Arthropod-borne Infectious Diseases of the Dog and Cat PDF

PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION

Fifteen years ago the United Kingdom relaxed quarantine regulations and introduced the Pet Travel Scheme, allowing increased movement of pet animals to and from other European countries. At that time, the scheme focused on preventing the incursion of canine rabies and non-endemic ecto- and endoparasites into the UK with a range of preventive measures for travelling animals that have since been considerably modified. As the scheme was being established, Susan Shaw and I recognized the potential for travelling pets to encounter a wide range of arthropodborne infectious diseases that were endemic in southern European countries. We predicted that UK veterinarians would need to recognize and manage cases of these infections in travelling pets and prepare for a future when such infectious agents, and the arthropods that carry them, may become endemic in northern Europe.

With start-up funding from Merial Animal Health, we established the Acarus Laboratory at the University of Bristol to provide rapid molecular diagnosis for these infectious agents and to undertake UK-wide surveillance to monitor the incursion of these pathogens and to document the prevalence of existing endemic infectious agents. At the same time we lobbied for national surveillance and provided continuing education for vet-erinary practitioners, who were entirely unfamiliar with this group of diseases. The first edition of this book, published in 2005, was a further means of providing this education to the veterinary community.

Fifteen years later, many of our predictions have been proven correct. The UK Pet Travel Scheme now allows an average of 100,000 animals to travel into or out of the UK each year. We have documented many hundreds of animals returning from travel with diseases such as leishmaniosis, babesiosis and monocytic ehrlichiosis. Previously unknown arthropod vectors such as Rhipicephalus sanguineus are identified in the field in the UK and autochthonous cases of leishmaniosis and babesiosis in untravelled dogs are reported.

But these changes are now occurring on a much wider global scale. Substantial international movement of pet animals now involves not just travel of individual owned pets, but large scale importation of animals for commercial sale (sometimes illegally) or rehoming. In the latter case, ‘rescue’ associations will collect freeroaming dogs from southern or eastern European or Asian countries and fly them over long distances to North America or northern Europe. The number of such animal movements is often astounding. In parallel, predictions concerning climate change, incursion of the human population into areas of the natural environment and establishment of vectors and microparasitic infections in non-traditional areas have all occurred on a global scale.

Since publication of the first edition of this book there has also been a rediscovery of the importance of the ‘One Health’ approach to disease surveillance and control worldwide. The arthropod-borne infections, which involve people, pets, wildlife and the natural environment, are perfect candidates for a One Health approach to scientific investigation, clinical diagnosis and management and the development of control strategies. Accordingly, this edition places particular emphasis on One Health and zoonotic aspects of the diseases under discussion.

I was delighted that many of the contributors to the first edition so readily agreed to update their chapters for this second edition, but I also welcome a number of new chapter authors who provide a new perspective on the diseases discussed. The fundamental structure of this book remains unchanged, but there is a new chapter on haemoplasma infections and a substantially revised and expanded chapter on rare (and particularly viral) arthropod-borne diseases of dogs and cats. Since publication of the first edition, Susan Shaw has retired, but I am grateful that she inspired me to take an interest in this field and know that she will be pleased to see this second edition of the book.

This second edition comes under the Taylor and Francis imprint, but is the seventh book I have worked on with Commissioning Editor Jill Northcott and as ever, I am grateful for her support and enthusiasm. I am pleased to acknowledge the copyediting skills of Peter Beynon and the expertise of the production team led by Kate Nardoni.

We have much still to learn about these arthropodborne diseases as their prevalence and geographical range expands and new species of the organisms are identified. There remains a need for practicing veterinarians to keep up-to-date in this area and I hope that this book will fulfill that role.