The American Kennel Club Canine Health Foundation in Raleigh, N.C., handed out its first round of Tick-Borne Disease Initiative Grants, totaling more than $200,000, to researchers at five organizations.

The initiative aims to use science to increase understanding and improve diagnostics, treatment and prevention of tick-caused canine diseases.

“The foundation chose this area of research important to canine health because we believe we can have an immediate and long-lasting impact on these diseases in dogs and their human companions,” said foundation CEO Diane Brown, DVM, Ph.D., Dipl. ACVP.

The recipients were:

• Linda Kidd, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, Ph.D., of the Western University of Health Sciences College of Veterinary Medicine, who received nearly $13,000 to study thrombocytopenia and occult vector-borne disease in greyhounds.
• Jason Stull, VMD, Dipl. ACVPM, Ph.D., of the Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine, who received more than $14,000 to study Lyme disease in dogs.
• North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine’s Edward Breitschwerdt, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, who received $103,000 to research ways to improve the diagnosis of bartonellosis in dogs.
• Pedro Paul Diniz, DVM, Ph.D., of Western University of Health Sciences, who will use $60,000 to try to improve the diagnosis of canine tick-borne diseases using next-generation DNA sequencing.
• Mary Anna Thrall, DVM, Dipl. ACVP, of the Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, who received $15,000 to research the role lymphocytes play in canine enrlichiosis.

Originally published in the November 2016 issue of Veterinary Practice News. Did you enjoy this article? Then subscribe today!