Concern (paranoia?) about Ebola in animals has died down lately, which is a good thing. In the meantime, guidelines have been developed to help handle potential animal Ebola-exposure issues, which is also a good thing.
While I’ve been slow posting them, Canadian guidance for management of companion animals potentially exposed to Ebola virus and for animal contacts of people potentially exposed to Ebola virus have been finalized. It was a lot of effort for something we’ll probably never use, but if we have to use them once, we’ll be very glad we went through the process. There were also benefits of getting various groups working together and thinking about the issues, so even if we don’t use them, the process was still valuable.
Part of the process also included a practice-run of certain procedures (done in collaboration with OMAFRA staff) using our dog Merlin as the "exposed" animal. For more pictures, see the earlier W&G post or the recent University of Guelph press release.
For anyone who’s curious, here they are:
Guidance regarding animal ownership and contact by individuals with potential Ebola virus exposure