Bayer HealthCare Animal Health launches companion animal research project in India

Bayer HealthCare Animal Health is currently preparing to launch a three year research project in India aimed at surveying parasite-transmitted infectious diseases in dogs (canine vector-borne diseases, CVBD) and zoonotic gastrointestinal parasites, that can spread from animals to humans. The project will be jointly conducted with Dr. Rebecca Traub, Lecturer of Veterinary Public Health at the University of Queensland, and Australian-based Vets Beyond Borders (VBB) who organize and run veterinary-based animal welfare and public health programs in developing communities of the Asia and Pacific region. The research project is a continuation of earlier efforts by Bayer HealthCare Animal Health in the early 2000s to provide the first comprehensive canine gastrointestinal parasite survey in India in over 35 years. The first survey resulted in an awarded PhD project.

VBB are currently coordinating sterilization and vaccination programs at two locations in Northern India which will be combined with fecal and blood sampling to contribute to the survey. “Obtaining such data in the past has often not only been limited by financial factors and available expertise, but also the lack of appropriate diagnostic tools that can provide comprehensive data on the nature of parasite infestations. The development and use of appropriate molecular tools in the current project will overcome these problems,” says Dr. Traub.

“We strongly believe that the survey can help improve animal and veterinary public health through community participation and collaboration, especially with an organization as Vets Beyond Borders”, comments Dr. Norbert Mencke, Head of Global Veterinary Services at Bayer HealthCare’s Animal Health Division, who is sponsoring the project together with Dr. Susanne Siebert, Marketing and Business Development Asia Pacific. “This project will close another gap in our CVBD and Zoonosis mapping project in Asia Pacific which we started last year,” says Dr. Siebert.

India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and its increasingly affluent middle class in particular is becoming more and more accustomed to Western culture. This has resulted in changing attitudes towards companion animal ownership, with higher expectations and demands being placed on veterinary surgeons and the companion animal industry for improved knowledge of veterinary diseases and products for treatment and control. Despite this, information for veterinarians concerning the prevalence, epidemiology, diagnosis and management of tropical diseases, in particular canine vector borne diseases and those gastrointestinal parasites of zoonotic concern is scarce.