab my bicycle and take off to visit several village households to evaluate the backyard livestock and invite the women of the village for our monthly meeting. » More ...

Freedom from the Cold Chain by Allowing Villagers to Help Themselves

East African boy sitting in the grass with a dog in his lap
The sun is not long up. Sitting on the step of my guesthouse, I can already see children walking down the dusty street with their dogs. Most of the dogs are trotting along freely by their owners’ sides, whilst a few are leashed with a piece of twine. One girl strolls past carrying a litter of puppies nestled into a bucket on her head. All are making their way to the center of the village where, in an hour’s time, the Serengeti Health Initiative team will begin vaccinating dogs against canine rabies. » More ...