The Science Of Diagnostics At Work
Please click and read this, it may save your life and the life of your pet.
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/health_science/v-print/story/1333377.html
Veterinary science has a lot to offer human medicine.
From the article:
A weird thing started to happen when Breitschwerdt talked about Bartonella infections in dogs at veterinary meetings around the country. His colleagues, most of them working vets, said they had the same symptoms he described in the pets — arthritis, fatigue, neurological problems. One man’s symptoms worsened until he could no longer jog and his hands grew numb; he had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
It seemed that they had been exposed to the bacteria, either from animal bites and scratches or from bug bites.
In 2005, the board at NCSU that oversees scientific studies approved Breitschwerdt’s request to test human blood. Of 50 people in the initial group he tested using his culture process and PCR, half were infected with Bartonella. Many had chronic conditions that stubbornly defied traditional treatments.
“[Infection is] an occupational risk for vets,” Breitschwerdt says.
But getting the medical community to consider Bartonella has been difficult — especially for veterinary researchers such as Breitschwerdt. It’s a frustration shared by other Bartonella hunters.
“There’s a lack of attention, and certainly a lack of funding,” says Dr. Bruno Chomel, a researcher at the University of California, Davis. He says even Lyme disease, another tick-borne illness that has met skepticism among doctors over its geographic range and treatment requirements, enjoys more acceptance.