I very commonly get emails from vets like this:
My client was diagnosed with [insert various diseases here] and their physician said they probably got it from their [insert various pets here] and as a result they want the animal [tested / treated / rehomed].
As the current international monkeypox outbreak in people continues, more consideration is being given to the potential impact on, and subsequently from, animals. Animals are the reservoirs for this virus, although there are lots of gaps in our knowledge of the species monkeypox virus can infect.
The current cases outside of Africa are being spread
Local transmission of monkeypox wasn’t on my 2022 bingo card, but I guess we’re learning to expect the unexpected. I commonly talk about monkeypox when discussing zoonotic diseases, especially those associated with importation of animals, as this was highlighted by an outbreak of monkeypox in the US associated with imported rodents from Africa in 2003
As the unprecedented outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza continues in North America, there are numerous concerns about where the outbreak is heading and threats to other species, including domestic and wild mammals, and people (the latter being just another “domestic mammal”). My inbox is filled with questions about different concerns and scenarios. The one I’ll
H5N1 influenza was recently found in two wild fox kits in St. Marys, Ontario. It’s a pretty noteworthy event given the scope of the current H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreak across Canada, and the fact this is the first identification of H5N1 influenza in wild mammals in Ontario. The fox
An recent news article from Thailand entitled Superbugs lurk in local food systems came to my inbox the other day. There’s nothing really new in it, but it has some talking points that are commonly used (and sometimes misused) when we discuss and debate antimicrobial use (AMU) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in food animals.
Here
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
One thing we’ve been watching for with SARS-CoV-2 in animals is whether we will see establishment of “animal” variants. Humans have done an effective job of infecting a wide variety of animal species with this primarily-human virus. Fortunately, thus far these infections usually die out rapidly in that animal or group of animals (mink being
As SARS-CoV-2 continues to rip through the human population, we’re getting more information about downstream impacts, including transmission to animals. One of my talking points since the start of the pandemic has been that we want to keep this virus in the human population. If we spread it to animals, it will be much harder
In 2021, the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry (NDMNRF) contacted the University of Guelph’s Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses (CPHAZ) about concerns pertaining to the use of the antiviral drug acyclovir in raccoons, specifically for “treatment” of distemper. While only used by a distinct minority of raccoon rehabilitators (maybe
