Downloaded from http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/ on June 29, 2015 - Published by group.bmj.com
Letters people, predominantly in the veterinary profession, likely to be exposed to rabies. If, in the view of an official of the Bat Conservation Trust, there was a possibility that the bat Mr Dawson treated was infected with rabies, was Mr Dawson acting unprofessionally and irresponsibly in treating the animal with the intention of liberating it into the wild subsequently? Would it not have been more professional to determine whether the bat was infected or not by submitting it for examination at Weybridge or some other diagnostic laboratory? Information gathered over time would then indicate the geographical distribution of bat rabies within the British Isles and, if sufficient samples were submitted, the prevalence of infection. What is more, the NHS might feel more generous about supplying vaccine for post-exposure immunisation where there is evidence of being infected within the UK. I do not know the terms of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 but if the act does not prohibit such an action where there is a risk of transmitting a very serious zoonotic disease, is it not a reason to amend the act?
2005). Audiogenic reflex seizures describe those predominantly induced by sounds. If colleagues have a case of suspected auditory-induced reflex seizures in a cat or would like further information, they should contact Mark Lowrie using the details below.
the correct timing of the most appropriate treatment for sheep, beef and dairy cattle. Colleagues are encouraged to check the SVS and BCVA websites or contact [email protected] for details of their local meeting.
Mark Lowrie, Laurent Garosi, Davies Veterinary Specialists, Manor Farm Business Park, Higham Gobion, Hertfordshire SG5 3HR e-mail: [email protected] telephone: 01582 883950 Robert J. Harvey, Department of Pharmacology, UCL School of Pharmacy, 29-39 Brunswick Square, London WC1N 1AX Claire Bessant, Andrew Sparkes, International Cat Care, Taeselbury, High Street, Tisbury, Wiltshire SP3 6LD
Fiona Lovatt, SVS President, Balmer House, Eggleston, Barnard Castle, County Durham DL12 0AN e-mail: [email protected] Jonathan Statham, BCVA Senior VicePresident, BCVA Office, Quedgeley, Gloucester GL2 2AP Chris Lloyd, EBLEX, Stoneleigh Park, Kenilworth, Warwickshire CV8 2TL
doi: 10.1136/vr.f6819
FELINE HEALTH
Audiogenic reflex seizures in cats WE are seeking from colleagues cases of suspected audiogenic reflex seizures in cats for the purposes of genetic research. Phenotypic characterisation and identification of a DNA marker may help in the identification, management and understanding of this complex disorder. Stimuli we have known to evoke seizures in cats include the sound of breaking the tin foil from treatment or tablet packaging, the crinkling of tin foil, a metal spoon dropping into a ceramic feeding bowl, a daisy wheel printer, a digital alarm, the hammering of a nail or the clicking of an owner’s tongue. A reflex seizure is defined as one consistently precipitated by environmental or internal stimuli and is differentiated from spontaneous epileptic seizures in which precipitating factors cannot be identified (Engel 2001). Reflex epilepsy syndrome is therefore one in which all seizures are precipitated by sensory stimuli (Engel 2001). However, some authors suggest that only the majority of seizures need to be precipitated by sensory stimuli to constitute a reflex epilepsy syndrome (Panayiotopoulos 482 | Veterinary Record | November 16, 2013
VETERINARY PROFESSION
References
ENGEL, J. Jr (2001) A proposed diagnostic scheme for people with epileptic seizures and with epilepsy: report of the ILAE Task Force on Classification and Terminology. Epilepsia 42, 796-803 PANAYIOTOPOULOS, C. P. (2005) The Epilepsies: Seizures, Syndromes and Management. Bladon Medical Publishing
doi: 10.1136/vr.f6820
Roland Minor, PO Box 163, 80500 Lamu, Kenya e-mail: [email protected]
doi: 10.1136/vr.f6821
CPD
