Associate Professor Jorgen Agerholm

Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Copenhagen, Denmark

Veterinary pathologist, Associate Professor Jorgen Agerholm, from the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University in Copenhagen, Denmark recently completed a two month sabbatical at the Camden campus of The University of Sydney with Professor Peter Windsor. Dr Agerholm has published extensively on inherited diseases, mostly working with Holstein-Fresians and Danish Red dairy cattle.

Danish and Australian scientists are collaborating to help reduce silent international transmission of diseases, particularly in dairy cattle. Associate Professor Agerholm brought with him glass slides and images of many inherited diseases and congenital abnormalities of livestock. He regularly visited the NSW Department of Primary Industries’ Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute, also at Camden, to compare cases in the Australian registry of veterinary pathology.

It was suggested that some of the diseases seen in cattle in Denmark may already exist undetected in Australia and vice versa. One disease in Denmark, not yet seen in Australia but that could occur as it is attributable to common sires, is complex vertebral malformation or CVM.

Professor Windsor and Dr Agerholm share an interest in inherited diseases causing congenital abnormalities. Their analysis has considered a common factor - the use of the same elite sires for artificial breeding in many countries. The collaboration has also linked the University of Sydney registry to the national pathology registry at EMAI.