CHARLOTTETOWN, Canada -- Veterinary medicine means vastly more than tending to dogs and cats at pet clinics.

The relationship between humans and animals forms a vital part of life on this planet, says Dr Tim Ogilvie, dean of the Atlantic Veterinary College (AVC) at the University of Prince Edward Island in Canada.

Research and knowledge about animals and their ailments have big implications for human health. Work at the AVC and other veterinary schools helps to protect both animals and people.

“We have a strong epidemiology program, meaning the study of diseases and populations,” Tim said. “We compare human and animal health, working closely with partners to study diseases of humans that are reproducible in animals or transmitted from animals to humans. Seventy-five per cent of the emerging and re-emerging diseases in people have an animal host. If you’re not reading in newspapers about SARS, West Nile Virus, avian influenza or BSE, then it’ll be something new or something old, like old-fashioned swine flu, coming up again.”

The AVC’s faculty and graduates play supporting roles in agriculture, fisheries, horse-racing and other industries. Many farmers remember Tim as a practicing veterinarian who visited their barns.

Faculty members and researchers studying fish make the AVC an aquaculture-research centre. The college has a Lobster Science Centre and a Centre For Aquatic Health Sciences (dealing with fin-fish).

Some AVC research affects ecosystems, their health and sustainability, even the structure of society. “Our Lobster Science Centre studies diseases in lobsters,” Tim said. “What makes a lobster healthy? How do you handle lobsters to prevent disease? How should you handle them in a humane way? How do you maintain product quality to sustain the market, which then supports the societal fabric in Atlantic Canada that depends on the lobster industry?”

Recently, the AVC forged a partnership with a British company, VetCell Bioscience Ltd, to improve the healing of horses’ tendon and ligament injuries. The AVC plays a lead role to introduce VetCell’s equine stem-cell therapy technology. That takes stem cells from healthy tissue, multiplies them in a lab and then injects them into soft-tissue wounds.

The college’s Atlantic Centre For Comparative Biomedical Research studies the impact of diseases on animals as compared to on people. “For example, we can study diabetes in rats, as opposed to how it occurs and affects people,” Tim said.

Veterinarians even facilitate international trade. “We need national surveillance systems to guarantee to our trading partners that we have transparency, accountability and healthy products,” Tim said. “Human health shouldn’t be affected when we trade in meat or live animals. A lot of veterinarians are employed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

“My perception is that veterinarians should work even more closely with medical health officers, the Public Health Agency of Canada and other government agencies to prevent diseases that may be transmitted from animals to humans. Here at the college, we do bird monitoring and survey for avian influenza.”

Although less common, bacterial diseases can transmit from people to animals too.

The AVC keeps and cares for dozens of animals -- cats, dogs, cows, horses and large tanks of fish, mainly trout and salmon.

“We’re unique among veterinary colleges for our work on aquaculture and fish health,” Tim said. “In Europe, when we talk about the Atlantic Veterinary College, people will say, ‘Oh, you’re the fish school’.”

An expansion program has the college adding laboratories, clinics and offices. There’s a new 56,000-square-foot research wing. “Booming opportunities for research and the creation of more centers of expertise mean we need places for more researchers and graduate students,” Tim said.

Important research work enhances the education for students, who then “expand the AVC’s role as a force for animal well-being”.

A study once showed that the AVC accounted for 1.5 per cent of PEI’s provincial GDP. “Alone, we’re an economic engine,” Tim said. “What we also do to develop the economy, in agriculture, fisheries or other sectors, is significant too.

“Then consider all the money flowing into the economy through pets. Pet food’s a huge industry. Companion animals stimulate the economy. Many people worry more about good health for their pets than for themselves.

“Most veterinary clinics are small businesses, but they too circulate money into the economy.”

Each year, the AVC accepts 60 new students. Since starting in 1986, it has graduated more than 1,000.

“The profession has become more specialized and sophisticated,” Tim said. “There are fewer and fewer general-purpose veterinarians in some parts of Canada.

“Veterinarians must learn about everything pertaining to different species. They need to understand that they can do everything. But ultimately, it’s probably not a good service to the public if they try. Some specialists focus on herd-health in dairy cattle. Others just take care of dogs or cats. The U.S. even has an eye-clinic with 22 veterinarians all working on pets’ eye problems.”

Most people fail to grasp the full impact of veterinary medicine. “The general public doesn’t really know the opportunities in veterinary medicine, what we can do and what we achieve in research, studies, practice and other areas,” Tim said.

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