Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine

James C. Wright, DVM, PhD, DACVPM

Dr. Jim Wright has been at Auburn University since 1985. He received his BS in biology at Virginia Tech in 1971 and a DVM from The University of Georgia in 1974. After graduating from Georgia, Dr. Wright was in private practice in Virginia for two years. He then entered graduate school at the University of Missouri, Columbia where he received an MS and PhD in microbiology. His thesis and dissertation work involved studies of the epidemiology of Aujeszky’s disease (pseudorabies). Following graduate school, Dr. Wright joined the Department of Parasitology, Microbiology and Public Health at Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma where he taught veterinary public health. Primary teaching interests at Auburn involve public health, disaster medicine, wildlife diseases and epidemiology.

334-844-2670
wrighj3@auburn.edu

Research Interests

Pre-harvest food safety, Vector-borne disease

Dr. Wright’s research interests have involved both vector-borne diseases and the zoonoses including the epidemiology of Lyme disease, bluetongue and pre-harvest food safety. He has been involved in field studies of both bluetongue and Lyme disease in Alabama. A model for seroconversion of bluetongue virus was developed which indicated that daily hours of wet vegetation was an important variable associated with seroconversion in a cattle herd. Field studies of Lyme disease indicated that there was no seroconversion to Borrelia burgdorferi in at risk dogs housed in an area where autochthonous human cases had occurred. Rare seroconversion to B. burgdorferi in dogs was detected state-wide. Presently Dr. Wright is a member of a group studying E. coli 0157:H7 and salmonella shedding in calves. The goal of this work is to develop tools to reduce the shedding of these agents in calves to increase production efficiency and protect the food supply.

Selected Publications

Wright JC, Stringfellow DA. 2006. Veterinarians and Food safety: The Yin and the Yang Leadership in Public Health 7:13-18.

Price SB, Wright JC, DeGraves FJ, Cornet MPC, Foster JW: 2004. Acid resistance systems required for survival of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in the bovine gastrointestinal tract and in apple cider. App Environ Microbiol 70:4792-4799.

Nusbaum KE, Wright JC, Johnston WB, Allison AB, Hilton CD, Staggs LA, Stallknecht DE, Shelnutt JL. 2003. Absence of humoral response in flamingos and red-tailed hawks to experimental vaccination with a killed West Nile virus vaccine. Avian Dis 47:750-752.

Hagood LT, Kelly TF, Wright JC, Hoerr FJ. 2000. Evaluation of chicken infectious anemia virus and associated risk factors with disease and production losses in broilers. Avian Dis 44:803-808.

Hathcock TL, Schumacher J, Wright JC, Stringfellow J: 1999. The prevalence of Aeromonas species in feces of horses with diarrhea. J Vet Intern Med 13:357-360.

Wright JC, Getz RR, Powe TA, Nusbaum KE, Stringfellow DA, Mullen GR, Lauerman LH: 1993. Prediction based on weather variables of seroconversion to bluetongue virus in beef cattle. Prev Vet Med 16:271-278.