James C. Wright

 phone:334-844-2670
email: wrighj3@vetmed.auburn.edu

 Dr. Jim Wright is an associate professor in veterinary public health in the Department of Pathobiology and has been at Auburn University since 1985. He received a BS in biology from University of Georgia in 1974. After graduating from Georgia, Dr. Wright was in private veterinary practice in Virginia for two years. He then entered graduate school at the University of Missouri in 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) in swine. This work provided the basis for the federal pseudorabies control program which now exists. Dr. Wright joined the Department of Parasitology, Microbiology, and Public Health at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater where he taught veterinary public health and conducted vaccine trials for human rabies pre-exposure prophylaxis.
 

Research Interests

My research interests involve both vector-borne diseases and the zoonoses including the epidemiology of Lyme disease and bluetongue and pre-harvest food safety.  Dogs in households in which human cases of Lyme disease had occurred have been monitored for up to 18 months with no evidence of seroconversion. Studies also have been conducted on the transmission of bluetongue virus among both cattle and deer. A model for seroconversion has been developed using weather variables and it appears that daily hours of wet vegetation is the most important variable.   Studies have been conducted on a recent outbreak of epizootic hemorrhagic disease is a captive herd of deer.  Presently studies are being conducted on the shedding of Escherichia coli 0157:H7 in calves.
 

Selected Publications

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.  J Vet Prev Med 16:271-278.

Chambers MA, Swango LJ, Wright JC.  1996.  Novel indirect fluorescent antibody test for Lyme disease.  J Vet Diagn Invest 8:196-201.

Kirk JH, Price SB, Wright JC.  1997.  Escherichia coli 0157:H7 in milk.  Agri Practice March/April:16-19.

Wright JC, Chambers M, Mullen GR, Swango LJ, D'Andrea GH, Boyce AJ.  1997.  Seroprevalence of Borrelia burgdorferi in dogs in Alabama, USA.  Prev Vet Med 31:127-131.

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

Price SB, Cheng CM, Kaspar CW, Wright JC, DeGraves FJ, Penfound TA, Coronet MPC, Foster JW.  2000.  Role of rpoS in acid resistance and fecal shedding of Escherichia coli 0157:H7.  Appl Environ Microbiol (accepted for publication).