Veterinary Manual Takes Page From Current Events

Twenty years ago, a veterinary student could still carry the Merck Veterinary Manual in a back pocket. But today’s students probably can’t cram the latest edition into any pocket -- it has 2,712 pages and weighs 3 pounds.

To keep up with the world’s emerging animal-to-human diseases and growing bioterrorism threats, the reference book’s first update in seven years has 35 more chapters and 400 more pages than the previous manual.

The ninth edition reflects enormous changes in veterinary fields in recent years: outbreaks of animal diseases that also threaten humans, such as SARS, bird flu, monkeypox and West Nile; growing concerns that cattle and other livestock could be used by terrorists to poison the nation’s food supply; and advances in pain management and disease diagnosis.

“This new edition reflects both the remarkable advances in veterinary science and the emergence of new pathogens and diseases,” said the book’s editor, Cynthia Kahn.

The manual, which is being released at the Western Veterinary Conference in Las Vegas this weekend, covers such topics as new treatment options and bonding between humans and animals.

Kahn and associate editor Scott Line, a veterinarian, expect the new edition to be at least as popular as the last, which sold 100,000 copies and was translated into six languages.

Merck & Co. has been publishing the manual since 1955.

More than 350 experts contributed to the edition, adding information on the growing popularity of exotic pets such as ferrets and sugar gliders, an Australian marsupial.

The editors also expanded the book’s coverage of anthrax, a naturally occurring bacterium that typically affects sheep and cattle. But anthrax became a leading bioterrorism threat in 2001, when five people died and more than a dozen were sickened after anthrax spores were sent through the mail.

“Anthrax is an agent of concern for bioterrorism,” Line said. “Veterinarians may be among the first to recognize an outbreak of the disease. So we’ve extensively updated ... diagnosis and control measures.”

The editors devoted a whole chapter to human and animal bonding, a field that is capturing the attention of a growing number of researchers.