3 Jul 2020
Association’s vaccination guidelines group completes four-year project to enhance understanding of infectious diseases in Central America and South America.
Paul Imrie
Job Title
Image © harvepino / Adobe Stock
A set of regional guidelines to support companion animal vets in Latin American countries in their vaccination decisions has been launched by WSAVA.
The WSAVA Vaccination Guidelines Group (VGG) has completed a four-year project to enhance understanding of diseases across Central America and South America.
The new guidance provides evidence-based recommendations for the vaccination of cats and dogs against the most prevalent infectious diseases in the region.
The guidelines, published as an online supplement in the Journal of Small Animal Practice, include an overview of the veterinary profession and veterinary education in the region, together with an evidence-based review of companion animal infectious diseases, including rabies virus infection and canine visceral leishmaniosis.
Emeritus professor Michael Day, who chaired the VGG until just before his death earlier this year, was heavily involved in the four-year project. The VGG team travelled to Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, analysed 1,390 questionnaire responses from five countries, held discussions with key opinion leaders and held a comprehensive review of published scientific literature.
The latest guidance complements similar guidelines for Asia, and the WSAVA global vaccination guidelines, which offer global evidence-based best practice recommendations on vaccination.
Richard Squires, associate professor in companion animal medicine, said: “We hope these new guidelines will be of great practical value to companion animal veterinarians in Latin America and of interest to many others. They represent the culmination of four years of VGG effort under the outstanding leadership of emeritus professor Michael Day, who sadly died before their full publication.
“The guidelines will be translated into Portuguese and Spanish to maximise their accessibility for practitioners in the region. We are grateful to MSD Animal Health for supporting the work of the VGG since its formation in 2006.”
For more on the guidance, visit the VGG pages online.
