Ticking the Boxes: A Vector-Borne Disease Discussion with Dr. Michelle Evason

Welcome back to Tails from the Lab, a veterinary podcast.

As you may have noticed, we’ve made some exciting changes around here.

I am your new co host, Dr. Brad Ryan, senior professional services veterinarian at Antech diagnostics.

And I’m Dr. Holly Brown, a clinical pathologist and chief veterinary educator at Antech.

Together we’ll be discussing real patients and bring in expert guests to offer deeper insights into the laboratory diagnostics used to solve interesting and challenging cases. Tails from the Lab is a production of Antech Diagnostics.

The intent of this podcast is to provide education and guidance with the understanding that any diagnostic testing and treatment decisions are ultimately at the discretion of the attending veterinarian within the established veterinarian patient client relationship.

Just a quick note before we jump into today’s episode. Our guest today is Dr. Michelle Evason, who is employed by Antech. We are sharing this so you have full transparency about the relationships involved.

Welcome back to Tails from the Lab.

I’m Brad Ryan, Senior professional services veterinarian at Antech. And today we are doing a deep dive on the importance of vector borne disease screening. We’ve had a lot of exciting changes at Antech this year and we have a very special guest to do a deep dive on this topic with and that is Dr. Michelle Evason.

We’ve been colleagues at Antech for a few years now. I value her expertise so much and I’m excited that we get to share share her insights and all the great research that she’s been doing with with all of you today.

So Dr. Evason, if you wouldn’t mind, just tell us a little bit about yourself. For those of you, for those who are listening who have not met you yet. Yeah, tell us about your, your background and what led you to Antech.

Well, first, what a lovely introduction, Brad. Thank you. It has been a an honor and a pleasure to be your colleague for the past three years, which is kind of incredible.

So I always start with I’m a veterinarian, a small animal internal medicine specialist.

I’ve had a really fun career where I’ve rarely said no to things. And so that’s led me in a lot of different directions. But I suppose if I had to choose a few things that usually get associated with my name and my career, it would be infectious disease, spectrum of care and pet owner as well as veterinarian education, I think would be the big things.

Yeah, we’ve had a lot of exciting things over the past six months, in particular here at Antech and across the broader Mars. And I’m really excited to get the chance to chat with them and also with you today.

Yeah, thank you. And my journey to veterinary medicine started in the infectious disease world. I did a Master’s of science looking at parasitology, dynamic disease dynamics and spotted hyenas, of all things.

And looking at the world through that lens of, of one health and seeing how we actually have these pathogens that move from wildlife into livestock, wildlife into domestic pets, livestock into people, wildlife to people, and that we’re all connected in the environment and we live in a world that’s kind of a blender. Right.

Where depending on who’s going where with their pets into what new corner of the country, we might be introducing new parasites along with those animals.

And we’re not gonna know how those disease dynamics are changing in our backyards. Right.

Unless we are monitoring that in real time.

And that’s sort of the sweet spot that’s going on behind the scenes when veterinarians are submitting samples on their patients. Obviously front of mind is the health of that patient.

But you know, we’re looking at it through an entirely different lens. Right. Because we want to know epidemiologically what’s, what’s going on in this country right now, what’s going on in Canada, what’s going on in the US and, and that’s, that’s a, that’s a surveillance that, that we’re, we’re a surveillance.

Functioning. Sorry, that’s a surveillance function that we’re offering that a lot of people don’t think about.

Absolutely. And I love that you started with the story of hyenas because I think wildlife is all too often forgotten when we start talking about, and again, a beautiful description of that you gave there, that intersection between the environment which includes wildlife as well as what I usually refer to as the two legged animal.

Right.

So not the reason most of us went into veterinary medicine, but definitely important.

