Veterinary Conservation Medicine
Ongoing Research Projects

Conservet veterinary conservation medicine ongoing research projects in this externship are aimed at introducing students to field and laboratory methodologies (such as mist net and other capture techniques, wildlife identification, blood work, parasite examinations, geographical information systems) that can be leveraged toward big-picture veterinary assessments through the lens of a variety of key species, including domestic livestock as well as a variety of wildlife species, including bats, rodents, opossums, fish, birds, amphibians and insects.

Ongoing Research Projects

• An ongoing project, in collaboration with SENASA, ( El Servicio Nacional de Salud ) the Costa Rican government veterinary agency concerned with transboundary diseases, involves testing wild birds (as well as domestic poultry) for the presence of avian influenza. Results become a part of the SENASA database.
• Another study examines triatomine bugs and opossums as carriers of the trypanosome of Chagas disease, an expanding chronic infection that is now ranked as one of the neglected veterinary and human tropical diseases.
• Still another project involves mosquito capture and identification as part of the course in a search for the carriers of such expanding viral diseases as dengue, chikungunya and zika. Externship participants will capture and identify mosquitoes that can vector the 3 viruses. These mosquitoes (and viruses) have already been identified in the lowlands, and with climate change, the question is whether they will start to climb now into higher country, possibly carrying the virus.

All three research areas – Chagas disease carriers, mosquito vector identification and avian influenza testing – involve intersects with human, animal and environmental health. Exploring these initiatives during the externship will include supporting lectures and discussions, as well as field work and laboratory testing.

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Conservation Veterinary Medicine
Animal, Human and Environmental Health Connection