Liver fluke CPD in the regions IN response to the increasing challenges associated with the control of liver fluke in sheep and cattle, a series of regional CPD meetings have been organised for veterinary practitioners from the end of November 2013. Veterinary surgeons and researchers have worked together to develop the CPD programme with input from representatives of the Sheep Veterinary Society (SVS), British Cattle Veterinary Association (BCVA), Moredun Research Institute, National Sheep Association (NSA), Sustainable Control of Parasites in Sheep (SCOPS), Control of Worms Sustainably (COWS) and the Universities of Edinburgh, Liverpool and Nottingham. The initiative has support from Elanco, Novartis, Norbrook and Zoetis, and is part of a programme of events being delivered by the English Beef and Lamb Executive under the Rural Development Programme for England Skills and Knowledge Transfer Framework, which is jointly funded by Defra and the European Union. The CPD sessions will involve interactive case studies and small group work, and will consider the importance of the environmental and management aspects to fluke control. It will emphasise the need for a good diagnostic approach and
Taking a history on veterinary education I HESITATE to take issue with any aspect of Andrew Gardiner and Susan Rhind’s excellent article on the history of veterinary education (VR, October 26, 2013, vol 173, pp 388-393), but I feel their repetition of the claim that Rudolf Virchow was the first person to introduce the concept of ‘one medicine’ (One Health) needs questioning. It is always difficult to identify the first occasion for the usage of any term, but the French physician, Felix Vicq d’Azyr, used the concept of ‘One Medicine’ in at least two of his publications, nearly 50 years before Virchow was born! In 1776, he stated: ‘The preceding considerations on the diseases which attack men are applicable without exception to those which attack animals. Medicine is one (la médicine est une); and its general principles, once set out, are very easy to apply to different circumstances and species’ (Vicq d’Azyr 1776). Therefore, the term has been around since the earliest days of veterinary education, together with a recognition of the strength that is one of the hallmarks of our profession: the ability to extrapolate the underlying principles of disease and its treatment between species to the benefit of all. Stephen May, Royal Veterinary College, Hawkshead Lane, North Mymms, Hatfield, Hertfordshire AL9 7TA e-mail: [email protected]
Reference
VICQ D’AZYR, F. (1776) Mémoire instructif sur l’Etablissement fait par le Roi d’une Commission ou Société et Correspondance de Médecine. www2.biusante.parisdescartes.fr/ livanc/?cote=56087&p=1&do=page. Accessed November 8, 2013
doi: 10.1136/vr.f6822
Downloaded from http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/ on June 29, 2015 - Published by group.bmj.com
Taking a history on veterinary education Stephen May Veterinary Record 2013 173: 482
doi: 10.1136/vr.f6822 Updated information and services can be found at: http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/173/19/482.3
These include:
Email alerting service
Receive free email alerts when new articles cite this article. Sign up in the box at the top right corner of the online article.
Notes
To request permissions go to: http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions To order reprints go to: http://journals.bmj.com/cgi/reprintform To subscribe to BMJ go to: http://group.bmj.com/subscribe/
Letters people, predominantly in the veterinary profession, likely to be exposed to rabies. If, in the view of an official of the Bat Conservation Trust, there was a possibility that the bat Mr Dawson treated was infected with rabies, was Mr Dawson acting unprofessionally and irresponsibly in treating the animal with the intention of liberating it into the wild subsequently? Would it not have been more professional to determine whether the bat was infected or not by submitting it for examination at Weybridge or some other diagnostic laboratory? Information gathered over time would then indicate the geographical distribution of bat rabies within the British Isles and, if sufficient samples were submitted, the prevalence of infection. What is more, the NHS might feel more generous about supplying vaccine for post-exposure immunisation where there is evidence of being infected within the UK. I do not know the terms of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 but if the act does not prohibit such an action where there is a risk of transmitting a very serious zoonotic disease, is it not a reason to amend the act?
2005). Audiogenic reflex seizures describe those predominantly induced by sounds. If colleagues have a case of suspected auditory-induced reflex seizures in a cat or would like further information, they should contact Mark Lowrie using the details below.
the correct timing of the most appropriate treatment for sheep, beef and dairy cattle. Colleagues are encouraged to check the SVS and BCVA websites or contact [email protected] for details of their local meeting.
