More is Missed in Pathology by not Looking, Than Not Knowing

So today we figured out a little bit about what we’re going to be doing for the next 6 weeks.  We got up and went to breakfast (which was really good), and then came back to the Hostel for about an hour before heading over to the vet school.  During that hour we had an epic uno game that lasted for like a half hour at least. 

When we got to the vet school we met right away with Dr. L. Gunaseelan and his 2 assistants Dr. Ashok Kumar and Dr. BhanuRekha.  These are the people that we will be working with on project #1, the bacterial diseases in cattle project.  Dr. BhanuRekha told us that we will be focusing mostly on Tuberculosis and Brucellosis.  Brucellosis should be interesting to learn about because we do not have many cases of brucellosis in the states, so it isn’t seen often.  Our tuberculosis research will be to analyze the proportions of Mycobacterium bovis in humans and animals, and to evaluate the proportion of M. tuberculosis in humans and animals.  We will be identifying antigens and antibodies by collecting blood, serum, and milk samples to analyze.  It is a little overwhelming for me at this point, having not started vet school as I don’t know what half of the diagnostic tests are that we are going to be doing, but I don’t think that anyone knows everything, and I’m positive I will become proficient in most of them by the end of this project. 

The cultural aspect of this trip is probably the part of the trip that will teach me the most of anything that I learn.  I am going to have to communicate with people who do not speak any English, by using a translator that speaks Tamil.  Also, I learned an interesting tidbit of information today from Dr. MohanKumar about how children are named in India.  It seems that MohanKumar is his given name, however his full name is P.S. MohanKumar.  You see, P stands for the village that he was born in, S is his father’s given name, and MohanKumar is his given name.  In India, last names are obsolete, and everyone goes by their given names.  The second cultural difference that I learned was about milk.  In India, milk is pasteurized to remove TB, just like in the US, but most people still boil the milk after it is pasteurized, and then they serve it hot.  Eating hot cereal is not my style, but to each country their own I guess.  Also, Indians do not consume a lot of milk or dairy products in general.  It is also interesting that Indians fancy raw milk rather than processed, which is a contributing factor to why Tuberculosis is so rampant in India as compared to the US.  A third cultural anomaly between the U.S. and India is that India is the world leader in diabetes.  I found this particularly interesting because there is a scientific reason to why Indians have a higher incidence of TB.  You see, when glucocorticoid levels are increasing (which can be caused from their high carbohydrate diet and low exercise level), then immunosuppression increases also, which can increase the incidence of contracting diseases, such as TB.

After our meeting we got to see a rabies suspect dog, and learn about the procedure that the veterinary college follows when they have a rabies case.  When the college gets a rabies suspect dog (which is common because there are stray dogs EVERYWHERE), they put it in a cage and put in on UOR (under observation rabies) for 10 days.  While under observation, they basically wait for the animal to die.  The animal will usually die within 5 to 7 days, and then they can test it for rabies.  This dog was dead, so we got to watch the necropsy, which was cool.  They take a part of the brain, and fix it on slides with methanol to look for necrobodies.  If the necrobodies are present, the animal had rabies, and everyone that has come in contact with the dog should be tested.

After lunch we went back to the college to meet with Dr. Thirunavukarasu to learn about project 2, studying the economic losses of mastitis in Tamil Nadu.  This project seems especially interesting to me because Indian farmers do everything so differently from how the U.S. manage cattle.  The first MAJOR difference is that there is NO withdrawal time for antibiotics in milk.  This is very interesting because since there is no withdrawal time for antibiotics, there are antibiotic residues in the milk, which then causes HUGE antibiotic resistance in humans who consume the milk.  In the U.S., all antibiotics fed to meat or milking cattle have a printed withdrawal time (usually a few days or weeks) on their labels that the farmer must abide by.  During the withdrawal period, the milk from the animal cannot be sold, and the animal cannot be slaughtered for human consumption.  Once the withdrawal period is finished, the milk and meat no longer have antibiotic residues, and the products can be sold.  This parody is one more reason to love living in the United States, and just one more reason that people who talk about American meat and milk being the cause of antibiotic resistance in the U.S. have no idea what they are talking about, and should be viewed as uneducated.  I think that is my biggest pet peeve, when people who have no idea what happens in animal agriculture in the U.S. to protect the human population criticize things for which they have no basis to criticize.  If you want to make a statement about my field of interest, know your sh**!  Anyway, I’ll get off of my soapbox now…