Increasing arctic focus

1
Increasing arctic focus!

• Important resources
• Energy petro resources
• Marine food resources
• Intact ecosystems
• Sustainable use
• Climate change/pollution
• Effects - susceptibility
• International coop
• East-west dimension
• Scientific knowledge and education success
  factors

2
Arctic veterinary medicine

• 1995 part of NVH
• health/welfare of
• semidom. reindeer
• marine mammals
• wild-living mammals
• 2003 Dept. of Food Safety Inf. Biology
• Long term plan 03-07
• Fish health not part of our strategy
• Important subject

3
Main goals and strategies

• Bridge between traditional vet. medicine and
• Arctic biology/ecology
• Reasearch contributions
• Infection biology
• Welfare indicators
• (Environmental toxicology)
• Food safety - zoonoses
• Educational contributions
• Last year diff. course of the veterinary
  curriculum
• Master of arctic wildlife medicine (includes
  reindeer)

4
Main challenges

• Finance research projects
• More focus on multi-diciplinary, larger
  projects, national priorities
• Define and marked our niche
• Define our role in education
• Veterinary curriculum
• sufficient arctic focus?
• Master arctic wildlife med.
• circumpolar marked?
• UiTø-cooperation
• Master of arctic landuse and agriculture

5
Important NOVA questions

• Do we want to focus on the arctic and what may be
  our contribution?
• NOVA arctic ?
• What partners do we need ?

6
Infection biology

• The Norwegian School of Veterinary Science
• Section of Arctic Veterinary Medicine
• Tromsø

7
Toxoplasma sp. in an Arctic ecosystem (Svalbard)

• Increase the knowledge of this parasite
• in the Arctic
• Prevalence in diferent animals species
• polar fox, rodent (Microtus rossiaemeridiales),
  reindeer and birds
• Characterize isolates, comparison
• Genetical study, freeze-tolerance?
• Vertical transmission (mother to offspring)
• Co-operation ViTø, NP, UiTø
• Project leader Kjetil Åsbakk, PhD student
  Kristin
• Wear Prestrud

8
Hypoderma tarandi, warble fly in reindeer
interaction between parasite and host
(immunology)

• Immunity
• Antibodies against hypodermin C
• Cellular immunity
• Vaccine potential
• Pilot study vaccination of reindeer calves
• Treatment
• Ivermectin anti-parasite drugs
• Resisteance in soil and feaces
• Co-operation Finland, Sweden
• Project leader Kjetil Åsbakk

9
Rabies

• Serology (ELISA)
• Polar fox
• Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
• Detect viral RNA in tissues
• Characterize rabies virus isolates (circumpolar)
• Compare with immuno-
• fluorescence test in brain tissue
• Kjetil Åsbakk and Morten Tryland
• National Veterinary Institute Tromsø, Norwegian
  Polar Institute

10
Virus infections in reindeer

• Contagious ecthyma (parapoxvirus)
• Outbreak in Norway in 1999 and 2002
• Viral DNA detected in Finnmark 2000 (PCR)
• Multi-factorial disease stress is important
• Orf-virus sheep/goats and reindeer
• Herpesvirus-infections
• Virus isolated from reindeer in Finland/Sweden
• Antibodies in reindeer in Finnmark 10
• Life-long infection, latency
• Possible impact on reproduction and calf survival
  
• Pestivirus-infections
• Bovine viral diarrea virus (BVDV) or closely
• related
• Antbodies in reindeer in Finnmark 40
• Possible impact on calf survival
• Project leader Morten Tryland, PhD student C.
  Neves

11
Brucella sp. in marine mammals

• Brucella sp. bacteria in domestic animals
• Abortions and sterility
• Important zoonoses transmission to man
• Marine variants of Brucella-bacteria
• Isolated from a minke whale (vågehval)
• Isolated from 38 of inv. hooded seals
  (klappmyss)
• Many other seal and whale species as hosts
• What is the impact of Brucella-infections in
  marine mammals?
• What is the zoonotic potential of marine
  Brucellae?
• Morten Tryland