Iditarod Race Updates and Coverage--Ultimate Iditarod

    The veterinary care that is involved with the Iditarod has become extremely sophisticated in the last few years. I had a chance to sit down today with Stu Nelson DVM, the head veterinarian of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, and discuss health care issues. I am a musher, and also a physician; and I came away very impressed by the proactive approach that Iditarod takes to promote the well-being of it's canine participants.
    Promotion of top-notch health among the dogs starts long before the race, with mailings sent out by Dr. Nelson to the human entrants giving background information on medical issues, and making suggestions regarding nutrition and supplements such as vitamin E, which the mushers ideally will incorporate in their feeding program all through training.
    Race rules require that the dogs in the team be given a special worming medication within ten days of the race start. This medicine kills the common worms to which all dogs are susceptible, but also eliminates the dreaded echinococcus parasite, which dogs can acquire through eating wild meat. This bug can prove life-threatening to humans as well. The medicine is quite expensive, so the Iditarod Trail Committee (ITC) provides the tablets to the mushers free of charge.
    Within the last couple weeks before the race every single dog athlete gets a very thorough physical examination. This includes an electrocardiogram, a complete blood work-up, and a hands-on checkup by a veterinarian.

Once out on the trail, there is a veritable army of vets, which are organized by Dr. Nelson, and which staff each and every checkpoint.   Their aim is to check over each and every dog every time a musher rests and feeds at a checkpoint. They do this with the full support of the mushers, at a time that is agreed upon mutually between the team driver and the doctors. Stu told me that there are 35 vets out in the checkpoints throughout the race. Early on, when teams are close together, and only a few checkpoints are active, there may be as many as seven veterinarians at one place. Later, when the race is more spread out, the usual complement is four. This allows the doctors to work in pairs, and also to take shifts, so they can get some rest each day.
In addition to the regular vets, there are about 10 doctors and helpers specifically designated to collect the urine samples which are analyzed for illegal substances. The Iditarod is just as careful and just as intolerant as the Olympic organization when it comes to using substances that can artificially enhance performance.
    Finally, and of quite an interest to the scientist in me, is the research which is being carried out by Iditarod, to get answers to persistent questions which no one yet fully understands.
    A few years ago Iditarod explored the relationship between vitamin E and a condition know as "sled dog myopathy". Some dogs experience a breakdown of their muscle tissue after they start a race. This is not very common, but it can prove life-threatening if not caught early and the dog is removed from competition. No clear link was established between a deficiency of vitamin E and muscle breakdown, but it became clear that dogs who were given a supplement of vitamin E during the race had a greater chance of finishing the race than dogs who were not given the supplement.   Clearly there is room for more research on this question.
    For the last two years, the ITC has been coordinating research into the issue of stomach ulcers among sled dogs. It is generally know that among all athletes, including people, race horses, and Iditarod dogs, there is a certain (very small) chance of dying suddenly while either practicing or competing.. In the case of sled dogs who die on the trail, each and every one is subject to an autopsy. In the last few years, it has become common knowledge that a high incidence of stomach lining inflammation, or even actual ulcers, is present at these post mortem examinations.   We don't know why this damage to the stomach lining occurs, or when it develops, or what can be done to prevent it, or heal it once it exists.
    After the 2001 race, a team of specialists from all over the U.S. assembled in Nome, and used fiberoptic scopes to look down into the stomachs of any of the dogs whose owners would give permission. Altogether about 70 dogs were examined under anesthesia, and about 70% had some type of problem in the stomach lining. Most changes were minor, but there were a few actual ulcers, or sores, in the lining of the stomach.
    This year the ITC has arranged with three teams to be "research teams". Their dropped dogs will be "scoped" at the central checkpoints of McGrath and Unalakleet, which serve a hubs for the return of dogs to Anchorage. The dogs who finish in these three teams will be have endoscopic examinations in Nome.
    Furthermore, in these three teams, half will get a treatment consisting of the drug omeprazole (sold to people under the brand name Prilosec). The other half of the dogs will get a placebo. And neither the mushers, the vets, or-of course-the dogs will know which they are getting, until after the race. This is being done to study possible preventive measures.
    This is all very sophisticated research, and stands right up there with the quality of research which is done on humans to study the cause and cure for various diseases. It show the commitment which the ITC has to the welfare of the canine athletes. And it shows how much support the mushers have for these efforts.
    It has often been noted that the sled dogs seem to get greater attention to their health than the mushers themselves.
I agree.

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