News Briefs for the Week of August 5, 2002
By Marcella Durand for Cat Facts
- Calicivirus Hits Los Angeles
There's been an outbreak in Los Angeles of a feline disease called hemorrhagic calicivirus. In the mild form of this respiratory infection, cats can recover, but the severe form is often fatal, despite treatment. Symptoms include high fever, discharge from the mouth and nose, depression, and swelling on the face, body and paws.
While previous outbreaks have been rare, when they do occur the disease seems to spread rapidly with a high mortality rate. The disease cannot be transmitted to humans. This most recent outbreak, which appeared the week of July 2, 2002 when a number of infected cats were brought in to veterinary practices in Los Angeles, has been confirmed through the Maddie's Shelter Medicine Program at the School of Veterinary Medicine's Center for Companion Animal Health at University of California-Davis (CCAH). Veterinary researchers at CCAH are now working furiously to trace the route of the infection and determining how large the outbreak actually is. We'll keep you posted on what they find.
- Grant Money for Feline Health Studies
Attention, veterinarians and researchers! If you've been looking for funding for your feline health study, there's a golden opportunity waiting for you. The Morris Animal Foundation, a non-profit organization that funds companion animal and wildlife studies, is seeking pre-proposals for feline health studies. This year the Foundation is "placing particular emphasis" on feline health research, because there has been a decline in applications in that area.
We can't pretend to understand this, since there's still so much that we don't know about our cats' health and well-being. And, if we've got to put it in human terms, there's so much we can learn about human health through studying feline health issues. Take this one example: Currently, there's a lot of interest about a process called anti-angiogenesis that can cut the blood supply to cancerous tumors and thereby stop the cancer from spreading. However, some tumors in cats don't seem to respond to this treatment. By studying why these feline tumors don't respond, we could understand a lot more about the process in general--perhaps even how it could work on human tumors! Now, wouldn't that be useful for both cats and humans?
So, scientists, get those applications in to the Morris Animal Foundation, and fast -- the deadline is November 1, 2002. Says the Foundation, "This area remains of great importance to the organization, and funding is available for projects of all sizes focused on advancing veterinary medicine for cats. Applicants seeking grants in the $100,000 per year range are encouraged to apply, and studies lasting up to five years in length will be considered." This year alone, the Foundation says it is committed to funding $4 million worth of studies. If we weren't just cat-loving writers, we'd be applying ourselves!
For more information on how to apply, call the Foundation's Grant Department at (800) 243-2345, or visit the web site at www.MorrisAnimalFoundation.org.
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