Description
Objective: Develop decontamination treatments for military working dogs that have been exposed to toxic industrial chemicals and materials through the performance of their duties. Description: This topic is in support of the DoD Working Dog Strategic Research Plan concerning mitigation, countermeasures and treatments for toxin/toxic exposures 1 . In modern military operations, military working dogs (MWDs) are at risk of exposure by many different types of hazardous materials. These include toxic industrial chemicals (TICs) and materials (TIMs) such as hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, glycols, hazardous metals, gases (hydrogen cyanide, hydrogen sulfide, freon, carbon monoxide, etc.), acids and alkali substances. Techniques for the decontamination of hazardous material exposures to the surface of the MWD are well defined 2,3,4 . Although there are useful treatment options for external decontamination, there are few treatment options for toxic exposures that have been absorbed into the body of the MWD. The objective of this topic is to develop new treatments for MWDs against hazardous materials that have been absorbed into the body either through the skin or mucous membranes, by inhalation, or ingestion. Current systemic treatments employed to care for MWDs include supportive antibiotic therapy for sulfur mustard, atropine injections for nerve agents, and Narcan for narcotics, but there are limited treatment options available for TIC/TIM exposures 4,5,6 . Systemic treatments for the MWD should be able to be performed by veterinarians and their support personnel (trained animal care specialists (68T) in Role 1 and/or veterinary medical and surgical teams (VMST) in Role 2). Potential MWD systemic treatments could include but are not limited to kits containing indicators or detectors of TIC/TIM exposure with easily identifiable injectable treatments for the identified contaminant (indicator/detector) and/or hemoperfusion systems and filters that can be used to remove contaminants from the blood (systemic). This research topic does not support the use of canines for testing purposes. Any animal testing would require use of a suitable animal model that would approximate the response of a canine. Keywords: Canine, military working dog (MWD), decontamination, hazardous materials, chemical warfare agents (CWA), toxic industrial chemicals (TICs), toxic industrial materials (TIMs) CMMC Level: Level 1