New course on healthy dog ownership

Invisible’s new continuing medical education course, “Zoonotic diseases and pet dogs,” discusses common diseases that can spread from dogs to humans, along with some simple prevention tips. It’s taught by Erin Lashnits, MS, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, a clinical assistant professor in small animal internal medicine at University of Wisconsin’s School of Veterinary Medicine. Her pedigree as a veterinarian and a dog lover includes an MS degree in biology from Stanford University, a DVM from Cornell University, and a PhD in comparative biomedical sciences from North Carolina State University.

It’s estimated nearly half of all U.S. households own one or more dogs (80 to 90 million total), and along with cohabitation comes additional disease risks. In this course, Dr. Lashnits covers diseases that can be transmitted from dogs, advice on how to safely import dogs from abroad, and preventative measures when introducing a new dog into a home.

Dr. Lashnits’ new dog checklist:

  • Make sure your dog is vaccinated, dewormed, and treated for fleas and ticks before taking it home.
  • Before letting a new dog roam free with other dogs, keep it separated for about a week, observing for any signs of disease.
  • Avoid feeding your dog raw food to prevent food-borne diseases.
  • Take your dog for routine veterinarian checkups.
  • Provide your dog with year-round flea, tick, and heartworm.
  • Review the CDC guidelines on importing dogs from abroad.

In Dr. Lashnits’ practice, she sees dog bites and flea- and tick-borne diseases as major disease risks. Fleas can carry Bartonella, plague, and rickettsia species. Ticks can transmit Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, several deadly viruses, and a host of other pathogens.

She also offers a warning about dog kisses: “Try to train your dog not to lick you on the mouth, and if it does, wash your hands and face,” said Dr. Lashnits.

Dr. Lashnits goes on to explain how dogs can serve as sentinels for human disease, citing the use of dogs for tracking the alarming spread of invasive Asian longhorned ticks across the middle Atlantic states.

The Invisible Education Initiative, funded by the Montecalvo Foundation, provides free, accredited Continuing Medical Education (CME) courses that focus on vector-borne and environmental illness within a One Health framework. These courses are available to clinicians and the public. To donate to this initiative and to learn about Invisible International, please go here http://invisible.international/give.

Watch here: https://learn.invisible.international/courses/zoonotic-disease-and-pet-dogs/

Join our One Health Innovation Hackathon on Nov. 5th

Bridging the Knowledge Gap Between Human and Animal Clinicians

Register: https://tinyurl.com/y3285t6m

When: Nov. 5, 2022
—9am to 12:30pm: Lightning Talks on One Health Challenges
—12:30 to 4pm: Med-Vet Innovation Hackathon

What: Learn about the One Health challenges faced by animal and human clinicians in addressing tick- and vector-borne diseases, which have worsened with climate change, ecosystem imbalances, and public health funding inequities. An afternoon innovation hackathon will follow the presentations.

Where: This is a free online event. Zoom info will be sent prior to the event.

Who: Animal and human health professionals, students, hackers, creators and others invested in One Health are welcome. For the afternoon hackathon, participants are invited to form teams of up to 4 people. If you don’t have a team, you can find collaborators during the hackathon.

Awards: Four winning teams will be awarded $1,000 each. Winning teams will be eligible for future solution implementation funding.

Award criteria: Awards will go to four teams with the best pitch deck solution proposals for enhancing communication between animal and human clinicians, improving health for all.

Vet/MD student honorariums: $300 will be awarded to each of the first 10 veterinary and 10 medical students who register and participate in the hackathon. Eligibility is based on date of registration, all-day participation, and proof of enrollment as a vet or medical student.

Speakers: One Health leaders from MassGen/Harvard Medical School, HHS, One Health Commission, University College Dublin School of Medicine, Tulane University School of Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State College of Veterinary Medicine/Duke University, and more.

Register at https://tinyurl.com/y3285t6m

ABOUT
One Health is a problem-solving framework that strives to improve the health of all living things on the planet through collaborations between animal, plant, environmental, and human health experts.

