I’ll hold back and just classify this as “not a great idea.”
How do that many people get exposed to a single raccoon?
Step 1: Take a wild raccoon and try to make it
“Dad, a chick pooped on me”
How’s this for timing? As I was writing the post below, my youngest daughter walked in the door and said “a chick pooped on me today.”
It wasn’t a total surprise since I’d heard a vague statement from her about maybe having chicks in the class for the end of the year.
Is
Canadian spotlight report: Preserving antibiotics
Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, has issued a spotlight report: Handle with Care: Preserving Antibiotics Now and Into the Future.
There’s nothing too surprising in it, which in a lot of ways is the point. Addressing antimicrobial use and resistance isn’t rocket science, it’s application of a lot of basic, common
Rat bite fever on Vancouver Island, Canada
When I talk to veterinary and public health audiences about zoonotic diseases, I often talk about rat bite fever because it highlights some common issues that are important to keep in mind.
Usually, I start by presenting a case of a child with a fever and rash.
Then, I mention that someone finally asked about
2018 Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses (CPHAZ) Annual Report
The University of Guelph’s Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses (CPHAZ) 2018 Annual Report has been released. Click here to access it: 2018 CPHAZ Annual Report
Polar bears and Clostridium difficile
And now for something completely different.
We’ve studied Clostridium difficile in my lab for years and we probably have one of the world’s most diverse collections of this important bacterium. We have thousands of isolates from people, pets, livestock and many different wildlife species (as well as from meat, vegetables and water). Most of the
Wash your hands and save a skunk
Well, not really. Presumably most people don’t have direct contact with skunks; however, that doesn’t mean skunks can’t pick up viruses from us.
A study published in Zoonoses and Public Health (Britton et al. 2018) investigated human H1N1 influenza in wild skunks in the greater Vancouver, BC (Canada) area, following up on an
Annual US rabies report 2017
As is typical for this time of year, the annual US rabies report has been published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (Ma et al, 2018).
Here are some highlights:
- 4454 rabid animals were identified across the country. This is certainly a marked underestimate of the actual number since most
CDC didn’t actually say “don’t dress up your chickens for Halloween”…but don’t do it anyway
Lots of media reports have been saying that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have warned people not to dress up their chickens for Halloween.
- Yes, chickens.
I wouldn’t have thought that policing chicken fashion would be high on the CDC’s to-do list, but the concern is obviously related to the perpetual
Bad headlines
I realize headline writers are trying to attract attention, and sometimes they don’t know much about the content. As a result, some headlines are quite over the top, and that can freak people out. Here are some examples from the past couple of days:
4 year old girl catches life-threatening infection by trying on shoes