Human and animal health: strengthening the links: Combined courses for vets and doctors?

doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7527.1269

BMJ 2005;331:1269 (26 November), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7527.1269

Letter

Human and animal health: strengthening the links

Combined courses for vets and doctors?

EDITOR—Although over the years differences between humanand veterinary medicine have narrowed, particularly with respectto therapeutic options within ubiquitous economical constraints,¹doctors' responses to the present day sophistication of veterinarymedicine can sometimes border on the condescending. The fundamentalsof medical physiology and pathophysiology are the same, andmany disease syndromes are similar enough to warrant numerousanimal models for human conditions. The consequences of thiscan be profound when the medical fates of humans and animalscan be inextricably entwined through emotional bonds, economicnecessity, and zoonotic potential.²

Perhaps medical and veterinary schools should facilitate combinedprogrammes for certain motivated individuals. Given the universalunderpinning of medicine this should be no more or less challengingthan combined medical and dental or research degrees.

Hadley Bagshaw, staff veterinarian

Red Bank Veterinary Hospital, Red Bank, NJ 07724, USA
kiragshaw{at}yahoo.com

Roger Bagshaw, anaesthesiologist

Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA

Competing interests: None declared.

References

Brown JP, Silverman JD, The current and future market for veterinarians and veterinary medical services in the United States. J Am Vet Med Assoc 1999;215: 161-83[Medline]
Alder M, Easton G. Human and veterinary medicine. BMJ 2005;330: 858-59.[Free Full Text]