Author | Jane Sykes, BVSc, DACVIM (SAIM), PhD, MPH, MBA, FNAP

New evidence suggests long-held assumptions about risk, vaccination, and exposure may be leaving dogs unprotected, explains Jane Sykes, BVSc, DACVIM (SAIM), PhD, MPH, MBA, FNAP, in this interview with dvm360.

Jane Sykes, BVSc, DACVIM (SAIM), PhD, MPH, MBA, FNAP, discusses how urban environment, social conditions, and vaccination gaps have been reshaping how and where veterinarians encounter leptospirosis.

The 2023 ACVIM leptospirosis consensus marks a turning point in canine care, shifting vaccination to a universal core protocol while updating diagnostic standards and shortening handling precautions.

Rats and other reservoir hosts can carry leptospirosis without illness, shedding bacteria into the environment while dogs and people become the visible victims of infection, explains Jane Sykes, BVSc (Hons), DACVIM (SAIM), PhD, MPH, MBA, FNAP.