An analysis of commercial raw cat foods detected disease-causing microbes, including some that are resistant to antibiotics, creating risks for both pets and their owners, according to a new study. The paper, published Sept. 24 in Communications Biology, found Salmonella, Cronobacter and E. coli in such foods as raw or partially cooked meat sold frozen, refrigerated and freeze-dried in stores and online…
For both business and wildlife conservation, success can mean doing more with less. A novel decision model derived from business operations detects emerging wildlife disease months earlier, or with lower costs, than the current traditional strategies, according to a collaborative study published Sept. 15 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers at the College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) and Smith School of Business at Queen’s University, Canada, developed the model, which could detect a chronic…
Why are eastern rockhopper penguin populations plummeting in New Zealand? What’s a reliable, rapid test for detecting rodenticide poisoning in live birds of prey? How can we use technology to help diagnose wildlife diseases in Nepal while training local scientists? These pressing questions are driving the three projects receiving inaugural awards from the Catalyzing Conservation Fund (CCF), a newly launched grants program from the Cornell K. Lisa Yang Center for Wildlife Health (CYCWH). The CCF provides catalytic seed funding to faculty and other researchers at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) to spur innovation and leadership, generate on-the-ground results, and ultimately deliver…
It is easy to imagine how it could happen. A petrel, flying east from the Indian Ocean at the end of the Austral winter, makes landfall at New Zealand’s southern Codfish Island/Whenua Hou. Tired from its long journey, the petrel seeks refuge in the burrow of a green kākāpō: a critically endangered flightless species that is the world’s fattest parrot. If the seabird intrudes when the kākāpō is primed to breed, the male parrot may attempt to mate with the smaller petrel, accidentally smothering it in the process. In this case, there are two unwitting victims. The petrel harbours a deadly agent: H5 avian influenza…
After undertaking an assessment study to study the Sunflower Houses success, researchers are urging the Tompkins County Legislature to provide increased funding to the program that since 2021 has provided low-barrier housing and wraparound services for formerly incarcerated men. The assessment findings, which were intended to provide proof of concept for the project’s innovative housing model, were presented at the Tompkins County Housing and Economic Development Committee on July 16. The Sunflower Houses is a collaborative effort with Opportunities, Alternatives, and…
The Aedes aegypti mosquito that transmits dengue virus has mostly been considered an urban mosquito, but a new study of rural communities in the Peruvian Amazon suggests that pattern appears to be shifting. A Cornell-led team identified Ae. aegypti populations in 29 of 30 sites in urban and rural communities that were surveyed along major river shipping routes between the port cities of Iquitos, Pucallpa and Yurimaguas in the northern Peruvian Amazon. The paper, “Changing dynamics of Aedes aegypti invasion and vector-borne disease risk for rural communities in the Peruvian Amazon,” published Aug. 28 in the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases…
Individuals experiencing a behavioral health crisis, or a crisis related to a mental health or substance use disorder, disproportionately come into contact with the criminal legal system. Approximately ten out of every 100 police calls for service are classified as involving a person perceived as having a mental illness. These police interactions place persons with behavioral health disorders at increased risk of death because of police violence. Moreover, police contact may trigger a cascade of criminal legal involvement with prevalence of behavioral health disorders overrepresented within incarcerated…
As overdoses from fentanyl and opioids continue to rise, many communities have created interactive overdose dashboards that show demographic, geographic and time trends in suspected overdoses and community resources to help with substance abuse. But there’s not much evidence to show that these dashboards effectively disseminate data and help public health officials make data-driven decisions, especially in rural areas. Researchers from the College of Veterinary Medicine have filled that gap. They collaborated with Cayuga County Mental Health in developing an overdose dashboard that enabled data-driven decision making and spreads substance abuse information in that region…
In late July, President Trump signed an executive order urging local authorities to find ways to force homeless individuals with mental illness into hospitals. On its face, some observers might find this move appealing. Homelessness has skyrocketed across American cities, generating headlines about homeless encampment waste and public substance use. And mental health care, which many of these individuals need, is difficult to access—and arguably easier to obtain in a hospital. But Trump’s order may in fact undermine its own aims. Research shows that psychiatric hospitalization has little impact on “Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets,” as the executive order puts it, and which it purports to address…
When Jarra Jagne, D.V.M. ’90, was growing up in her native country of The Gambia, she was exposed to its rural areas and large populations of livestock during summer vacations accompanying her father on work trips. This fostered a fascination for animals, later heightened by an encounter with the famous James Herriot book, All Creatures Great and Small, which fueled her veterinary calling. “I imagined myself as a James Herriot in Gambia’s rural savanna saving the lives of cows, sheep, goats, and chickens,” says Jagne…
Bird flu is on the move—spreading among wild birds, poultry, dairy cows and, occasionally, humans. As cases in cats rise, the Cornell Feline Health Center (FHC) has mobilized its Rapid Response Fund (RRF), awarding nearly $400,000 to establish the Cornell Feline Health Center Feline H5N1 Consortium, a team of Cornell researchers focused on investigating the virus’ spread and impact on the species. The grant is the latest of over a dozen supporting urgent, high-impact research on emerging threats to feline health that cannot await submission through the annual Cornell Feline Health Center grants program, which has provided over $7,000,000 in funding to feline -focused Cornell researchers in the past 25 years…
Juvenile and subadult bats may be the most likely to spread new coronaviruses to other species, according to a Cornell study published July 17 in Nature Communications. Dr. Raina Plowright, the Rudolf J. and Katharine L. Steffen Professor of Veterinary Medicine in the College of Veterinary Medicine, and colleagues unveiled new insights into the natural dynamics of coronaviruses circulating in wild bats, which are their reservoir hosts. When young bats are weaned, they’re more prone to viral infections, and more likely to shed those viruses into the environment…