And then of course the four legs, which for the purposes of today, we’re talking about cats as well as dogs and yeah, absolutely. Couldn’t agree more, is these infectious disease pathogens, specifically those that are vector borne, not only do they have impacts on dogs and cats and veterinary conversations as part of the general practice, day to day and as recommended and advised for screening by big organizations and groups with a lot of evidence and experts jam packed in there like the Companion Animal Parasite Council in Canada, the Canadian Parasite Expert Panel, soon to have a slight name change as well as big groups like, AAHA, the American Animals Hospital Association, Right. Where they’re recommending that annual screening to veterinarians not just to inform disease risk as well as exposure to these vector borne pathogens, but also to share that with their pet owners and their broader communities.

Right.

And candidly, because the human medical community is often not as up to date on some of these infectious agents as we are as members of veterinary teams and sometimes can feel uncomfortable communicating disease risk to the two legged animal.

Very true.

And so when I’m in a hospital now and I’m talking about the importance of annual vector borne disease screening,

I’m often leaning on those expert based guidelines to show that this is not just me saying this, this is a changing world.

And our expert based guidelines are reflecting that changing world and those new needs. I think a great example of that obviously is the American Heartworm Society’s updated guidelines, feline heartworm disease, which I have to say nine times out of 10 that that comes as a surprise to the veterinarians that I’m, I’m speaking to. Do you want to, I mean, because we are, we have some diagnostics available now to meet that, that evolving recommendation as well.

Yeah, it’s a, it’s a hard thing. And I, you, I mean you can, you can obviously see behind me what I’ve got pictures of on the walls is I’ve got a real soft spot for the kitty people, as I usually refer to them, and it’s really great to see that they’re now included.

Right.

These infectious agents. And of course the one that you’re talking about when we’re talking about heartworm, dira, flare, imitas, the vector there being mosquitoes. And I think people sometimes forget that cats too are at risk of being bitten by a mosquito and having that pathogen Dirofilaria passed on to the cat and then they can develop a disease state.

Right. And so the American Heartworm Society guidelines really reflect that need for one awareness around overall feline preventive care.

Which I’m going to go on a little bit of a side tangent if you’ll indulge me, because I think one of the things about preventive care that I’m really passionate about is when it relates to another big interest topic of mine, which is spectrum of care or contextualized care.

Right. And so I think part of why I’m passionate about it is not just because preventive care is what some folks call best medicine, so really taking care of that dog and cat, but it also brings in things like cost.

Right. And so definitely a lot more cost effective to have preventive care use preventions, get those Annual exams, do things like fecal testing, screening for these infectious pathogens before allowing that pet to get sick because it’s not protected or the disease risk is not being recognized. Right. And so again, brings that all together.

And that can sound kind of weighty, but that really is the foundation of what veterinarians are trying to do out there in general practice. And I am thankful for that every single day.

Right. Not just for my own dogs and cats, but also for the broader community because again, lowering that risk and reducing the amount of carriage of these infectious disease pathogens, it benefits not just the individual dog and cat, but the broader community.

And as you mentioned, one of the other things that we really know about and partly why these great evidence and expertise guidelines that you mentioned are here, and they’re changing all the time, is because disease risk is evolving.

And these days it’s a lot different than when I graduated from veterinary school, right. And we didn’t even really talk about some of the Ehrlichia species. We didn’t even know they were there.

You can probably tell from my accent that I’m a proud Canadian and I remember actually graduating from veterinary school and we didn’t even talk about things like anaplasma. We weren’t even aware of Ehrlichia risk.

Right. And I think that’s, that’s true in parts of the United States as well. Right? In places like Florida, they didn’t even think that Borrelia burgdorferi, the agent of Lyme, was a problem for them.

But now we know that these tick species and other vectors are on the move and they’ve shifted into new areas and are bringing these infectious disease agent risks along with them.

And that doesn’t even get into travel associated risks. Right. Like a friend of mine was talking about an outbreak of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever that they had recently in a part of Canada that they didn’t anticipate at all.

