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Please see previous News Item RE: One Health in ACTION!   More about Dr. Breitschwerdt and his laboratory’s research contributions to One Health… Flea Bites Linked with Chronic Infections [by a veterinarian], Possible Birth Defects [human infants] - USA http://twt.tl/2mB1Bnl   Dr. Edward Breitschwerdt, a veterinarian, directs the Intracellular Pathogens Research Laboratory (IPRL)in the Center for Comparative Medicine and Translational Research at North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine, where he is a Professor of Medicine and Infectious Disease. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Medicine at Duke University Medical Center. Historically, research in the IPRL has focused on questions of comparative medical importance related to Rocky Mountain spotted fever, canine and human ehrlichiosis, anaplasmosis, babesiosis and most recently bartonellosis in animal and human patients.   In collaboration with scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, University of Texas, Galveston, John’s Hopkins, University of California (Davis) and other research groups around the world, Dr. Breitschwerdt and the laboratory has contributed to the development of more sensitive and specific diagnostic tests for a variety of insect-transmitted infectious agents.  These diagnostic techniques can be used on numerous types of patient samples (blood, urine, cerebrospinal fluid or biopsy tissues) and are applicable to samples obtained from either sick animals or people. The laboratory performs applied research that has a direct impact on patient care and infectious disease management practices in both human and veterinary medicine.   Most importantly, recent IPRL collaborative discoveries illustrate unique, existing opportunities to make tremendous strides in our understanding of the role of infectious agents as a cause of chronic debilitating diseases in animals and human beings.  As many human pathogens are zoonotic (at least 60%) the comparative medical importance of various infectious agents in the pathogenesis of chronic diseases of companion animals and people is substantial and very much under studied.  Current research efforts are focused on the role of Bartonella spp. a cause of chronic debilitating illness throughout the world.