Appropriate antibiotic use in dogs
Small animal – Clinical Pathology – Appropriate antibiotic use
The aim of this project is to investigate the use of C-reactive protein (CRP) as a tool for guiding appropriate antibiotic use in dogs. We intend to use bacterial pneumonia as a model for this purpose. There are currently multiple guidelines available for the use of CRP in human medicine for cases of community-acquired pneumonia. These guidelines have been shown to reduce unnecessary antibiotic use, whilst not leading to any significant increase in adverse effects or relapses. We hope to find out whether CRP can be used in a similar way in veterinary medicine.
The study is being conducted in partnership with CVS small animal practices and Finn Pathologists. We intend to analyse fluid cytology and microbial culture from airway wash samples in suspected cases of lower respiratory tract infections. This data can then be compared with CRP assays and routine biochemical and haematology tests.
A further part of the study will look at comparing CRP assays between referral diagnostic lab and point-of-care machines, hopefully enabling practicing clinicians to have the ability to run this test rapidly in clinics, therefore improving primary decision making at the time of the consultation.
The project is being undertaken by Guy Davies as a Masters project alongside a Veterinary Clinical Pathology residency. The residency is a combined academic/industry programme between the University Of Nottingham and Finn Pathologists in Norfolk, one of the diagnostic laboratories of CVS Group. CVS are kindly sponsoring the residency and project.
This project has only just started and the results will be made available as soon as possible. If you are interested in being involved in this study please contact Guy Davies, details below.
Contacts:
Guy Davies, Rachel Dean, Peter Graham, Rand Wilson (Finn)