Following the recent report of H5N1 avian influenza in cattle in the US, the CDC has now reported H5N1 infection in a person from Texas who was exposed to infected dairy cattle. This is bound to get a lot of attention. To a large degree, it’s warranted, but it’s probably going to get
Recent reports from federal and state agencies in the US of H5N1 avian flu in cattle in Texas, Kansas and now other states have gotten a lot of attention, and for good reason; but, as is typical, some of the media coverage has gone a bit over the top. This is certainly a noteworthy event
I debated writing about this now since it’s an ongoing situation with a very unclear outcome, but that’s medicine. We also don’t have a lot of camelid content on the blog, and there’s an infectious disease component to this case, so figured it was worthwhile.
Mickey (photo right) is an older male alpaca, part of
I’ll take a break from writing about widespread canine infectious respiratory disease complex (CIRDC) in North America to talk about a single case of a rare disease in a dog. Wageningen Veterinary Research has reported a case of Bluetongue infection in a dog in the Netherlands, a disease of significant consequence to livestock that’s
Yes, I’m prone to making typos. No, this title isn’t one of them.
While we’re in the midst of an unprecedented international outbreak of H5N1 avian flu (with ongoing spillover into mammals), there’s a new kid on the block: H5N5 influenza. I think recent reports of H5N5 were glossed over by some who didn’t realize
I get a surprising number of emails from people concerned about Baylisascaris procyonis, the raccoon roundworm. Some are just a bit concerned while others are almost paralyzed by fear at the thought of this parasite lurking in the environment. Most of my responses are largely re-assuring people that the risk is very limited
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
As the unprecedented global H5N1 avian flu outbreak continues (with no real end in sight), and as we get the spring mix of migrating birds, mingling bird populations, more active wildlife and a pending crop of baby wild critters, concerns about spillover infections from birds to mammals are on the rise.
The current H5N1 influenza
The ongoing H5N1 avian influenza outbreak is an unprecedented event in its size, scope and duration (but it’s not getting much press anymore these days). As infections continue to occur is birds in large numbers over a vast geographic range, we worry about spillover events into other species.
There have now been many reports of
I’ve written (ranted?) about this before – namely the misuse of antimicrobials intended for treatment of aquarium fish in other species. Usually such posts are followed by a deluge of nasty emails along with a bunch of curious requests for links to fish antibiotic sellers (8% kickback available!).
Another sponsorship request came in this morning