They were able to make that diagnosis through PCR and recognition, unfortunately, because some of these dogs had traveled from that part of Ontario, Canada back into the United States. It’s summer, people are traveling. Veterinarians didn’t know to ask about, hey, have you been anywhere recently with your dog? There’s been deaths that have occurred because Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever wasn’t identified. So again, being aware of the shifting landscape of vector borne disease, knowing what test options are available and what tests to choose, as well as asking these kind of questions, and at the end of the day, really focusing on that preventive care, these are things that we can do as part of the veterinary community that help everyone, not just that pet owner and that particular pet, but also the broader community. And I think it’s really beautiful that we can work together as a veterinary community to inform on these disease risks because I know everybody wants these pets as well as their people to stay safe.

And it’s a story that we’ve seen play out time and time again, right? Every part of the, of North America that is either emerging or endemic. For let’s just go with Lyme today.

Not so long ago we might not even, might not have even had the vector present in the state, right? And so even in, you know, we think of New England as sort of our classic poster child hotspot for, for Lyme.

But my boss was working before they even recognized that that was an issue. And neither did the, you know, the medical doctors in that state and Ohio, where I’m from and I’ve lived my whole life, same, same situation, right? We, it wasn’t until I think 2007 or 2008 when an MPH student at Ohio State did a project, a tick surveillance project that we even confirmed that there were deer ticks,

black legged ticks in the state of Ohio. And now here we are a decade and a half later and it’s fully endemic. So the plot changes rapidly, right?

And you know, you talked a little bit about nerding out and of course I couldn’t, I couldn’t agree more. I usually refer to myself as queen of the dorks. But part of why infectious disease is, is so fascinating to me is because, you know, you talk about Borrelia Burgdorferi the agent of Lyme and how it’s swept across the US Midwest, way up into Canada, also moving across and also down into the southern U.S. but then there’s other vectors too, right? And so ones like Chagas disease with kissing bugs, right?

We used to think of that as a, oh, we would never have it and oh, it would only be in Texas. But now we know that it’s also moving and it’s moving out of there.

And again, that’s another one of these infectious disease agents and vectors that has not only pet dog related risks, right? Like awful heart disease, acute death, but also the same types of disease concerns for humans.

And I know both of us talk a lot about how pets, dogs and cats can serve as sentinels of disease risks, right? So we’re obviously as veterinarians, admittedly we just like animals better, right? Like I don’t mind confessing that of course that’s why I went into the profession.

So saying you get older, you maybe have a couple kids like I do, you feel a little bit more accountable for the broader two legged population.

And so again, bringing that awareness forward is really important for cats. You know, we started, you started off asking me about feline heartworm and I’m really glad to see that awareness about cats.

Like I remember recently, you probably do too. Earlier this year we asked veterinarians what clients say when they pet owners say when they ask about cats and heartworms. And they told us that the pet owners didn’t think that that was a risk because they lived in gated communities.

Right. So again, just bringing that awareness that these vectors, yes, they can get inside, yes, they can cause disease for cats and dogs even if they live in gated communities.

And that yes, we have tests available commerc easily accessible. And also one of the things that I feel really proud about at Antechh is we really feel strongly about options based diagnostics.

And so we have different diagnostic tests that fit best into the specific veterinary clinic workflow. Right. So they can either use the truRapid™ FOUR test if they want to test in hospital and get those answers sooner than later, or they can send out to the lab for something like Accuplex™ or if they’re looking for evidence of genetic material of a particular infectious agent and they need that because they have a pet with acute clinical signs, they can send out for a vector borne PCR test.

And I’m also really excited this year because not only do we have all these offerings which also incorporate contextualized diagnostics and spectrum of care and meeting clinics and pet owners where they are, but they also come with robust research and evidence because we had over a dozen abstracts accepted this year at the AVCIM, the internal medicine conference that were presented by various Antech team members. And so again, just making sure that veterinarians have all that expert evidence based information that they need so they can feel confident with their recommendations to not only raise awareness and educate on the diseases, but also know what tests to use and also go on our sites and have a look at those clinical decision making algorithms if they have, you know, any concerns related to a specific case or reach out to our consult team. Our consult team, little known fact, which I always like to promote is our consult team headed by Dr. Kelly Mitchell. They speak to over 800 veterinarians a day.

