Abstract
This is the second Special Issue of the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery (JFMS) compiled by the European Advisory Board on Cat Diseases (ABCD); it complements the first Special Issue, published in July 2009 (Volume 11, issue 7), which dealt with the most important viral infections, and with the Chlamydophila and Bordetella agents. In the present edition, we start with an update on these, then venture further into bacterial infections and expand into fungal and protozoan conditions. While disease prevention by vaccination, still at the forefront of companion animal practice, played a dominant role in the former, the present issue contains articles of a more descriptive and review nature, but includes therapeutic suggestions.
The articles have been coauthored by all members of the ABCD, the first name showing the main contributor. A new member since 2009, is Professor Karin Möstl from the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, who has written a new approach to the ‘Prevention of infectious diseases in cat shelters’, and was principal contributor to the article on cowpox virus infection. Meanwhile, we are grateful to Professor Lluís Ferrer from the Foster Hospital for Small Animals, Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, who is not himself an ABCD member, but kindly coauthored the articles on aspergillosis, cryptococcosis, sporotrichosis and the rare (systemic and opportunistic) mycoses. All texts have been developed from scratch, during and between Board meetings in the past three years. The consensus approach we chose reflects a combination of opinion, experience and scientific data, published and unpublished, and does not represent a standard of care or set of legal requirements.
The ABCD – in essence a ‘think tank’ on feline diseases – offers guidance to practitioners to assist in evidence-based decision making
Novel overarching ‘Matrix vaccination guidelines’ attempt to put lifetime immunisations for cats under different living conditions in perspective.
The progress of evidence-based medicine (EBM), a concept developed in clinical human medicine more than a decade ago, into the veterinary field has been impressive: ‘... the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients’. A Centre for Evidence-based Veterinary Medicine was established in 2009 at the School of Veterinary Medicine and Science at the University of Nottingham in the UK. It is a new research initiative, sponsored by Novartis Animal Health and the University of Nottingham; also, at the Veterinary Faculty, Utrecht University, the Netherlands, a new chair has been dedicated to evidence-based veterinary medicine. The ABCD will continue to attach EBM qualifications to scientific statements made in articles. I particularly wish to thank Albert Lloret for providing EBM qualifications in this (and the previous) Special Issue and to acknowledge him as the driving force in ABCD’s efforts to introduce the evidence principle in its publications.
Sponsorship is paramount also to academic activities, as is genuine independence from the sponsoring organisation. Any recommendation, guideline, fact sheet or finding issued – including the articles in this edition – is the sole responsibility of the ABCD. Merial SAS has supported the ongoing activities of the Board financially and logistically; in addition, we have established the ABCD Merial Young Scientist Award (AMYSA), now in its sixth year. This year, as in 2012, two awards will be given, one for basic research, the other for applied, clinically relevant research. Particular recognition is due to Jean-Christophe Thibault, an ABCD promoter of the first hour, whose enthusiasm has never waned and whose treatment of the Board’s insistence on scientific independence was remarkable. We should confess to a certain paranoia at the beginning of this collaboration, which gradually faded as trust in the company’s fairness accrued. Merial’s Florence Kahn-Ramos liaised with the Board members before every meeting, reliably, multilingually, and with humour, providing logistical support for congresses and conventions and ABCD stands. Volunteers, students from various veterinary schools, were invaluable in manning our stands, distributing flyers, folders and fact sheets at the booths.
Special thanks go again to this Journal’s Editor, Andy Sparkes, who has followed the ABCD’s activities with sympathy and has gracefully agreed to have the manuscripts published in the JFMS. Margaret Melling, the Head of Publications at the ISFM, was a wonderful partner again – publishing with 17 authors is no small feat.
Taking steps in the fight against feline infectious disease: members of the Board at the 2012 ABCD meeting in Dusseldorf
We hope you like what you read as much as we enjoyed compiling the material.