Research At Ross

Current News

July 19-22, 2008

Parasitologist attends 2008 AAVP meeting.

Dr Tammi Krecek attended the American Association for Veterinary Parasitology (AAVP) Annual Meeting in New Orleans. Two key sessions included "Parasites and The Road Less Traveled" and "Parasitological Myth Busters: Fact and Fiction". Dr Krecek moderated a session on equine parasitology.

July 16-19, 2008

RUSVM Researchers host annual Sea Turtle Camp.

Dr Kimberly Stewart and a group of researchers hosted their annual Sea Turtle Camp at the St Kitts Marriott. Approximately 40 children from around the island learned the history and biology of sea turtles in addition to participating in craft activities and games on the beach. Many of these same researchers participated in a two week camp hosted by the Four Seasons in Nevis the following week in which 60 children participated.

Read article from SKNVibes.

May 25-29, 2008

Expert in zoonotic tick-borne diseases at RUSVM.

Dr Lorenza Beati is Associate Professor and Curator of the US National Tick Collection, Georgia Southern University. She is also Affiliated Associate Research Scientist at the Yale School of Medicine, Epidemiology and Public Health. Dr Beati is a specialist in molecular diagnostics of tick-borne diseases including Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF), Lyme disease, leishmani vectors and other emerging diseases. She has consulted and worked in many countries of Africa, Europe and the USA. Dr Beati visited RUSVM in October 2006 and again in May 2007. In this was her third visit to RUSVM, Dr Beati gave a lecture titled, “Importance of systematics for public health.”

May 14-15, 2008

Small stock expert visits RUSVM.

Dr Adriano Vatta is a researcher who specializes in small stock health in subsaharan Africa with resource-poor farmers. In his visit to RUSVM Dr Vatta gave two lectures titled, “Introductory concepts to small ruminant parasite management” and “Research and extension on goat health in the small-scale farming sector.” Dr Vatta’s visit was co-sponsored by the AABP.

Recent News

April 17-18, 2008

Royal Society of South Africa (RSSA) Centenary Conference.

In a recent visit to Cape Town, South Africa, Dr Tammi Krecek participated in a scientific conference with scientists and researchers interested in future collaboration with RUSVM.  Some highlights included a poster and presentation titled, “Which zoonotic parasites occur in cats and monkeys on St Kitts, West Indies?” as well as an abstract with the same title published in a peer review journal.  This presentation and publication stemmed from a project she completed with Bonnie Coy Mitchell, Prather McNeal-Hutchinson, Lenita Moura and Patrick Kelly at RUSVM.

February 21, 2008

RUSVM Researchers Solve St Kitts Dying Fish Mystery.

Reports of dead and dying fish in St Kitts waters in January and February led to the Department of Fisheries contacting RUSVM for assistance. Some RUSVM team members include pathologist Dr Natalie Keirstead, microbiologist Dr Keith Lander and technical research associate John Brake. Biological samples from fish have been examined to determine the cause of these sporadic mortalities in reef fishes. Working with a lab in British Columbia, Canada, and fish pathologists in Prince Edward Island Canada, RUSVM researchers were able to isolate a zoonotic bacterium, Streptococcus iniae, which may be the cause of the mortality events. These results were announced in a joint government-RUSVM press conference on February 19, 2008 in which the cause of the recent fish kills and its potential influence on human health were discussed.

Read article from SKNVibes.

January 19-26, 2008

28th Sea Turtle Symposium: Loreto, Baja California Sur, Mexico.

Dr Kimberly Stewart will be attending the WIDECAST Annual General Meeting and 28th International Sea Turtle Symposium January 21st through January 26th in Loreto, Baja Sur, Mexico. She will be presenting a St. Kitts Country Report at the WIDECAST Meeting and a poster entitled "Engaging Local Schools In Public Awareness Campaigns: A Case Study" during the General Symposium.

January 18, 2008

President and founder of VetPharm Inc. visits.

These can be viewed at the LRC on Walrus under the “Guest Lecturers and Speakers” folder.

