By Scott Weese on Posted in Dogs,Other diseasesEvery year or so, there’s a new wave of publicity/paranoia about the risks associated with dogs licking people. Often, it follows a study of bacteria that can be found in the mouths of dogs. It leads to a combination of balanced reports, sensational reports and defensive responses. What is the concern? Dog’s mouths are vats… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in DogsThe Ohio State University has launched a new website about infectious disease risks in canine group settings. The site includes a comprehensive document on risk and risk reduction strategies (which was just published last month in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association), as well as owner-level fact sheets and a risk calculator to help identify specific risks… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in DogsI spend a lot of time talking about “emerging” infectious diseases. Some of these are truly emerging (i.e. new) diseases, some are conditions we couldn’t diagnose well before but now recognize more easily, and some are disease that have been there all along and are just getting more attention. However, while emerging infectious disease (especially zoonotic… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Dogs,Other diseasesHot off the presses in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVMA) is a guidance document aimed at reducing infectious disease risks in a variety of canine group settings. The paper, Risk reduction and management strategies to prevent transmission of infectious disease among dogs at dog shows, sporting events, and other canine group settings (Stull et al,… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Cats,DogsA vague but potentially interesting report from New Jersey outlines a request for information about pet deaths in the area. The Cumberland County [New Jersey] Health Department is asking for the public’s help in collecting data on reports of what it calls “sudden and unusual illness” among dogs in the county. Perhaps the most interesting and… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Dogs,MiscellaneousDogs’ noses are used for a lot of things. Some are conventional (e.g. tracking, search and rescue, drug detection), some are a bit outside of the box (e.g. detection of Clostridium difficile, identifying floating whale poop). A recent paper in Open Forum Infectious Diseases (Maurer et al 2016) takes this to another level by investigating the… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in DogsThere are a lot of gross parasitic diseases. A prime example is dracunculiasis, otherwise known as Guinea worm (Dracunculus medinensis) infection. People get infected by drinking water or eating undercooked fish contaminated with “water fleas” that are infected with Guinea worm larvae. Over a year or so, the worm grows silently in the body, with… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in DogsCapnocytophaga canimorsus is a bit of an obscure bacterium. When I talk about it to veterinary or physician audiences, I’m usually met with blank stares – not surprising, since it’s not really mentioned in veterinary or medical school, from what I can tell. It’s a rare cause of infection, but a nasty one. The fact that it’s… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Cats,Dogs,Horses,Parasites,RabiesA few years ago, we launched WormsAndGermsMap to help track certain emerging and endemic diseases. Data are entered by participating veterinary clinics, surveillance programs and the WormsAndGerms team. While we certainly can’t capture every case, we do collect some interesting information about the presence of certain diseases. Using the “Report Filter” bar on the left, you can… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Cats,DogsLast year, a Working Group was established to review the issue of importation of dogs into Canada and to come up with options and recommendations to: Mitigate the risks to animal health (domestic and wildlife) and public health posed by the current system through which dogs are imported from abroad. Mitigate the same risks posed… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Birds,Cats,Dogs,Horses,Other animals,Other diseases,Pocket pets,ReptilesPredicting the future is a dodgy proposition at the best of times. It’s particularly hard with infectious diseases, which tend not to behave as expected. Yet, it’s important to plan surveillance, education and response. One approach is to assess where certain types of problems are more likely to develop. That can help direct resources (time,… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Dogs,Rabies,VaccinationI’ve written a lot about the issues of dog importation and the diseases that can sometimes “come along for the ride”. However, high risk movement doesn’t need to be international. Any movement from a high risk area can be a concern. A recent article in Canadian Communicable Disease Report (Curry et al. 2016) addresses the issue of… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in DogsSome diagnostic tests that are available are more of a situation of a test looking for a market rather than filling a clinical need for additional information. That complicates matters since providing new information isn’t necessarily useful if we don’t know what to do with it. In some situations, it can even lead to bad decisions.… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Cats,DogsA few years ago, the New Delhi metallobetalactamase-1 (NDM-1) antibiotic resistance gene attracted a lot of attention. This resistance gene can be found in (and passed between) a variety of bacteria, and bacteria possessing this gene are resistant to a wide range of drugs. A drug of last resort for those infections is colistin (a… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in DogsThe Ontario Animal Health Network – Companion Animal has released a new infographic on Ticks and Lyme Disease in Ontario: What’s The Real Risk? It’s obviously Ontario-centric but some of the messages apply more broadly. It’s important to consider what the real risk of exposure is, and that involves thinking about things like how common Borrelia… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Birds,Cats,Dogs,Other animals,Pocket pets,ReptilesAnimals are not uncommonly found in daycares and other childcare settings. Sometimes, it’s good: animals can be entertaining, animal contact can have various benefits to children, and animals can be part of learning activities. Other times, it’s not: such as the presence of species at higher risk for shedding certain pathogens, poor management that increases… Continue Reading
By Maureen Anderson on Posted in Dogs,VaccinationCanine influenza has once again reared its ugly head in fairly spectacular fashion, this time in Bloomington, IL. Apparently there have been numerous laboratory-confirmed cases, and also many suspected cases, and likely still more cases that have gone completely unreported. It’s estimated that “hundreds” of dogs may have been affected already – it’s very difficult… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Dogs,RabiesA Florida couple is suing their neighbour in an attempt to get the neighbour’s dog euthanized for rabies testing. The dog attacked the couple’s beagle, and the wife was bitten while intervening (as was her sister). Because there was a bite, it’s important to consider the potential for rabies exposure and take appropriate actions. But… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Cats,Dogs,SalmonellaAccording to an alert from the College of Veterinarians of British Columbia: The BC Centre for Disease Control is collaborating with BC health authorities, the Public Health Agency of Canada, and Health Canada to investigate an outbreak of Salmonella infections in British Columbia likely related to raw pet food. Raw pet food is food served… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in DogsWhen we’re faced with making decisions about treatments, “show me the evidence” is a common refrain. There are a lot of products being sold as “cures” but with little or no evidence to back up their claims. So, looking for any scientific backing is important. One of the highest levels of evidence would be a… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Cats,Dogs,Other animals,Rabies,VaccinationSuccess can breed apathy. Apathy can lead to bad decisions. That’s a common problem with vaccinations. People lose sight of why we vaccinate. Growing up during a time when many major pathogens have been controlled by vaccines, it’s easy to forget about how bad those diseases are. Whether it’s resurgence in measles in people because… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Cats,DogsPerhaps unsurprisingly, canine H3N2 influenza has been found in a group of cats in the US. Canine H3N2 influenza is the strain that emerged in the US last year. It was likely imported (in a dog) from South Korea, and then spread through many parts of the country. As with H3N8 canine flu, we’ve been… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Dogs,Other animalsCache Valley Virus (CVV) has been in the news around here lately. This mosquito-borne virus can be found in various parts of North America, particularly in the southeastern US. It’s been present in Ontario for a while, but has hit the news recently because of a recent outbreak in sheep flocks in the province. CVV infection… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in DogsI had an interesting question the other day about blastomycosis screening. Blastomycosis is a nasty fungal disease caused by Blastomyces dermatitidis. The infectious form of this fungus (spores) lives in the environment, and dogs (and other species, including people) can develop serious disease after inhaling fungal spores (or being otherwise inoculated with spores, e.g. through… Continue Reading
