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Source: Ken Harkin, Associate Professor
Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine
RADIO REPORT: Dysautonomia is an untreatable disease that affects the autonomic nervous system of dogs.
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Wrap
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Actuality
You have selected a report on dysautonomia, an untreatable disease that affects the autonomic nervous system of dogs. The wrap and sound bite follow in 3,2,1…
WRAP 1: Dysautonomia is an untreatable disease that affects an animal’s ability to control certain bodily functions, such as digestion and metabolism.
TIME: 57
SUGGESTED INTRO: Dysautonomia is an untreatable ailment that strikes about 100 dogs in Kansas each year. A professor at Kansas State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine discusses this killer disease. Lanice Thomson reports.
DYSAUTONOMIA IS A SERIOUS DISEASE THAT AFFECTS DOGS PRIMARILY IN NORTHEASTERN KANSAS AND MISSOURI – AND IT’S ALMOST ALWAYS FATAL. DR. KEN HARKIN, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR AT KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY’S COLLEGE OF VETERINARY MEDICINE, SAYS DYSAUTONOMIA SHUTS DOWN THE ANIMAL’S AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM. . .
“Harkin :15 “The autonomic nerve system is that part of your nervous system that controls things you don’t think about. Your gut function goes away, you can’t produce saliva, you don’t produce tears, your bladder can’t empty with Dysautonomia.”
HARKIN SAYS THE CAUSE OF THE DISEASE IS UNKNOWN, BUT RESEARCH POINTS TO A CERTAIN TYPE OF TOXIN. . .
“Harkin :20 “A lot of work tends to point to a Clostridium botilinium so the cause of the organism of botulism -- although these are clostridia that are producing a different than the toxin that normally produced botulism -- so they believe this toxin produced by the Clostridium bacteria is producing or causing dysautonomia.”
LANICE THOMSON . . . KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY.
ACTUALITY 1: Dysautonomia affects different types of animals in different areas of the world
TIME: 14
BACKGROUND INFORMATION: Dysautonomia is a serious disease that affects about 100 dogs in Kansas each year. Found primarily in northeast Kansas and Missouri, the disease kills by destroying the animal’s autonomic nervous system. Dr. Ken Harkin, associate professor at Kansas State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, says dysautonomia occurs in different species in different parts of the world. The sound bite is 14 seconds and the outcue is “. . .it in dogs.”
(Harkin: 14 “In Scotland it occurs predominantly in horses and rabbits. In England, they see it a lot in cats. In Argentina, they see it predominantly in horses, but here in the Midwest, we tend to see it in dogs.”