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Pet Article
HEALTH - KEEPING YOUR DOG AND CAT HEALTHY
If your dog or cat got sick, you would want your veterinarian to diagnose the problem and
find a treatment that works. You may want to ask questions like: How serious is it?, what's
likely to happen next? how well will the treatment work? how long is my pet likely to live
and will it be happy? These are just some questions that are probably best answered
through epidemilogy, the study of health and disease in populations of animals. Instance.....
how well a diagnostic test works is ultimately determined through clinical research with
real patients. Veterinarians who work directly with patients and who keep records of
test results and subsequent progress of the patients. Epidemilogists collect this information
and analyze it to determine the accuracy of the tests. Some general practice veterinarians
and veterinary clinical epidemiologists work together in many ways..... veterinarians
use epidemilogical studies to define whats normal, so they know when something has gone wrong.
Veterinarians also record information on their patients so Epidemiologists can then use this
information to identify risks for certain diseases. These studies help to prevent disease
and illness in some individuals.
This concept of disease prevention can apply to the human environmental health as well as
in animal health. Pet owners are probably unaware that epidemilogists play a role within
the public health sector. Diseases which are transmissible from animals to humans have
caused world wide concerns and sparked intense interest in the veterinary knowledge of
disease. Therefore, veterinary epidemilogists work alongside physicians within the
government, public health and environmental health which deal with issues like food borne
disease and food safety.Enabling epidemiologists to find connections in the transmission
of disease will help public health agencies develop effective prevention strategies.
Mark Woodcock
1 Flea Control
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