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Bird flu can jump to mammals. Should we worry?
Science News

Bird flu can jump to mammals. Should we worry?

Louise Moncla’s lab at the School of Veterinary Medicine is developing ways to scan genetic blueprints of past outbreaks for signatures of a virus that can jump between different animal species.

Vaccine makers are preparing for bird flu
Scientific American

Vaccine makers are preparing for bird flu

Scott Hensley of the Perelman School of Medicine and colleagues are developing and testing a vaccine tailored to the current bird flu strain based on their previous 20-subtype mRNA flu vaccine.

What does cancer smell like? These animals can sniff it out
National Geographic

What does cancer smell like? These animals can sniff it out

A study co-authored by Cynthia Otto of the School of Veterinary Medicine finds that dogs can be trained to detect chronic wasting disease in deer feces.

Avian flu strain raises concerns after outbreaks among mammals
PBS NewsHour

Avian flu strain raises concerns after outbreaks among mammals

Scott Hensley of the Perelman School of Medicine discusses the highly contagious avian flu ravaging the globe and how outbreaks in some mammals are a cause for concern.

Scent-trained dogs can detect chronic wasting disease
Wildlife Society

Scent-trained dogs can detect chronic wasting disease

A study by Amritha Mallikarjun of the School of Veterinary Medicine and colleagues finds that dogs can detect a deadly prion disease by smelling deer dung.

Dogs could help state game commission track chronic wasting disease
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Dogs could help state game commission track chronic wasting disease

Studies from the Veterinary School of Medicine’s Working Dog Center have found that dogs can determine if a deer or elk has chronic wasting disease by sniffing the animal’s scat.

Trained dogs can sniff out a deadly deer disease
A Finnish spitz dog sniffs at a jar labeled CWD+

Jari, an 8-year-old Finnish spitz, takes in the odor of a sample taken from a deer with chronic wasting disease. Penn Vet scientists are working to see whether detection dogs trained to discern the disease’s scent could be employed as a tool in helping contain its spread.

(Image: Shelby Wise/Wise K9 Photography)

Trained dogs can sniff out a deadly deer disease

The proof-of-concept investigation by School of Veterinary Medicine researchers suggests detection dogs could be an asset in the effort to identify, contain, and manage chronic wasting disease, a highly contagious ailment.

Katherine Unger Baillie

An even deadlier pandemic could soon be here
The New York Times

An even deadlier pandemic could soon be here

Scott Hensley of the Perelman School of Medicine says that mRNA vaccines can be mass-produced faster than normal, in as little as three months.