March 2013

Business Mirror, a Philippine news website, had a recent article entitled "Rabies: deadlier than ever". That’s a bit like saying Decapitation: now an even worse idea. Rabies isn’t ‘deadlier than ever,’ since it’s hard to get deadlier when the disease is already almost invariably fatal.

Anyway, beyond quibbling about the title, there

Is MRSP zoonotic?” That’s a question I get all the time. MRSP (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius) is a canine staph (a bacterium) to which people are exposed all the time. Yes, it can infect people, but only very rarely, particularly when you consider how often they’re exposed. Nonetheless, human MRSP infections can occur.

I write a lot about reptiles, and while it’s usually in the context of their biohazardous nature, I actually like them. I’ve owned some before and it’s not outside of the realm of possibility that we’ll get more in the future (I might be safe with that statement since Heather doesn’t read this blog. However

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for pet therapy and animal visitation in hospitals – when it’s done logically. I’ve been involved in research in the area, helped develop international guidelines and am chair of the medical advisory board of one of the largest pet therapy groups in the US. Animals can do great things