Mark Lowrie, Laurent Garosi, Davies Veterinary Specialists, Manor Farm Business Park, Higham Gobion, Hertfordshire SG5 3HR e-mail: [email protected] telephone: 01582 883950 Robert J. Harvey, Department of Pharmacology, UCL School of Pharmacy, 29-39 Brunswick Square, London WC1N 1AX Claire Bessant, Andrew Sparkes, International Cat Care, Taeselbury, High Street, Tisbury, Wiltshire SP3 6LD
Fiona Lovatt, SVS President, Balmer House, Eggleston, Barnard Castle, County Durham DL12 0AN e-mail: [email protected] Jonathan Statham, BCVA Senior VicePresident, BCVA Office, Quedgeley, Gloucester GL2 2AP Chris Lloyd, EBLEX, Stoneleigh Park, Kenilworth, Warwickshire CV8 2TL
doi: 10.1136/vr.f6819
FELINE HEALTH
Audiogenic reflex seizures in cats WE are seeking from colleagues cases of suspected audiogenic reflex seizures in cats for the purposes of genetic research. Phenotypic characterisation and identification of a DNA marker may help in the identification, management and understanding of this complex disorder. Stimuli we have known to evoke seizures in cats include the sound of breaking the tin foil from treatment or tablet packaging, the crinkling of tin foil, a metal spoon dropping into a ceramic feeding bowl, a daisy wheel printer, a digital alarm, the hammering of a nail or the clicking of an owner’s tongue. A reflex seizure is defined as one consistently precipitated by environmental or internal stimuli and is differentiated from spontaneous epileptic seizures in which precipitating factors cannot be identified (Engel 2001). Reflex epilepsy syndrome is therefore one in which all seizures are precipitated by sensory stimuli (Engel 2001). However, some authors suggest that only the majority of seizures need to be precipitated by sensory stimuli to constitute a reflex epilepsy syndrome (Panayiotopoulos 482 | Veterinary Record | November 16, 2013
VETERINARY PROFESSION
References
ENGEL, J. Jr (2001) A proposed diagnostic scheme for people with epileptic seizures and with epilepsy: report of the ILAE Task Force on Classification and Terminology. Epilepsia 42, 796-803 PANAYIOTOPOULOS, C. P. (2005) The Epilepsies: Seizures, Syndromes and Management. Bladon Medical Publishing
doi: 10.1136/vr.f6820
Roland Minor, PO Box 163, 80500 Lamu, Kenya e-mail: [email protected]
doi: 10.1136/vr.f6821
CPD
Liver fluke CPD in the regions IN response to the increasing challenges associated with the control of liver fluke in sheep and cattle, a series of regional CPD meetings have been organised for veterinary practitioners from the end of November 2013. Veterinary surgeons and researchers have worked together to develop the CPD programme with input from representatives of the Sheep Veterinary Society (SVS), British Cattle Veterinary Association (BCVA), Moredun Research Institute, National Sheep Association (NSA), Sustainable Control of Parasites in Sheep (SCOPS), Control of Worms Sustainably (COWS) and the Universities of Edinburgh, Liverpool and Nottingham. The initiative has support from Elanco, Novartis, Norbrook and Zoetis, and is part of a programme of events being delivered by the English Beef and Lamb Executive under the Rural Development Programme for England Skills and Knowledge Transfer Framework, which is jointly funded by Defra and the European Union. The CPD sessions will involve interactive case studies and small group work, and will consider the importance of the environmental and management aspects to fluke control. It will emphasise the need for a good diagnostic approach and
Taking a history on veterinary education I HESITATE to take issue with any aspect of Andrew Gardiner and Susan Rhind’s excellent article on the history of veterinary education (VR, October 26, 2013, vol 173, pp 388-393), but I feel their repetition of the claim that Rudolf Virchow was the first person to introduce the concept of ‘one medicine’ (One Health) needs questioning. It is always difficult to identify the first occasion for the usage of any term, but the French physician, Felix Vicq d’Azyr, used the concept of ‘One Medicine’ in at least two of his publications, nearly 50 years before Virchow was born! In 1776, he stated: ‘The preceding considerations on the diseases which attack men are applicable without exception to those which attack animals. Medicine is one (la médicine est une); and its general principles, once set out, are very easy to apply to different circumstances and species’ (Vicq d’Azyr 1776). Therefore, the term has been around since the earliest days of veterinary education, together with a recognition of the strength that is one of the hallmarks of our profession: the ability to extrapolate the underlying principles of disease and its treatment between species to the benefit of all. Stephen May, Royal Veterinary College, Hawkshead Lane, North Mymms, Hatfield, Hertfordshire AL9 7TA e-mail: [email protected]
Reference
VICQ D’AZYR, F. (1776) Mémoire instructif sur l’Etablissement fait par le Roi d’une Commission ou Société et Correspondance de Médecine. www2.biusante.parisdescartes.fr/ livanc/?cote=56087&p=1&do=page. Accessed November 8, 2013
doi: 10.1136/vr.f6822
Downloaded from http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/ on June 29, 2015 - Published by group.bmj.com
Taking a history on veterinary education Stephen May Veterinary Record 2013 173: 482
doi: 10.1136/vr.f6822 Updated information and services can be found at: http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/173/19/482.3
These include:
Email alerting service
Receive free email alerts when new articles cite this article. Sign up in the box at the top right corner of the online article.
Notes
To request permissions go to: http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions To order reprints go to: http://journals.bmj.com/cgi/reprintform To subscribe to BMJ go to: http://group.bmj.com/subscribe/