Say that again.

Eight hundred veterinarians a day. I know, right?

It’s amazing how efficient and also how incredibly knowledgeable that team is. But I think part of that is also because at Antech we feel very strongly that having a human support to go along with all the diagnostic innovations that are coming for vector borne disease that are backed by research, current timely research that is specific to the test and also does more than that. It also not only is specific to the test quality and performance, but also compares the tests. Right. So again, providing veterinarians with options that they can look at and then communicate confidently to their clients so that they know how to choose the test. And also if they need support on a result, they can reach out and speak to an actual person and not just a person, but a member of the consult team and get that information that they need fast is, is also something that really gives that whole package.

I think options are key, right, because you single doctor practices, multi doctor practices, rural versus urban. I mean we have all these different factors, right, that play into how veterinarians end up practicing a certain way and having a work culture that, that, that just they found over time works for them.

And so.

Absolutely.

Yeah, and they should, right.

If that’s the style of practice that works in a given area for a given clinic, then that’s what we want to be able to support in any way that we need.

And I think again, you sort of described access to care as well, which is another key part of spectrum of care and offering contextualized diagnostics to meet veterinarians and their clients exactly where they are.

Right. And so now whether, I mean it can look a lot of different ways. Right. We have have practices that from a workflow perspective are, are sending all of their wellness vector borne disease screening to have Accuplex run at our lab.

But now we have truRapid FOUR. So we have patient side offerings. We have those hospitals that have always traditionally used a competitive product for 100% of their wellness visits.

And now we have, we have a truRapid FOUR for patient side testing, but we also have practices that do a combination. Right. So for those, those sick patients that come in and we have vector borne on the list, perhaps we know there was a lapse of compliance at some point during the past year or we see a tick on the pet.

If I may. The other thing that I always try to interject too is I think sometimes we think, oh, the preventives are foolproof. But what’s hard about some of these vectors, Rocky Mountain spotted fever is another one.

And I always try to say this is the preventives are excellent that we have available to us in veterinary medicine, but sometimes the transmission time is really fast for certain infectious agents.

And so again, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is one of those is even with preventives sometimes because tick attachment and transmission of Rickettsia rickettsii is so quick that even with preventives there can be transmission and that dog can get really sick.

And then again, circling back around to one health, that dog is then serving as a sentinel for the humans. Right. Because Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, that is no joke.

Well, we made a major enhancement to our PCR panel this year.

Would you like to kind of dive into some of the additions that happened on the panel?

And also just we’ve said it a few times, but it’s one of the most common questions that I get as a PSV you know, when is the proper time and place for that panel?

Clearly when we have a sick patient and we know there’s been exposure to a ticket having a negative truRapid FOUR or a negative Accuplex doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods, right?

No, absolutely. And I’m glad that you bring that up, Brad. Thank you for it. Because it is a really common question. And I think one of the things that’s tough is we didn’t used to have this kind of ready access to pcr.

And it’s only through the work of folks like Christian Leutenegger and his R&D team that Antech has evolved in advance so rapidly with respect to commercially available molecular diagnostic tests like PCR.

Right. We obviously we have our KeyScreen™ GI parasite PCR which has revolutionized what we do with fecal testing. Right. And alerted to a lot of these One Health risks and is just oh so exquisitely sensitive.

And now we have access to a vector borne disease PCR test for dogs and cats, which has given us the ability instead of waiting weeks to get a serology or an antibody test result back on a patient that has an acute onset of clinical signs.

It now gives us a commercially available test that has a huge number of pathogens on it. Right. We’ve mentioned a few of them as we’ve been speaking today. So some of the more common ones like Anaplasma phagocytophilum, [A.] platus, Ehrlichia canis, [E.] ewingii, [E.] chaffeensis, Trypanosoma cruzi.

