As expected, the KW humane society ringworm outbreak has gone from "we’ll be open in a couple days" to "it may take months to clear it up."

The scope of the outbreak isn’t really clear from press reports, but "a couple" of other animals now have signs of the skin disease. Investigation of the timing and likely sources of exposure of new cases is crucial. They may just be animals that were infected early, before the problem was recognized (the best case scenario) but investigating these "new" cases is very important because if these animals were exposed after the outbreak was identified, then there are problems with containment.

Shelter personnel have declared that they aren’t planning on euthanizing more animals, but the shelter remains closed for adoptions. Stray animals will continue to be accepted. This creates a tricky situation where new animals (e.g. fuel for the fire, if things aren’t under control) come in and can actually propagate the outbreak. It also creates overcrowding issues since the shelter was probably pretty full to start with, and continuing admissions with no adoptions can’t be maintained for long. The shelter is looking at renting units in which to put animals – this is a relatively common approach for creating more contained spaces, and one that can be useful if good infection control practices are in place (although I’ve seen too many outbreaks where the offending pathogen quickly makes its way into the new units). Clear policies, sound training, careful supervision, exquisite planning and good communication are critical for making a situation like that work.

While the shelter has gone from an unrealistically optimistic time frame to a warning about long-term efforts, as with most things in life, the middle ground is usually the most accurate. Ringworm outbreaks can’t be declared over in a few days (it’s possible to contain it in a short period of time, but not declare an outbreak over). A few days isn’t even enough time to get culture results back to figure out exactly what’s happening. Testing, isolation, cohorting, mass treatment, evaluation of training, evaluation of infection control practices, and similar measures are needed, but if done right, an outbreak can be contained in a reasonably short period of time. Given the need to repeatedly treat all animals (affected animals are being bathed every three days with a medicated solution) and the time lag for ringworm culture, it’s going to take at least a few weeks, but let’s hope this outbreak ultimately gets measured in weeks rather than months.