FIU medical students to study animals at Zoo Miami

Florida International University medical students may soon be monkeying around at Zoo Miami – but all in the name of medical education.

The university’s board of trustees is in the process of sealing a deal with Miami-Dade County commissioners to offer a four-week clinical course – strictly elective – for FIU med students to participate in clinical experience observing the zoo’s veterinarian staff in the care of zoo animals.

If that seems to be a stretch from what medical students need to know about human care, it’s not – the course is intended to promote the concept of One Health medicine, a unified approach that aims to link and promote the health of people, animals, and ecosystems.

“The course aims to have FIU medical students explore and recognize the concept of one health medicine as it relates to zoological species, environment diversity, conservation efforts, disease risk and transmission, and antibiotic resistance,” says a memo to county commissioners from Chief Operating Officer Jimmy Morales.

Such studies could be relevant to a current disease that has claimed at least one human life.

H5 bird flu, which is widespread in wild birds worldwide, is causing outbreaks in poultry and US dairy cows, with several recent human cases among US dairy and poultry workers.

While the current public health risk is reported low, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it is watching the situation carefully and working with states to monitor people with animal exposure.

In the zoo course, FIU medical students are to develop an appreciation of diversity of zoological species and the ability to understand the biology, welfare and husbandry of each species and the risk of disease development. They are to get training in animal physical examinations, pathophysiology, anesthesia, pharmacology, diagnostic imaging, and surgery.

Each week, the FIU students are to discuss one health topic and then, at the end of their time at the zoo, make a presentation to the zoo staff.

FIU’s Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine is a relatively new medical school, opened in 2006 and accepting its first students in 2009. It had 512 students in the 2023-24 term.

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