Dr. Corinne Sweeney will be one of the Penn Vet representatives at the early December event

[October 8, 2010; Kennett Square, PA] – When the annual American Association of Equine Practitioners’ [AAEP] 56th Annual Convention takes place December 4-8, 2010 in Baltimore MD, Corinne Sweeney, DVM will be on hand to participate. Dr. Sweeney is Associate Dean of New Bolton Center and Director of the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals. She and her colleagues on the AAEP Infectious Disease Committee will meet to review 2010 infectious disease outbreaks, evaluate infectious disease issues affecting the equine population and recommend courses of action to the AAEP leadership. Some of the diseases on the table for discussion will be S. Equi, commonly known as “strangles,” Equine Herpes Virus, Piroplasmosis and West Nile Virus. “Though these diseases have been kept at bay in recent years, they have the potential to be a real threat to Pennsylvania’s equine population.” Horses represent a $10 billion industry in the state. So far this year, two horses in the Delaware Valley have been diagnosed with West Nile Virus, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.

“Serving on this committee gives me insight into the global status of equine infectious disease so that we at New Bolton can be a resource for our referring veterinarians managing such patients should these diseases affect the local equine population.”

Other New Bolton Center faculty members participating in the AAEP convention include Elizabeth Davidson, DVM, DACVS, Assistant Professor in Sports Medicine. She will be speaking about treadmill testing in the equine athlete as part of the American Associate of Equine Veterinary Technicians [AAEVT] program which is a part of the AAEP meeting.

New Bolton Center’s Widener Hospital has one of the largest caseloads of any large animal hospital in the world, handling approximately 6,000 cases a year, of which an estimated 85% are horses, and another 8,000 horses through its Boucher Field Service Unit.