After helping design an MSU facility to help sick animals, associate Professor R. Mick Fulton is now trying to help animals thousands of miles away.
Fulton left earlier this week for Afghanistan and will spend two weeks working to design a laboratory in Kabul that is similar to MSU's new Diagnostic Center for Population and Animal Health, or DCPAH.
"The plan is to provide an animal disease surveillance and reporting system," said Fulton. "It allows them to be able to export animal products if there's an excess, and it will also keep livestock healthier, so the people will have more meat to eat."
The U.S. Department of Agriculture contacted Willie Reed, director of DCPAH and chairman of the Department of Pathobiology and Diagnostic Investigation, about a project to rebuild Afghanistan's agriculture and food industry. Reed recommended Fulton to go because of his experience, Reed said.
"Dr. Fulton has assisted me with some of the planning effort for the new (MSU) facility," Reed said. "I thought he would represent us well."
At MSU's facility, veterinarians and scientists help to identify diseases in sick animals and give recommendations on how to treat them. The pathobiology department's reputation and newly enhanced diagnostic facility prompted the government department's request, said Janver Krehbiel, acting dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine.
In Afghanistan, Fulton will work on developing a necropsy lab, which determines the cause of death in animals. The project focuses on animal disease because it is important to get the country's agricultural industry back on track, Fulton said.
"Sometimes when farm animals are sick, they're sacrificed," Fulton said. "Then we cut them open and try to find what disease was killing them and advise the veterinarians on how to treat them."
Reed said he might also head to Afghanistan as a member of a team working on a another part of the project, which is tentatively scheduled for May.
"The second phase is designing animal health surveillance for the entire county and strategies to control diseases," Reed said. "This work is very important if Afghanistan is to emerge from the turmoil they've had for years and rebuild their infrastructure."
Fulton said he is a little wary of the conditions in Afghanistan, especially after the notice he received.
"On my project outline it said, 'Read this statement first: Afghanistan is not a safe place,' so I don't know what I'm going to run into," Fulton said. "I think the people there are happy to finally get peace - they've suffered through war after war."
Despite the possible danger and his own anxiety, Fulton said the trip and the work he will be doing is worth it.
"I've had to look at the risks and benefits, and I think the benefit portion far outweighs the risks," Fulton said before he left for Afghanistan. "It's great to be asked by my government to use the training I've received to help other people. One of the things I received as an undergrad were Pell Grants. In some way, I feel I'm helping pay those back."