Right. The hemotropic mycoplasmas. And then of course the one that I mentioned earlier, Cytauxzoon felis or bobcat fever some people will call it for cast. And then the other thing about that one is it also brings, it incorporates as part of the panel.

Right.

You don’t have to pay more.

You get an antimicrobial resistance. Right. So the drug that we use for treatment of infections like Babesia, which is also on the panel, as well as Cytauxzoon felis in cats, Atovaquone resistance is a rising concern in the US as well as across the pond in Asia.

And so that antimicrobial resistance marker has been incorporated on this panel. And so PCR allows us to take that. Ooh, it’s got vague clinical signs. Maybe it’s a vector borne disease.

I’d like to run a test. Which one? Well, I actually really want to know if there’s DNA or genetic material present so I can slam dunk the diagnosis.

So hey, I’m grabbing a PCR and actually now that I’ve got the result back, I now can target treatment specifically,

I can bring in antimicrobial and I might also, if I need to, depending on the pathogen, be able to use PCR to monitor treatment efficacy and whether the infection is truly resolved.

So again, PCR was not something that most of us thought we could even use. Right. And I think that’s kind of the big thing with PCR testing is we didn’t even know as veterinarians that that was an option.

And so yeah, as you, as you mentioned, it’s a big question like when am I reaching for PCR over what I’m using as a screen tests as per CAPC and AAHA guidelines, annually when I’m doing that heartworm tick borne disease screening.

Those are antibody tests and of course antigen for heartworm. So screening tests to look for exposure to the tick borne pathogens and a PCR test to look for evidence of genetic material in those cases where we want to treat quickly, we need to use it for monitoring or the other situation which is coming up an increasing amount of time because again, as these ticks are on the move and we get asked a lot, oh, why, why am I seeing all these positives now for anaplasma and Ehrlichia is now that I’ve got that positive serology for anaplasma or Ehrlichia, what do I do now in a pet that seems healthy.

Right. And so we’ve actually put together clinical decision making algorithms to support those conversations.

And also know when you might want to reach for that PCR test to confirm whether there’s evidence of genetic material and know when you need to pull out treatment, usually doxycycline.

And, and of course not to forget to be having those conversations with Pet owners about their own risk too.

Sorry, that was probably a mouthful and a half.

But it’s everything that matters and I think, you know, there’s, there’s so much there I want to kind of go back to. But you know, I think about,

I think about with, with the drug resistance issue in particular. You know, I always start my, my GI parasite PCR lectures with a, a, a, a, a photo of micro of hookworm eggs under the microscope and everyone knows what a hookworm egg looks like.

And then I say okay, so is this one, are we going to, are we going to kill this one with panic care or do we need a multi drug treatment protocol? Anybody want to make a, a guess on that one? You know and I, of course I’m being a little bit sarcastic there, but the point is.

You’re making the point. Yeah.

The DNA tells the story, right?

Yeah. I mean again, the brilliance, and I just have to say it, the brilliance of Dr. Christian Leutenegger and his team in being so forward thinking, recognizing that parasite resistance was on the rise not just for fecal parasites like hookworm, but also for vector borne parasites like Babesia and Cytauxzoon felis and being forward thinking enough to, to put that on a panel so that veterinarians have that. Because I think like we’re all aware, all of us in the medical community, human as well as veterinary, that antimicrobial resistance is on the rise. Right. That WHO top 10 global threats. Right. We all are aware, we’ve ticked that box, if I may use that pun. But I think what we’re less aware is that antimicrobial resistance is also related to parasites.

And it’s not just, you know, we’ve seen Florida go from the state being that had the greyhounds with hookworms and then you know, hookworm resistance being found in places like Canada, Australia, Brazil, all within a very small timeframe.

