By Scott Weese on Posted in Horses,VaccinationThe season has arrived. Right on schedule, the first case of West Nile virus (WNV) infection in an Ontario horse has been identified, prompting an advisory from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA). The affected horse was from Sudbury, Ontario, and was euthanized because of progressive and severe neurological disease. It… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Dogs,Rabies,VaccinationImportation issues, Part 1 A Facebook post was forwarded to me the other day. It reads “Drove to the airport today to pick up this lovely little girl [puppy] who flew all the way to Montreal from Baku Azerbaijan. Spent the afternoon with her romping around in Westmount Park. She will be up for adoption… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in VaccinationThe medical journal Lancet has fully retracted the flawed 1998 study that raised a link between MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccination and autism in children. This study fueled incredible debate and was a driving force in the anti-vaccination movement, and subsequent declines in vaccination rates were a key reason for the resurgence of measles. It also… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Dogs,Rabies,VaccinationIf an unvaccinated person is exposed to rabies (usually by a bite), they undergo post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), consisting of an injection of anti-rabies antibodies and a series of 4 or 5 vaccines. (It used to be 5, but it was recently recommended to drop this to 4). This is a highly effective protocol which basically… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Cats,Dogs,Rabies,VaccinationA large number of rabies cases in Santa Cruz County, Arizona has lead to the rare practice of implementing a county-wide rabies quarantine. Fifty-four cases of rabies have been diagnosed so far this year, mainly in skunks. That’s about twice as many as normal. Quarantine is probably not the best description of what they are… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Dogs,Other diseases,VaccinationAn article in an upcoming edition of Transplant Infectious Disease (Gisel et al) describes a case of Bordetella bronchiseptica pneumonia in a person who had received a kidney and pancreas transplant. This person had to board her dogs at a veterinary clinic while she was hospitalized for a bowel obstruction that occurred after surgery. The… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Rabies,VaccinationRabies baiting is a highly effective way to reduce rabies in wildlife populations. As we’ve discussed before, in Ontario this involves air-dropping edible rabies vaccine. These baits are dropped in key rural areas, but there is the potential for curious people to come into contact with the vaccine if they handle baits that they come… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Cats,Dogs,Rabies,VaccinationA study in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (Murray et al 2009) investigated the rabies vaccination history of dogs and cats diagnosed with rabies in 21 US states between 1997 and 2001. 264 rabid dogs and 840 rabid cats were identified. 4.9% of rabid dogs and 2.6% of rabid cats had a history of… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in VaccinationHerd immunity is an important infectious disease concept. Basically, it involves trying to ensure that a high enough percentage of a population is resistant to an infectious disease so that the disease cannot be spread easily through the group. Ensuring that a large percentage of the population is vaccinated helps protect individuals that cannot be… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Cats,Dogs,VaccinationNorfolk, VIrginia’s MyCityTalk.com has an article entitled "The Truth About Pet Vaccinations". It’s basically the same as hundreds or thousands of other articles available on the internet purporting to try to set the unwary pet-owning public straight about pet vaccines. Here are some of the highlights. The evidence against vaccinating, however, is overwhelming. What evidence?… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Dogs,Rabies,VaccinationIn April, I wrote about an ongoing rabies outbreak in the popular tourist destination of Bali. Because of widespread rabies in stray dogs and fatal human infections, there were calls for the government to take aggressive action and for tourists to be aware of the risk. Apparently, things haven’t improved much since then. At least 9… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Horses,VaccinationIn the wake of the death of Dr. Alister Rodgers from Hendra virus, there have been increasing calls for the Australian government to put significant resources into Hendra virus research. Various areas need to be investigated, including how this virus is maintained in the bat population, how it is transmitted from bats to horses, ways… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Dogs,Other animals,Rabies,VaccinationRabies baiting is a common and effective way of controlling rabies in some wildlife populations, particularly skunks, raccoons and foxes. It involves dropping edible rabies vaccine, by airplane or by hand, into targeted areas. Millions of rabies baits are used across North America and baiting programs have been cited as a key aspect of wildlife… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Dogs,Rabies,VaccinationClallam County (Washington) is considering dropping the requirement that pets be vaccinated against rabies in order to get a license. It’s pretty clear that this is only based on a desire to get more people to pay for licenses. Sheriff Bill Benedict is quoted as saying "My view on this is, we’re leaving money on… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Horses,Rabies,VaccinationA horse in Harford county Maryland has been euthanized because of rabies. The horse first starting showing signs of disease in mid-July, which manifested as "striking changes in behaviour." The report doesn’t say when the horse died, but animals typically die within a few days of the onset of neurological disease. The horse was transferred… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Dogs,Rabies,VaccinationIn Canada, access to rabies vaccine for animals is restricted to veterinarians (i.e. only vets can buy the product itself and administer it to people’s animals). In general, this is an excellent approach because it ensures that the vaccine has been handled and stored appropriately, animals have been vaccinated properly and accurate vaccination records are… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Horses,VaccinationHere’s a question I received the other day: "Do people who work with animals and who work in barns need a tetanus shot as a result of this type of work? We have Therapeutic Riding Programs in the region and there is a sense that perhaps the volunteers and those who frequently tend the horses need… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Cats,Rabies,VaccinationTwo kids and one adult are undergoing post-exposure treatment for rabies after having contact with an infected kitten. One child saw the stray animal and went to give it some food, and he was bitten in the process. The kitten then proceeded to bite the boy’s mother and another child in the neighbourhood. Fortunately, the… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Cats,Dogs,Rabies,VaccinationThere are two situations when animals may be quarantined because of rabies concerns: After biting a person. After potentially being exposed to a rabid animal. The time frame for quarantine in these two situations is quite different because of what the quarantine is meant to accomplish. Animals that have bitten someone are quarantined for 10… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Dogs,Other diseases,VaccinationA canine influenza virus vaccine has recently been released. Canine influenzais a virus that originated from a horse influenza strain and is now circulating in some dog populations. (To my knowledge, we have yet to find it in Ontario. We didn’t find any evidence of it in an earlier surveillance study). It typically causes mild… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Rabies,VaccinationCurrently, people that have potentially been exposed to rabies undergo post-exposure treatment consisting of one dose of rabies antibodies followed by a series of 5 vaccinations on days 0, 3, 7, 14 and 28. It’s not fun but it’s much better than the old horror stories of 14 or more injections in the abdomen, which… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Dogs,Rabies,VaccinationAt the same time that the country is drafting an animal welfare law that would ban widespread killing of dogs, a Chinese city has killed 36 000 stray and pet dogs in an effort to eliminate rabies. Since late May 2009, more than 6 000 people in Hanzhong have been bitten or scratched (presumably by… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Other animals,Rabies,VaccinationLast fall, I wrote about rabies exposure in a Montana school. The full story has just been published in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports. The brief version of the story is: Parent finds a dead bat carried in by the family cat and, for reasons known only to him/her, puts it in a jar. The… Continue Reading
By Maureen Anderson on Posted in Dogs,Other diseases,VaccinationThe latest issue of Oprah’s magazine "O" features the icon talking about her recent puppy dog adoption drama involving canine parvovirus. It just goes to show that even the pets of the biggest celebrities in the world are not beyond the reach of common microscopic infectious pathogens. A couple of months back, Oprah adopted two… Continue Reading
