Companion animal TB
Investigation of tuberculosis infection in cats and dogs.
The work conducted by this team is led by Professor Danielle Gunn-Moore at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies in conjunction with the CIVG group. Tuberculosis (TB) in cats and dogs is increasingly recognised and is important not only for animal health, but also in a One Health context as many of these infections are caused by Mycobacterium bovis, which can also lead to TB in humans.
We aim to further investigate the underlying immune responses to TB. This will enable assessment of current diagnostic tests, pave the way for development of new diagnostic indicators and allow improvement of treatment options.
The current work is funded by BBSRC through an EASTBIO-CASE studentship in partnership with Biobest and in collaboration with the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), Finn Pathologists and the Royal Veterinary College (RVC). We also study TB of the eye in cats as part of the Ocular TB team.
Team members: Jordan Mitchell
Team partners: Shelley Rhodes at APHA, Melanie Dobromylskyj at Finn Pathologists and Laura MacDougall at RVC
Key references:
O’Halloran, C., Tørnqvist-Johnsen, C., Woods, G., Mitchell, J., Reed, N., Burr, P, Gascoyne-Binzi, D., Wegg, M., Beardall, S., Hope, J., & Gunn-Moore, D. (2020). Feline tuberculosis caused by Mycobacterium bovis infection of domestic UK cats associated with feeding a commerical raw food diet. Transbound Emerg Dis. Online ahead of print https://doi.org/10.1111/tbed.13889
O'Halloran, C., Ioannidi, O., Reed, N., Murtagh, K., Dettemering, E., Van Poucke, S., Gale, J., Vickers, J., Burr, P., Gascoyne-Binzi, D., Howe, R., Dobromylskyj, M., Mitchell, J., Hope, J., & Gunn-Moore, D. (2019). Tuberculosis due to Mycobacterium bovis in pet cats associated with feeding a commercial raw food diet. J. Feline Med. Surg. 21(8), 667–681. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098612X19848455
O’Halloran, C., Hope, J., Dobromylskyj, M., Burr, P., McDonald, K., Rhodes, S., Roberts, T., Dampney, R., De la Rua-Domenech, R., Robinson, N. & Gunn-Moore, D. A. (2018) An outbreak of tuberculosis due to Mycobacterium bovis in a pack of English Foxhounds (2016-2017). Trans. Emerg. Dis. 65(6), 1872-1884. https://doi.org/10.1111/tbed.12969
O'Halloran, C., McCulloch, L., Rentoul, L., Alexander, J., Hope, J. C., & Gunn-Moore, D. A. (2018). Cytokine and Chemokine Concentrations as Biomarkers of Feline Mycobacteriosis. Sci. Rep. 8(1), 17314. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-35571-5