And I suspect the same will be true with a lot of our other vectors. Right. And so being forward thinking enough to put an atovaquone drug resistance marker on this big panel that tests for all of these vector borne pathogens as well as, you know, antimicrobial resistance and, and of course have that be backed up with solid science at a place like ACVIM is really innovative and it makes me feel good about being at Antech.

Absolutely. I get a lot of questions about Rocky Mountain and the fact that that’s obviously not included.

Yeah. Because it’s not included in any of our traditional four ways that we’ve been using in the industry or in the profession.

And also the vector, you mentioned that we’ve got it in Canada. Right? We’ve, but we also have the vector that transmits Rocky Mountain in every state in the lower 48.

And yes, yeah, and, and there are, there are certainly focal hotspots if you will. But yes, I mean that’s a, that’s another. Those are tick species that are on the move. I think, I think the other thing too, and you know, Brad, we’ve chatted about this too, is infectious disease is kind of one of those funny things where you’re like it’s never going to happen here.

And then it does and then you see a vector and you’re, and you’re like eh, they’re only ever gonna carry this infectious disease agent and then they carry more. Right.

I think the longhorn tick is a great example of that as well. Right. Like at first we were like wow, we would never gonna see that in the U.S. oh, we’re never gonna see it in places like Connecticut. Oh, we’re never gonna see it in places like Canada.

Oh, it’s never gonna carry bugs like Anaplasma phagocytophilum. Right.

Oh, it’s never gonna carry Ehrlichia chaffeensis. And then again we are proven wrong time and time again. And so I mean that’s what I like about infectious disease. It evolves, it keeps us on our toes.

But I also recognize the need for education for veterinarians doing their day to day because there’s been a lot of change and some of that is these vectors moving. But also too it’s our response in our toolkit, diagnostically in what we choose and how we use these tests us.

Well and, and that’s the nature of research, isn’t it? That by the time we confirm it and certainly by the time the paper is published, this has been going on in nature for an extended period of time. So the, the research obviously is only going to confirm what’s, what’s been going on out in the, out in our backyards for sometimes a period of years.

Absolutely. And you know, one of the other things that I find exciting, and you know this because I, I say this all the time about my day to day is because we have veterinarians say thank you at this point, sending us, trusting us with their sample submissions, we actually are oftentimes being made aware of some of these vectors and these infectious agents. And then we work pretty hard here to turn that around and get that out to the veterinary community.

So that Things like, you know, Echinococcus multilocularis, for example, we can inform on risk when we find it, courtesy of veterinarians sending a sample in places that we didn’t expect to find.

And I anticipate that now that we’ve launched the vector borne PCR test, we’re going to do exactly the same thing with that. And I actually not to let the cat out of the bag, although I suppose I did just a little bit there.

We are doing exactly that, which is finding these infectious agents in places where we never anticipated finding them and where they haven’t been reported before. And so that’s fun for someone like me, but it’s also great information to again spin around and get out to the veterinary community, which we will do, I promise.

What I refer to as the low prevalence, high stakes infectious diseases. Right. We might not see them that often and maybe that’s. And we would see a lot more if we were testing more often and more comprehensively, which is what we’re trying to do.

But inevitably when these infections do happen, they can be quite catastrophic. And so to be able to offer, to offer diagnostic screens, screening for those, those infectious agents that are perhaps less common but have such huge implications for veterinary and public health is a, is a big game changer in the, in the industry, I think.

Yeah, it is. And it, you know, and it gets back to those day to day conversations that are happening in clinics, right. When, you know, veterinarians are well aware that they should be doing screening, right?

Like we know all these things, why, we understand why we do the screening for vector borne diseases like heartworm and Ehrlichia and anaplasma and Borrelia Burgdorferi as well as the fecal parasites. Like we understand why we do that, but sometimes like turning that around and explaining and communicating it to pet owners and also doing so in the context of contextualized care, spectrum of care, so that we can meet our pet owners where they’re at. Sometimes that part can be harder for us as veterinarians, right. Because most of us went into the field because we like the four legs.

