Living Detectors
Integrating Animal Sentinels into Fungal Disease Preparedness
An On-Demand CDC × MiDOG Webinar
Explore how animal health data can provide valuable insight into fungal disease activity and strengthen preparedness across human, animal, and environmental health.
Originally presented: September 15, 2026
Presented in collaboration with: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and MiDOG Animal Diagnostics
About the Webinar
Animals and people share many of the same environments and potential fungal exposures. When infections occur in animal populations, these cases may provide valuable evidence of where fungal pathogens are circulating, how geographic risks are changing, and when closer public health attention may be warranted.
Originally presented during Fungal Disease Awareness Week, this CDC and MiDOG webinar brings together experts in veterinary medicine, epidemiology, fungal disease surveillance, molecular diagnostics, and public health to examine the role of animals as sentinels.
Through focused presentations on blastomycosis, coccidioidomycosis, also known as Valley fever, and sporotrichosis, the speakers explore how veterinary observations, diagnostic findings, and epidemiologic data can support fungal disease recognition, surveillance, and preparedness.
The webinar also distinguishes between shared environmental exposure and zoonotic transmission while highlighting opportunities for collaboration across veterinary medicine, human healthcare, diagnostic laboratories, research, and public health.
What You Will Learn
Watch the webinar to learn:
- How animal cases can contribute to fungal disease surveillance
- What blastomycosis and coccidioidomycosis in animals may reveal about shared environmental exposure
- How sporotrichosis connects animal, human, and environmental health
- Why animal health data may help identify changing geographic risks
- How clinical, diagnostic, and epidemiologic information can be connected through a One Health framework
- Why collaboration between veterinary and public health professionals is essential for fungal disease preparedness
Featured Presentations
Welcome to Fungal Disease Awareness Week
Bruno C. Rediguieri, BVM, MSc
Microbiologist, ASRT, Inc. – CDC National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Mycotic Diseases Branch
Dr. Rediguieri introduces the webinar and establishes the importance of connecting animal health, fungal disease surveillance, and public health preparedness.
Blastomycosis and Animal Sentinels
Malia Ireland, DVM, MPH: Deputy State Public Health Veterinarian – Minnesota Department of Health
Dr. Ireland examines how human and animal blastomycosis surveillance can provide insight into environmental exposure, geographic patterns, and fungal disease activity.
Coccidioidomycosis and Animal Sentinels
Jane Sykes, BVSc(Hons), PhD, MPH, MBA, FNAP, DACVIM(SAIM), FACVIM(Founding): Professor – University of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medicine
Dr. Sykes discusses coccidioidomycosis, commonly known as Valley fever, and the value of animal cases in understanding shared environmental exposure and changing disease risk.
Sporotrichosis and Animal Sentinels
Janina A. Krumbeck, PhD: CEO and Co-Founder – MiDOG Animal Diagnostics
Dr. Krumbeck explores sporotrichosis through a One Health lens, including the roles of animal infection, environmental exposure, molecular detection, and potential zoonotic transmission.
Why Animal Sentinels Matter
Animal cases can offer a different view of fungal disease activity within a shared environment. Connecting veterinary observations with laboratory findings and public health surveillance may help professionals recognize patterns that would be difficult to identify within a single discipline.
This webinar demonstrates why veterinarians, physicians, epidemiologists, diagnosticians, researchers, and public health agencies all have a role in strengthening fungal disease preparedness.
Who Should Watch?
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
- Veterinary and public health students
Discover how animals can contribute to a broader understanding of fungal disease activity, and how stronger connections among veterinary medicine, diagnostics, and public health can support more informed surveillance and preparedness.
