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H5N1 Antivirals: Should We Use Them in Animals?

By Scott Weese on April 11, 2025
Posted in Birds, Cats, Dogs, Worms&GermsPod
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For the longer answer to this question, check out the latest podcast episode I just posted on WormsAndGermsPod. For those who prefer to read the summary, here it is:

If you ask people on the street “should we use the limited antivirals we have available to treat people with flu on dogs and…

Podcast: H5N1 Influenza and Raw Pet Food

By Scott Weese on February 11, 2025
Posted in Birds, Cats, Dogs, Worms&GermsPod

The more H5N1 influenza continues to circulate in wild and domestic birds around the world, including here in North America, the more we have to be concerned about exposure of pets to H5N1 influenza through raw food diets. Recent documented infections in cats fed raw meat from infected birds have highlighted these concerns. For…

H5N1 Flu in Nevada Dairy Cattle: What’s the Concern?

By Scott Weese on February 10, 2025
Posted in Birds
  • The cattle were infected with the D1.1 strain of H5N1, which has been
…

H5N1 Influenza in Another Cat: Oregon

By Scott Weese on January 29, 2025
Posted in Birds, Cats
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Addendum: The Oregon Veterinary Medical Association has indicated in a release that the cat discussed below was euthanized because of the severity of disease. That’s more consistent with the severe disease that’s usually reported but I think the discussion below still applies since this seems to have been an initial primary respiratory disease presentation. It…

Culling Considerations in Disease Outbreak Response: Take 2

By Scott Weese on January 16, 2025
Posted in Birds, Other animals, Other diseases

My post earlier this week about culling considerations for control of disease outbreaks in animals generated some good discussion and ideas (and a surprisingly small number of “you’re an idiot” emails). Although that post was focused primarily on culling in response to influenza outbreaks, we can also think about it little more broadly…

To Cull or Not to Cull: Managing H5N1 in an Era of Endemicity

By Scott Weese on January 13, 2025
Posted in Birds, Other animals, Other diseases
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The recent situation has raised more discussion about the role of mass culling in response to H5N1 influenza infection in domestic / captive birds. After H5N1 flu was identified on an ostrich farm in British Columbia, the CFIA ordered all 400 birds to be culled, but the owner is trying to find options to preserve…

H5N1 Avian Flu on a Petting Farm

By Scott Weese on November 12, 2024
Posted in Birds
  • Backyard bird
…

Fatal H5N2 Infection in a Person: One-Off Weirdness or Warning Sign?

By Scott Weese on June 6, 2024
Posted in Birds, Other diseases
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Adding to the “that was not on my bingo card” theme of the 2020s, there was a recent fatal H5N2 avian influenza infection in a person in Mexico.

First important point: this was H5N2, not the H5N1 strain we’ve been focused on for the past few years in bird (and spilling over into…

H5N1 Avian Flu in a Cat on a Dairy Farm (Completely Unsurprising)

By Scott Weese on April 2, 2024
Posted in Birds, Cats
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H5N1 avian influenza has been found in cats on a dairy farm in New Mexico where cattle were infected with the same virus. As part of the farm investigation, some (number not reported) sick (type of illness not reported) cats were tested, and three were positive. There’s no way to know for sure, but I’d…

Update: H5N1 Avian Flu in Cats in Poland (July 4), Possible Food Link?

By Scott Weese on July 4, 2023
Posted in Birds, Cats
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The H5N1 avian flu outbreak in cats in Poland seems to be slowing down but the cause is still under investigation. While outbreaks often die out on their own (sometimes because of what we do, sometimes despite what we do), it’s still important to figure out what happened, to help understand the disease and ideally…

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Worms & Germs Blog is an educational website coordinated by Drs. Scott Weese and Maureen Anderson of the Ontario Veterinary College’s Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses. The site was initially set up with the help of funding from City…

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The Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses offers information relating to zoonotic diseases (diseases transmitted from animals to people), including aspects of human and pet health, infection prevention and control, and vaccination. It is located at the University of Guelph, in Ontario, Canada.

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