Your mother was right! Wash your hands
You may notice a recurring theme in many of our posts and on virtually all of the information sheets on the Worms & Germs Resources page: an emphasis on handwashing. There is increasing emphasis on hand hygiene (i.e. hand washing and use of alcohol hand sanitizers) education in hospitals because the hands of healthcare workers are a major (if not the most important) means of disease transmission between patients. Despite hand hygiene being easy, cheap and effective, people rarely wash their hands as often as they should, and they often don't do it properly.
Most of the research about hand hygiene that has been published has focused on its use and impact in human hospitals, but this area is now also being studied more with regard to animals and veterinary medicine. A study published earlier this year in Veterinary Microbiology provided more evidence that hand hygiene is a critical infection control measure when dealing with animals. The study, coordinated by Dr. Maureen Anderson (of Worms&Germs fame) looked at MRSA carriage rate in veterinarians who work with horses. In addition to finding a high rate of MRSA carriage among these veterinarians (which was consistent with other reports indicating that equine vets are at higher than average risk for exposure to MRSA), the study looked at factors associated with MRSA carriage. Vets that reported routinely washing their hands between farms and those that reported washing their hands after contact with potentially infectious cases had a significantly lower rate of MRSA carriage. That should come as absolutely no surprise, but it's one more piece of evidence that we need to pay more attention to this routine infection control measure, in human hospitals, in veterinary environments and in households.
Remember, the 10 most important sources of infection are the fingers on your hands!
Click here for instructions on how to wash your hands properly.
Healthmap
If you are looking for an interesting website to play around with, you should try HealthMap. This is a website created by the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology that maps infectious disease reports from various sources. You can search by region and see what disease problems have been reported recently, or select specific diseases and find out where they've been reported. Some examples are shown below. The top image shows all disease reports worldwide (in the last 30 days), while the bottom image shows reports of Salmonella in North America during the same time period. The site relies on reports of diseases (many cases of various diseases occur but are never reported), so it focuses mainly on outbreaks or high profile cases , but it is still quite interesting.
Above: All reported disease outbreaks/cases worldwide in the last 30 days.
Below: Reported outbreaks/cases of Salmonella in North America in the last 30 days.
See the HealthMap site for more details.
Feline Immunodeficiency Virus - HIV/AIDS for Cats
Everyone is familiar with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) - the retrovirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in people. Although HIV can only infect humans and some primates, cats can be infected by a very similar virus from the same genus (Lentivirus) with a similar name – feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV). The FIV virus is transmitted from cat to cat by contact with blood, usually through a cat bite. In Canada and the USA, up to 3% of healthy cats may be infected with FIV.
As with HIV in people, FIV attacks a cat’s immune system, which can leave the animal susceptible to many different infections that a healthy cat could normally fight off. Some of these infections, like toxoplasmosis, are similar to those that occur in AIDS patients. (More information on toxoplasmosis and Toxoplasma is available on the Worms & Germs Resources page). Depending on a number of factors, an FIV-positive cat may remain healthy for years, but once the animal begins to show signs of a weakened immune system, it will often develop chronic or recurrent health problems. The infection is life-long – there is no “cure” for FIV.
Some key points to remember:
- Cats cannot get HIV. People cannot get FIV. They are related but different viruses.
- Keeping your cat indoors will prevent fighting with other cats and decrease the risk of your cat contracting FIV.
- There is a vaccine available for FIV, but it remains uncertain if the vaccine can protect cats from all strains of the virus. The vaccine also interferes with tests for FIV infection. Therefore, preventing exposure to the virus is still the best way to prevent FIV infection.
- If your cat already has FIV, it is important to keep it indoors to decrease exposure to pathogens that could make your cat sick, and to prevent your cat from spreading the virus to other cats.
More information about FIV can be found on the Cornell Feline Health Center website.
Are pregnancy and cats compatible?
.jpg)
There is a degree of risk of disease transmission from any contact with an animal, just as there is from any contact with another person. Some of the diseases involved are minor or even insignificant, while others are potentially devastating. And the risk can change in certain situations, such as pregnancy. A developing fetus is more susceptible to some diseases that may typically have little to no effect on an adult. Toxoplasmosis is one disease that gets a lot of attention from pregnant women.
Toxoplasmosis is caused by the protozoal parasite Toxoplasma gondii. Infection of a pregnant woman with Toxoplasma can cause birth defects or even miscarriage. But the real risk occurs when a woman who has not been previously exposed to Toxoplasma becomes infected during pregnancy. Pregnant women who were exposed to Toxoplamsa before they became pregnant, and therefore already have antibodies against the parasite, are not at risk.
Cats are the only animal species that can spread Toxoplasma in their stool. Only a very small percentage of cats are shedding Toxoplasma at any one time, but the proportion can be higher among cats that go outside, hunt or are fed raw meat. It takes 24 hours or more for Toxoplasma in cat stool to become infectious - a person cannot be infected with Toxoplasma from fresh stool. This key point can greatly reduce the risk of transmission from a cat, if the cat's litter box is cleaned out on a daily basis.
