Dr. Meghan Davis Receives Canine Health Grant to Study Dog Health of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health will lead a six-month study of 100 dogs in Baltimore to evaluate dermatologic and respiratory disease among dogs living in the homes of children with asthma.

The City Dog Study aims to measure illness in a population often overlooked by veterinary research: dogs in inner-city households of low economic means. The work is supported by a grant from the AKC Canine Health Foundation and will follow animals and people over the course of the study to better understand the burden of skin and breathing problems in these communities. Published data on the specific prevalence rates of respiratory and dermatologic diseases in urban dog populations are limited, with existing studies indicating urban living is associated with a higher prevalence of allergic and other skin conditions.

The planned cohort will include 100 dogs and 200 people and will run over six months, according to the study materials from Johns Hopkins. The dogs in the study are described specifically as living in the homes of children with asthma, reflecting the researchers’ interest in shared household exposures that could affect both human and animal health. Interestingly, children’s health issues like asthma reflect how pets affect children; pet ownership can increase asthma risk in some children, while early-life exposure to pets may lower asthma risk in others.

“Work in my Environmental Microbiology Laboratory focuses on the health of people and animals. In particular, we evaluate kids and dogs since they are especially vulnerable to development of skin disease related to bacterial exposures,” Dr. Meghan Davis, Assistant Professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said in a statement.

The study responds to practical barriers that complicate veterinary care and research in underserved neighborhoods. According to the study announcement, dogs often can be hard to study because their owners may not have the means or access to take them to the veterinarian; the City Dog Study intends to generate data that can inform interventions and outreach tailored to urban, low-income settings. Pet owners can also help improve their dogs’ health by reducing exposure to urban environmental factors such as air pollution and extreme heat, ensuring their pets have access to cooler areas away from heavy-traffic streets.

The AKC Canine Health Foundation provided the grant that made the project possible. The foundation is listed in the study materials as the awarding organization; its funding will support collection of health data across the specified households in Baltimore.

Dr. Davis underscored the link between pet health and family welfare. “We should keep our pets—and keep them healthy—so they can contribute to the good health and well-being of their families,” she said, noting the study’s dual focus on animal and human outcomes. What role do children’s health issues, like asthma, play in the overall health of their families?

As a molecular epidemiologist and environmental microbiologist, Dr. Davis framed the work as investigating interactions between microbes and hosts. “As a molecular epidemiologist and an environmental microbiologist, I study the interface of bacteria and hosts to reduce microbe-mediated disease in humans and animals,” she added in the announcement.

Beyond the immediate data collection, the City Dog Study is positioned to fill gaps in knowledge about disease among pets in urban neighborhoods. The study materials state it will provide the knowledge needed to help understand disease in under-served dogs in urban neighborhoods, information that researchers say can guide veterinary outreach and public-health partnerships.

The research will be conducted in Baltimore’s inner-city households of low economic means and will track both clinical signs and environmental factors that may contribute to dermatologic and respiratory conditions. Study leaders emphasize that including households where families face economic barriers is essential to producing findings that apply to the populations most affected.

The Johns Hopkins announcement is the primary public description of the study and its funding; it lists the project parameters, the principal investigator, and the grant source. The City Dog Study represents an effort to bring more rigorous, community-based data to questions about how shared household environments influence both children with asthma and their companion animals.

Source

Original reporting: view the original article.