Infectious Diseases and Immunology

Infectious diseases have long been a scourge of animals and people causing extreme animal suffering and serious economic loss in food production.

Existing strategies to control infectious disease include animal management programs, vaccination, targeted antimicrobial use, and food hygiene. The present revolution in the molecular biology of disease opens new approaches to understanding, identifying and controlling infectious diseases.

Research on infectious disease at the Ontario Veterinary College addresses the pathogen, the host, and especially the host-pathogen interface. The research spans an enormous range of activities focused broadly in three areas:

Understanding infectious diseases by investigating the genetic and molecular basis of how pathogens cause disease, the innate and acquired immune responses for control of infectious diseases, and the epidemiology and ecology of infectious diseases in animal populations.

Identifying infectious diseases by creating biomarkers and diagnostic tests to identify animals with disease or those at increased risk

Controlling infectious diseases by developing genetic improvement of disease resistance, improved interventions to stimulate or modify immune responses, effective vaccines, antimicrobial resistance, refined strategies for appropriate antibiotic use