Any infection that can potentially have devastating effects on a fetus needs to be taken seriously. While it appears to be rare these days, some women are still advised to get rid of their cats if they are pregnant. Pregnant women do not need to give up their cats! A few basic measures can greatly reduce the risk of transmission of Toxoplasma from cats to pregnant women:
- Pregnant women should not have contact with litter boxes (or any cat feces) if possible - preferably another person should do the litter box cleaning.
- If a pregnant woman must clean the litter box, it should be done daily so that Toxoplasma does not have enough time to become infectious.
- Litter boxes should be regularly scrubbed and cleaned with scalding water (see the Worms & Germs Resources page for more information on Litter Boxes).
- Keep your cat's fur free of stool contamination. This is especially important in longhaired cats that might get stool on the fur around their hind end, or sick/old/obese cats that have difficulty grooming themselves properly.
- Keep your cat indoors. Outdoor cats are more likely to be exposed to Toxoplasma and spread the infection.
- Do not feed your cat raw meat.
- Wash your hands thoroughly after cleaning the litter box, handling raw fruit and vegetables, and working with soil (for example, in the garden).
- Cook all meat completely to recommended temperatures, and practice safe meat handling to prevent spread of contamination from raw meat to kitchen surfaces and other food.
More information about Toxoplasma and zoonotic diesases associated with Cats can be found on the Woms & Germs Resources page.
Toxoplasmosis - Why Your Cat Shouldn't Get the Blame or the Boot
Toxoplasma gondii is one of the most widespread zoonotic pathogens in the world. Toxoplasma is a protozoal parasite that can infect almost any warm-blooded animal, including humans. In most people and animals, infection doesn’t cause any illness at all, and after the initial infection, the body usually produces strong immunity which protects it from subsequent Toxoplasma infection. Problems arise when infection occurs in a person with a weakened immune system. For example, toxoplasmosis (i.e. illness due to Toxoplasma) has been a major problem in HIV/AIDS patients, although better HIV treatments have decrased the incidence of the disease in this group in recent years. Toxoplasma can also cause problems when a woman is infected for the first time, before her body has developed immunity to the parasite, while she is pregnant. In these cases, the parasite can infect the fetus. This may result in birth defects or loss of the pregnancy altogether.Our friendly feline companions have the unfortunate distinction of being what is called the “definitive host” of Toxoplasma. This means that even though the parasite can infect many species of animals, cats are the only species that shed the parasite “eggs” (which are called oocysts in this case) in their stool after they’re infected. But what most people don’t realize is that the number of cats that are shedding oocysts at any one time is very small – usually less than 1 in 100. And after the first time a cat is infected, it usually doesn’t shed oocysts again, and if it does it sheds them in very low numbers.
Depending on individual lifestyle and eating habits, a person is just as likely or more likely to be exposed to Toxoplasma from working in the garden or eating undercooked meat (particularly free-range pork or wild game). People who are pregnant or who have a weakened immune system do NOT need to get rid of their cats because of Toxoplasma, but they DO need to take steps to avoid exposure to Toxoplasma from all sources. This includes avoiding contact with cat stool and kitty litter by asking someone else to clean their cat’s litter box for them if possible, or wearing rubber gloves and being very careful to wash their hand very well afterwards if they need to clean the box themselves. Here are a few more tips that can help reduce their risk of exposure to Toxoplasma:
- Clean your cat’s litter box every day. The oocysts usually take about 24 hours to become infective once they’ve been passed in your cat’s stool, so daily cleaning helps remove them before they reach this stage.
- Always wash your hands with soap and water after cleaning your cat’s litter box, after working in the garden or in any soil, and after handling raw meat.
- Cook all meat, especially pork, lamb, mutton and wild game, to an internal temperature of 67ºC/153ºF or higher.
- Keep sandboxes covered so outdoor cats don’t contaminate them with stool.
- Keep your cat indoors. Outdoor cats are more likely to be exposed to Toxoplasma and shed oocysts in their stool.
Information Sheets for Pet Owners
INFORMATION SHEETS specifically for KIDS, for VETERINARIANS and for PHYSICIANS are also available on the Worms & Germs RESOURCES page!
Click on the highlighted topics below for information sheets. Topics that are not highlighted are in development and coming soon. Sheets for other animal species and diseases are also under development and will be added when they are available. 
| Animals | Diseases | Other |
| Dogs | Rabies | Litter Boxes |
| Cats | Giardia | Sandboxes |
| Turtles | Toxoplasma | Cat Bites |
| Hamsters | Leptospira | Raw Meat |
| Rabbits | Clostridium difficile | |
| Birds | Cryptosporidium | |
| MRSA | ||
| Salmonella | ||
| Campylobacter | ||
| Ringworm |
Please Remember:
- Your veterinarian and physician are your ultimate resource for information about the health of your pets or your family.
- Information provided here is accurate to the best of our knowledge, but infectious diseases can be unpredictable and these sheets are for general information purposes only.
- There can be great variation in disease risks in different geographic areas. The information provided was developed for Ontario, Canada, but most of the information is relevant for other regions as well.