January 15, 2008

Be an extern/research assistant! Dr Kimberly Stewart announced 2 openings for Externs/Research Assistants (RA) to aid in field data collection and electronic data capture for her projects: “Evaluating the effect of sampling site on hematologic and plasma biochemistry data in leatherback sea turtles (Dermochelys coriacea)” and “Initial planning and strategy meetings for the development of a community-based Sea Turtle Management and Conservation Program in collaboration with the fishermen of St Kitts and the St Kitts Fisheries Department”. Positions are voluntary and housing will be provided to off-island volunteers. For eligibility requirements and further application information, contact Dr Stewart at kstewart@rossvet.edu.kn

View RA position description here.

November 14-17, 2007

Marine Veterinarian Visits RUSVM. Dr Beth Doescher, a marine mammal veterinarian, visited RUSVM as a guest of the ZEW (Zoo, Exotics and Wildlife) Club and the Department of Research. She is currently with the Atlantis-Dolphin Cay at Paradise Island, Bahamas. Prior to her work at Atlantis, Dr Doescher received her DVM from Colorado State University and worked as a staff veterinarian at Sea Life Park Hawaii. Her lecture to RUSVM was titled “Sublingual lesions in dolphins and treatments” and was followed with a talk on choosing a career path as a marine veterinarian. These can be viewed at the LRC on Walrus under the “Guest Lecturers and Speakers” folder.

November 4-8,2007

Commonwealth Veterinary Association- 4th Pan Commonwealth Veterinary Conference: Barbados Members of the RUSVM Research team presented findings at the Commonwealth Veterinary Association Conference held in Barbados, West Indies. Faculty active in each area elaborated on research results in zoonotic parasitic and infectious diseases and the Sea Turtle Conservation Management Program.

October 28-November 1, 2007

CDC Researchers Visit Ross. Dr Greg Dasch and Dr Marina Eremeeva, both researchers from the CDC, National Center for Infectious Diseases in Atlanta, GA delivered four lectures to the RUSVM Community. In addition, they met with a number of students in a small group setting to discuss internship and career possibilities with the CDC.

View internship information..

August 19-23, 2007
21st International Conference of the WAAVP: Gent, Belgium

Zoonotic nematode parasites in wild caught African green monkeys (Chlorocebus sabaeus) on St Kitts, West Indies
During the 17th century, African green monkeys (Chlorocebus sabaeus) were brought to the island of St Kitts, West Indies from Africa and are now considered an evolutionarily separate species. The population on this island is estimated to be in the tens of thousands, although no recent formal population studies are available. They flourish in the high density residential areas and rural, agricultural lands making contamination of the water and food supply a major human health concern. The parasites of wild caught monkeys on St Kitts have not been investigated so this pilot study was to determine the parasites in both fecal and blood samples. This is the first study to investigate parasites in these monkeys on this island and their zoonotic potential as pets or through contamination of water supply or local agriculture. This study shows all monkeys in all areas have parasites and may be a reservoir of infection to humans on the island.

July 14-17, 2007
AAVP – 52nd Annual Meeting: Washington, DC

Nematode parasites in wild caught African green monkeys (Chlorocebus sabaeus) on St Kitts, West Indies
During the 17th century, African green monkeys (Chlorocebus sabaeus) were brought to the island of St Kitts, West Indies from Africa and are now considered an evolutionarily separate species. The population on this island is estimated to be in the tens of thousands, although no recent formal population studies are available. They flourish in the high density residential areas and rural, agricultural lands making contamination of the water and food supply a major human health concern. The parasites of wild caught monkeys on St Kitts have not been investigated so this pilot study was to determine the parasites in both fecal and blood samples. This is the first study to investigate parasites in these monkeys on this island and their zoonotic potential as pets or through contamination of water supply or local agriculture. This study shows all monkeys in all areas have parasites and may be a reservoir of infection to humans on the island.

Bonnie (Coy) Mitchell has been awarded a Young Investigator Travel Grant to travel to and attend this AAVP meeting. Currently, Bionnie is a 10th Semester veterinary student at Iowa State University. At AAVP she will present a scientific paper "Nematode parasites of wild caught African green monkeys (Chorocebus sabaeus) on St Kitts, West Indies (Co-authors: P McNeal-Hutchinson, R C Krecek).

Melissa Fisher (Community Practice Clinician) will also present a scientific paper at this same meeting. Her presentation is entitled " Predictive values of survey and contrast radiographs in the diagnosis of Spirocerca lupi in apparently healthy dogs, St Kitts, West Indies" (Co-authors JP Morgan, RC Krecek, P Kelly).

