Zoonoses Research Unit (ZRU)

Our Mission  

As a part of the National Food and Water-borne Diseases Integrated Research Network, in collaboration with many partners, including the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a part of the National Institutes of Health, the WSU Field Disease Investigative Unit (FDIU) , Washington Animal Disease, and Diagnostic Lab (WADDL), WSU's Veterinary Clinical Sciences (VCS), and Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology (VMP), the Washington State University Zoonoses Research Unit seeks to investigate specific food- and water-borne zoonotic diseases in an effort to make food safer for everyone. 

Unit Goals

1.  Create proposals for the study of zoonotic agents such as Salmonella, E.coli and Listeria infections; antibiotic resistance; and the transmission of agents through surface irrigation water.

2.  Develop an emergency response plan for dealing with the possibility of extraordinary zoonotic events like the threat of bioterrorism or massive national outbreak of a disease such as avian flu.

3.  Seek to collaborate with other Washington state agencies such as the Public Health Laboratory and the Department of Ecology for ongoing surveillance of emerging diseases.  “There will be much collaboration between units within the CVM and across campus,” said Dale Hancock, Co-Director. “It will include working with our colleagues in the College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resources Sciences, the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and the USDA Animal Disease Research Unit.”

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases 6610 Rockledge Drive, MSC 6612 Bethesda, MD 20892-6612

National Institutes of Health (NIH) 9000 Rockville Pike Bethesda, Maryland 20892