Journal article receives award
An article that appeared in Veterinary Pathology in 2010, and was coauthored by several faculty members from the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine, has received the 2011 C.L. Davis Foundation Journal Award.
The foundation’s national advisory board’s selected the paper, “Canine H3N8 Influenza Virus Infection in Dogs and Mice,” as the best original article published in Veterinary Pathology in 2010. The award was presented Dec. 5 in Nashville, Tenn. at the annual meeting of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists. Accepting the award on behalf of the authors was Dr. William Castleman, the paper’s lead author and a professor of veterinary pathology at the UF CVM.
The paper described pathologic lesions in racing greyhound dogs as well as in pet and shelter dogs naturally infected with the H3N8 influenza virus. This virus causes a serious and highly contagious respiratory disease in dogs and lesions associated with the virus serve as diagnostic indicators of the infectious disease in diagnostic laboratory medicine, Castleman said.
“The study also characterized lesions and sites of viral replication in the respiratory system central to the development of disease following experimental infection in dogs,” Castleman said, adding that the study developed a mouse model of canine influenza viral infection for more detailed studies on the development and control of the disease so that the use of dogs in experimental studies could be minimized.
Other University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine faculty who contributed to the article included Dr. Cynda Crawford and Dr. Paul Gibbs. Drs. Edward Dubovi of Cornell University and Ruben Donis of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, both virologists, played key roles in identifying and characterizing the initial and subsequently isolated viruses.
Drs. Joshua Powe and Daren Hanshaw were residents in anatomic pathology at UF at the time and participated in the initial spontaneous disease investigations conducted in the college’s anatomic pathology service, as well as in subsequent experimental studies in Castleman’s laboratory. Powe is currently senior research pathologist at Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc. in Cambridge, Mass. Hanshaw is currently the staff pathologist at Gribbles VETLAB in Glenside, SA, Australia.
A description of Veterinary Pathology found on its website describes the journal as the premierinternational publication of basic and applied research involving domestic, laboratory, wildlife, marine and zoo animals, and poultry.