May 14-22, 2007

Molecular tick expert returns. Dr Lorenza Beati is Associate Professor and Curator of the US National Tick Collection, Georgia Southern University. She is also Affiliated Associate Research Scientist at the Yale School of Medicine, Epidemiology and Public Health. Dr Beati is a specialist in molecular diagnostics of tick-borne diseases including Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF), Lyme disease, leishmani vectors and other emerging diseases. She has consulted and worked in many countries of Africa, Europe and the USA. Dr Beati visited RUSVM in October 2006 and will visit again 14-22 May 2007. This was Dr Beati’s second visit and was joined by colleagues from Yale University. The following research activities took place.

Full article available here.

April 7-10, 2007

Seven islands participate in sea turtle health workshop! A Caribbean Workshop on Sea Turtle Health was held at RUSVM April 7-10, 2007. Participants from 7 Caribbean islands (Turks and Caicos, St Maarten, Nevis, St Kitts, St John, Martinique and Barbados), Puerto Rico and the United States. The workshop consisted of lectures, wet labs and nightly beach monitoring for nesting leatherbacks to further educate and inform participants about sea turtle health.

March 2007

RUSVM researcher presents findings at anaesthiology meeting. Dr Gwenola Touzot-Jourde recently presented preliminary findings from 2 of her current research projects at the Association of Veterinary Anaesthetists meeting in Paris (March, 2007). These findings are from the projects “Comparison of 4 different alpha2-adrenoceptor agonist based premedications in donkeys: sedative and recovery quality” and “Effects of lidocaine CRI-isoflurane anesthesia on recovery parameters in donkeys”. Both of these projects will continue to collect data for another 8 months.

March 14-17, 2007

Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission collaborates in lobster research. Cynthia Lewis, a marine biologist from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, visited St Kitts March 14-17, 2007 to collect samples from the Caribbean spiny lobster. SpratNet, a local restaurant and several fishermen helped provide the needed samples to test the genetic relatedness of the lobsters.

March 1, 2007

Malaria specialist visits St Kitts! Dr John Dame, a molecular biologist, is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Infectious Diseases and Pathology for the College of Veterinary Medicine at University of Florida. During Dr Dame’s visit, he gave lectures and presentations on Malaria. Some of the topics included: “What is it?” and “Why is it important?” Dr Dame also met with faculty members to discuss a collaborative project, “Assessment of the current distribution of Ehrlichia ruminantium, the agent of heartwater, in the Caribbean”, with RUSVM.

January 11, 2007

Sea turtle expert visits! St Kitts Sea Turtle Monitoring Network (SKSTMN) hosted guest lecturer, Darren Browne, from December 20, 2006 through January 10, 2007. Mr Browne presented a lecture titled “Investigations into the population genetics of Caribbean hawksbill turtles” to SKSTMN volunteers, members of various island organizations and RUSVM faculty, staff and students. In water training catching and tagging of sea turtles foraging in St Kitts was also provided by Mr Browne.

January 8, 2007

Children compete in sea turtle art competition. St Kitts 2006 Sea Turtle Poster Competition Awards Ceremony was held December 9, 2006 at Basseterre High School to announce the winners of the poster competition promoting sea turtle awareness. Children were asked to submit artwork following the theme of the competition which was "Promoting Awareness of Sea Turtles in St Kitts." One hundred ninety entries were received from 14 different schools. Entries were judged on November 11th at RUSVM by 7 local judges. The Awards Ceremony was held at Basseterre High School December 9th, 2006 and over 200 individuals were in attendance. The winners and runners up in each age division received prize packages along with their corresponding teacher. Sponsors for the prizes and Awards Ceremony included: Digicel, Subway, Touch Body Salon, Kenneth’s Dive Center, Oasis Café, The Internet Café, Rock Lobster, WIDECAST (Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network), Caribbean Gifts and Liquor, Sensational Shoreline Plaza, Athlete’s Foot, Glass Island, Just for Kids, the Movies Theatre and RUSVM. The winning designs are featured on three posters advertising the St Kitts Sea Turtle Hotline.

Full article available here.

Archives