During this event, participants will learn about and brainstorm on ways to reduce the impact of tick- and vector-borne diseases, which have worsened with climate change, ecosystem imbalances, and public health funding inequities.

The morning will include lightning talks that inform and define the challenges in tackling these problems. The afternoon will feature a hackathon where participant-defined teams and challenge topics will be organized. Teams will hold initial meetings to discuss how they will tackle their hacks and present them to judges later in the year. Awards will be based on solutions presented in team pitch decks at the end of the day.

AGENDA (Subject to change)

9:00am WELCOME REMARKS
Nev Zubcevik DO
Chief Medical Officer, Invisible International

Laura Lott, MBA
Chief Executive Officer, Invisible International

9:15am LIGHTNING TALKS: Why One Health is Important

  • Kristen Honey, PhD*
    Chief Data Scientist and LymeX Co-Founder, Office of the Assist. Secretary for Health,
    US Dept of Health & Human Services *Invited, not confirmed
    “The Importance of One Health InnovationX to HHS”
  • Cheryl Stroud, PhD, DVM
    Exec. Director, One Health Commission
    “One Health for Human & Animal Clinicians”
  • John Lambert, MD, PhD
    Consultant in Infectious Diseases and Genitourinary Medicine at Mater Misericordiae University Hospital; Full Clinical Professor at University College Dublin School of Medicine; Advisory Board Member, Invisible International
    “Call for international collaboration and data sharing from the clinical trenches”
  • Elizabeth Lee-Lewandrowski, PhD, MPH
    Assist. Professor of Pathology, Harvard Medical School; Research Faculty and Clinical Laboratory Scientist, Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Pathology; Research Director, Invisible International
    “Why You Should Care about Zoonotic Diseases”

10:00am LIGHTNING TALKS: Diagnostic & Treatment Challenges and Solutions

  • Monica Embers, PhD
    Assoc. Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Tulane University School of Medicine
    “Diagnostic Challenges”
  • Elizabeth Maloney, MD
    Education Co-director, Invisible International
    “Barriers to human treatment: Results from a survey of clinicians”
  • Erin Lashnits, DVM, PhD, MS, DACVIM
    Clinical Assist. Professor, Univ. of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine
    “One Health Clinical Model”

10:45am PANEL: Fostering Animal & Human Health Collaborations
Moderator: Christine Green MD, Education Co-director, Invisible International

  • Edward Breitschwerdt, DVM, DACVIM
    Professor of Medicine and Infectious Diseases, North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine; Adjunct Professor of Medicine at Duke University Medical Center
  • Steven Phillips, MD
    Internal Medicine; Private Practice, author of bestselling book, CHRONIC
  • Charlotte Mao, MD, MPH
    Curriculum Director, Invisible International
    Pediatric Infectious Disease, formerly Dean Center for Tickborne Illness, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital; Pediatric Infectious Disease Division, Massachusetts General Hospital
  • Elizabeth Lee-Lewandrowski, PhD, MPH
    Assist. Professor of Pathology, Harvard Medical School; Research Faculty and Clinical Laboratory Scientist, Massachusetts General Hospital
    Research Director, Invisible International
  • 11:30am – 12:30pm Live Q&A

12:30-1:00pm HACKATHON: Idea Pitches

1:00-3:00pm Med-Vet Innovation Hackathon breakout sessions

3:00pm Presentations

3:30-4:00pm Concluding Remarks/Judging/Awards

THANK YOU

Sponsors
The Lovell Family Foundation, The Montecalvo Foundation, The Xefos Family, The Hewson Family

Collaborators
One Health Commission, Louisiana One Health in Action, Galaxy Advanced Microbial Diagnostics

Faculty Affiliations
MassGen/Harvard Medical School, University College Dublin School of Medicine/Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Tulane University School of Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State College of Veterinary Medicine/Duke University