And talking to the two legs is sometimes, at least for me, takes a little bit more effort and work. So again, learning how to have those conversations in and around these test results and telling our pet owners why so that they also understand and value that what we’re trying to do as a profession is help their pets live longer and happier.

Sometimes that part gets a little lost.

It’s going to be a pretty common occurrence Right. When we’re seeing, if we’re seeing, let’s just go with ticks. If we’re seeing ticks on our pets, there’s probably a shared lifestyle where we’re, where owners are, are out in the woods walking with their pets or walking, walking around on the farm or they live in their backyard.

Absolutely.

And the number of, I mean this is, this is not a reflection of anything other than the fact that I hike a lot. But it’s, you know, in the summer months it’s going to happen.

I’m going to find ticks crawling up my leg on the drive home from the, from the, the park where I take my dogs.

And sometimes I feel them crawling up my leg in the middle of the night because they get off my dog and walk across the room and they find the other warm blooded creature in the room.

And so I take it very seriously because I know what diseases they transmit and I also know that there’s an interface that is occurring as a result of my lifestyle.

But if you have giant schnauzers, you go hiking every day or you pay the price.

And so there’s vigilance that comes with that. But not everybody is vigilant about checking their bodies after a hike or putting their clothes in the dryer and all these things that we need to do.

So it’s not what we typically, it’s not, it’s not what most veterinarians are thinking about when they go into this profession. But I remind every veterinarian that I speak to that promotion of public health is part of our oath.

Sure. And you know, and just informing again that things have, have changed. Right. Like we, we used to say, you know, you said it too in the summer. Well, actually as, as I know, you know, risk is not just in the summer. And, and even, even historically cold Canada. Right. In January, February, there’s enough ticks are out and they’re questing that is looking for someone, someone warm blooded, whether it’s a dog or a human to latch onto. And so that’s been a change as well, a big change. Right. And so risk is also changed quite a lot.

And you know, climate change, whether you believe it or not, that has really impacted things. And I think that’s again, it’s exciting for me because I am an infectious disease nerd. But I think that’s why we’re seeing some of these vectors like Chagas disease, kissing bugs, we’re see in new areas now because there has been a change in environmental conditions and I think, you know, awareness always lags a bit. Right. And that, and that’s hard.

And so again, just having these day to day conversations and being aware and also talking to clients about the why because they want that why too. Right. Like, pet owners are coming in because they love their dog and their cat.

So if you explain to them that your shared goal is living longer, happier lives and also, by the way, preventive care keeps the costs down.

These are ways to get that messaging across and build a team based and a shared decision making conversation that allows for these contextualized conversations to happen.

Yeah. And before I forget, I want to kind of piggyback off of what you were saying in terms of changing climate because this is where, when I was working in Ohio during COVID this is what I saw happening in the spring, we had a lot of seropositivity when owners were taking their pets off of Prevention in the winter months.

And, but you know, as, as early or going back, just you don’t, you only have to go back to like the, the late 90s.

And I had veterinarians telling me I could take my pet off prevention in October and start up again in April.

And four years ago I went hiking on New Year’s Day and it was 70 degrees Fahrenheit and I pulled 20 ticks off of my dog.

So the, the year round prevention piece is, is something that even though we might have owners and veterinarians that are very, they’re on top of that idea of, of prevention, at least during the perceived peak season. We don’t really have a peak season, especially not as it pertains to some of the hardier winter ticks like the, the, the black legged ticks and the deer. The deer ticks, right.

No, absolutely. And, and it’s again, it’s why recommendations from groups like the American Heartworm Society and, and also CAPC have, have changed. For mosquitoes. Right. For Dirofilaria. For heartworm. Right. Because again, like ticks, we’re seeing more like mosquitoes and others can survive. Right. Like they’re not being killed because we just don’t have these grueling winters like we used to.

And that pertains to not just dogs, but also cats.

