Living Detectors: Integrating Animal Sentinels into Fungal Disease Preparedness
Explore how animal health data can reveal fungal disease activity and strengthen preparedness across human, animal, and environmental health.
Date: Tuesday, September 15, 2026
Time: 12:00-1:00 p.m. ET | 9:00-10:00 a.m. PT
Location: Online via Microsoft Teams
Host: MiDOG Animal Diagnostics + CDC
Click Here to Register for the Webinar
About the Webinar
Animals share many of the same environments and fungal exposures as people. When fungal infections occur in animal populations, these cases can provide valuable evidence of where pathogens are circulating, how geographic risks may be changing, and when closer public health attention may be warranted.
In recognition of Fungal Disease Awareness Week, MiDOG is bringing together experts in veterinary medicine, epidemiology, fungal disease surveillance, and public health for a timely One Health discussion about animals as sentinels for fungal disease activity.
Through focused presentations on blastomycosis, coccidioidomycosis (also known as Valley fever), and sporotrichosis, the speakers will examine how veterinary observations, diagnostic findings, and epidemiologic data can support earlier recognition and stronger fungal disease preparedness.
The webinar will also explore the differences between shared environmental exposure and zoonotic transmission, highlighting opportunities for collaboration across veterinary medicine, human healthcare, diagnostic laboratories, research, and public health.
What You Will Learn
- How animal cases can contribute to fungal disease surveillance
- What blastomycosis and coccidioidomycosis in animals may reveal about shared environmental exposure
- How sporotrichosis illustrates the connection among animal, human, and environmental health
- Why collaboration between veterinary and public health professionals is essential for fungal disease preparedness
- How diagnostic, clinical, and epidemiologic data can be connected through a One Health framework
Webinar Agenda
- Welcome to Fungal Disease Awareness Week: Bruno C. Rediguieri, BVM, MSc
- Blastomycosis and Animal Sentinels: Malia Ireland, DVM, MPH
- Coccidioidomycosis and Animal Sentinels: Jane Sykes, BVSc(Hons), PhD, MPH, MBA, FNAP, DACVIM(SAIM), FACVIM(Founding)
- Sporotrichosis and Animal Sentinels: Janina A. Krumbeck, PhD
- Live Question-and-Answer Session
Featured Speakers
Bruno C. Rediguieri, BVM, MSc: Microbiologist, ASRT, Inc. – CDC National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Mycotic Diseases Branch
Bruno Rediguieri is a public health veterinarian with a master’s degree in infectious diseases. From 2009 to 2022, he directed a zoonosis control and prevention department in Brazil, managing programs addressing rabies, leishmaniasis, yellow fever, and sporotrichosis. His current work includes mold surveillance, serology, molecular testing, and research into the environmental persistence and disinfection of Sporothrix and Coccidioides.
Malia Ireland, DVM, MPH: Deputy State Public Health Veterinarian – Minnesota Department of Health
Dr. Malia Ireland is a supervising epidemiologist in the Zoonotic Diseases Unit at the Minnesota Department of Health, where she coordinates human and animal surveillance for endemic fungal infections. She also oversees surveillance and outbreak investigations involving rabies, avian influenza, enteric infections associated with animal contact, and other zoonotic diseases. Before entering public health, she practiced small-animal medicine for 10 years.
Jane Sykes, BVSc(Hons), PhD, MPH, MBA, FNAP, DACVIM(SAIM), FACVIM(Founding): Professor – University of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medicine
Dr. Jane Sykes is a professor and board-certified veterinary internal medicine specialist whose research focuses on infectious diseases of dogs and cats with public health significance. She has published more than 150 peer-reviewed papers, edited several veterinary textbooks, and founded the International Society for Companion Animal Infectious Diseases. She speaks internationally on infectious diseases and postgraduate veterinary specialty education.
Janina A. Krumbeck, PhD: CEO and Co-Founder – MiDOG Animal Diagnostics
Dr. Janina Krumbeck leads MiDOG’s efforts to bring advanced molecular diagnostic tools to veterinarians caring for companion, exotic, and wildlife species. She has studied interactions between microbes and their animal hosts for more than 15 years and has published multiple peer-reviewed studies examining animal microbiomes in health and disease. Her work focuses on applying DNA sequencing and microbiome science to improve infectious disease detection and support responsible antimicrobial use.
Who Should Attend?
This webinar is designed for:
- Veterinarians and veterinary specialists
- Physicians and public health professionals
- Epidemiologists and disease-surveillance teams
- Veterinary and public health laboratorians
- Mycology and infectious disease researchers
- One Health and zoonotic disease professionals
- Wildlife, zoo, shelter, and conservation medicine teams
Connect Animal, Human, and Environmental Health
Discover how animal infections can provide meaningful insight into fungal disease activity, and how stronger connections between veterinary medicine and public health can support more informed surveillance and preparedness.