When it comes to disease surveillance and communication, we have a tendency to throw lots of stuff at the wall to see what sticks. Some things stick around (like this blog!), others things not so much… like our first attempt at WormsAndGermsMap about ten years ago. It was a good idea, but the technology
Antimicrobial Use in Animals: When More Might Be Better
That headline might get some people worked up, but hopefully they’ll read the whole post before firing off an angry email.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a huge problem in humans and animals, which means we need to improve or optimize how we use antimicrobials, but this is not synonymous with reducing use. Most of the
New World Screwworm: Primer for Canadian Veterinarians
I remember the first case of fly myiasis (aka fly strike, maggot infestation) in general practice. I was a very new grad called to look at a lamb owned by someone who had a few sheep. The complaint was that the lamb wasn’t doing well. It was laying down when I arrived and I grabbed
H5N1 in Horses: Cause For Concern?
As H5N1 avian influenza continues its unprecedented spread internationally among wild birds, domestic bird, different mammals and even people, concerns continue to increase. One of the things that increases risk with influenza viruses is the number of species a strain can infect. The more species the virus can infect, the more risk of exposure to
Global Impact of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) in Humans and Animals
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a big problem with a crappy marketing plan. It’s been termed a “silent pandemic,” and it has huge health and financial impacts that are only going to get worse if we don’t act. Unfortunately, even though we’ve been battling this issue for decades, the average person doesn’t know about it, or
Updated CLSI Veterinary Susceptibility Testing Guidance: What Veterinarians Need to Know (Spoiler… This One Has Lots of Relevant Changes!)
Diagnostic testing is a cornerstone of veterinary medicine that helps us optimize patient care, but there’s a lot of science behind it that people often forget. We collect a sample, send it off for testing and magically get the results, often without putting a lot of thought into what happens at the lab. Labs (should)
Rabies Recap, US 2021
As per usual, the annual US rabies state-of-the-union has been published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (Ma et al. 2023). It’s the same general information every year, but always a good reminder of the ongoing challenges with rabies here in North America.
Here are some highlights from the animal-related
SARS-CoV-2 Infection in a Healthy Horse
While we’ve learned a lot about the susceptibility of many different animal species to SARS-CoV-2, horses have been a bit of an unknown. We’ve had concerns about potential susceptibility based on the nature of the receptor the virus uses to enter host cells, but study in horses has still been limited. A lot of that
Should We Vaccinate Animals Against SARS-CoV-2?
Concerns about the animal aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to come in waves. Most of the time they are ignored or dismissed, but there are also periodic flurries of attention and (often over-) reaction. Lately, questions about vaccination of animals against SARS-CoV-2 follow have been on the rise.
Should domestic and wild animals be
Update: COVID-19 in Animals Review Part 5: Horses
This one’s as easy to write as the first version… we still have no clue.
Overall, the health risk to horses from SARS-CoV-2 is probably very low. If horses were getting sick, or at least very sick, we would have noticed by now. I’ve not had any indication that we’re seeing a disease impact