I want to say that, you know, as a, as a senior professional services veterinarian, I speak on behalf of my entire team that since you have joined Antech and you’ve been putting forth all this research along with your, your colleagues in clinical education and in research and development as well, we were able to go out and speak to veterinarians and really make this case in a very robust way that we weren’t able to before. And so I don’t want to close out this conversation without giving you an opportunity to share some of the research findings that stand out to you as the most compelling that you’ve been able to uncover in your time here.

And if you can, what are the things that you’re seeing?

What are the questions that are circulating in your brain right now about our changing world, world. And what do you hope to uncover in the months and years ahead?

So thank you, Brad. I mean, I rely on your team as well to take some of the what can sometimes seem like scary science, I think sometimes, and translate that into the day to day.

But I think I try to do that too, probably not as successfully as you guys. And one of the things that I am the most proud of this year is that the research that we brought to the internal medicine conference this year was so practical and not just for the specialists, but also for general practitioners. Right. And if I’m being honest, mainly for general practitioners because I’m very aware that having confidence in the test options that you have at your fingertips and that you’re using every single day,

I mean, I always own this piece. I think in veterinary colleges we sometimes don’t do a great job focusing on what most students are going to do when they graduate. Right. Which is go into general practice.

And so we don’t spend as much time as we should talking about screening, testing, talking about how to do a spay and neuter, how to do a dental. And we spend even less time talking about what your available toolkit is once you get out into veterinary practice.

And so what I really wanted to do, and fortunately Dr. Christian Leutenegger, his team, other members of the medical team as well, were on board to put together abstracts, research abstracts that really did not just performance and quality assessment of the tests that we have available for vector borne disease screening as well as diagnosis, but also do practical head to head compares with other competitor offerings.

Right. Because we know veterinarians need that. Right. They need that confidence.

Why are you choosing this test? Well, I’m choosing it because it’s backed by research.

I have sensitivity, specificity, data.

Right. I know it’s gone through peer review.

And so I can use that in my clinic to talk to other veterinarians in the practice and also feel good about what I’m recommending to pet owners and also bring those for not just our reference lab offerings, but across all of the rooms of the Antech house.

Right. So reference lab, as well as the truRapid FOUR tests, which are in clinic tests. And then of course really wanted to have robust research around the vector borne disease PCR panel so that veterinarians knew that they had one, a PCR test that was available to them.

Two, it went head to head against what most folks like myself consider sort of the gold standard, although I don’t usually like to use that term, but NC State’s test and also what all the pathogens on that test were.

So again, really practical research so that folks like yourself could go into clinics and have those conversations. And you didn’t need to start with the show me the data because that again, I’ll use the pun.

Is already ticked.

Ticked.

Yeah, yeah.

It’s exciting.

It’s pretty exciting.

It is. And it’s scary. Ticks suck. Is that a pun I’m allowed to use?

But they really do. And people are concerned about it. People are aware of it.

But I think veterinarians are always hungry for more information. They want to know what, what, what should I be doing? Because this is not something I had to worry about 10 years ago.

No. And I, and I also hope, and part of my intent with some of the research too is that we could help veterinarians feel empowered, if you will, in their day to day.

Right. Like,

yes, this can be scary. Yes, it can feel overwhelming. Yes, it’s changing all the time. It feels that way. Cause it actually is. But, but wait a second. I have a toolkit that I can trust and feel confident in.

I, I have people that I can reach out to and have these conversations if I do feel overwhelmed or worried. Because again, at the end of the day, we all want what’s best for those pet owners and their individual pets.

And I do believe we all want what’s best for the broader community. I know I do.

Me too.

Thank you so much, Dr. Evason. I think that we’ve given our audience a lot to think about and certainly now they know they have resources, they have comprehensive diagnostics, an ever expanding portfolio of vector borne disease testing options, and an ever evolving story that’s unfolding for us that, that you’re helping us understand through your research as well. So thank you again for everything that you do at Antech and thank you for joining us on Tails from the Lab this week.

We really appreciate it.

Thank you, Brad. It’s a pleasure.

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