Trupanion, a pet insurance company based in Seattle, has announced a partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to develop a disease tracking system for pets.
The system will utilize real-time insurance claims submitted to Trupanion when dogs and cats receive veterinary care.
“The concept is to proactively detect potential threats to pets and public health,” stated Dr. Steve Weinrauch, the chief veterinary and product officer at Trupanion.
This initiative, which also involves academic scientists and other companies in the pet industry, is in its preliminary phases. Initially, the focus will be on bird flu, a virus that has been spreading among American dairy cows and has also affected domestic cats.
“This is a really important public-private partnership that is going to help fill some important gaps,” said Dr. Casey Barton Behravesh, director of the CDC’s One Health Office, which addresses the interconnections between human, animal, and environmental health.
This collaboration is one of several efforts underway to address existing gaps in disease surveillance. Like most other countries, the United States lacks a comprehensive national system for tracking diseases in pets. While the CDC is responsible for safeguarding human health, and the Department of Agriculture concentrates on farm animals, companion animals often receive less attention.
“This is a population that is a little bit lost in the shuffle,” said Dr. Jennifer Granick, a veterinary internist at the University of Minnesota, who is also a founder of a separate effort to create a disease surveillance system for pets.
