I’ll admit it – I don’t understand dogs. How is it that they have this incredibly well-developed sense of smell, but my dog feels it necessary to roll in the most disgusting smelling things he can find? I guess it’s not that he feels like he needs strong body odour, just that he has a
Traveling with your horse…infection control considerations
It’s not a coincidence that we see more equine infectious diseases during busy show seasons. Shows are a great way for infectious diseases to spread, with outcomes ranging from disease in single horses to widely disseminated outbreaks, even across international borders.
We can’t eliminate all risk in life, and the risk of infection in horses
Cystic fibrosis and pet ownership
Two recent papers have raised concerns about cats in households with cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. People with CF are at high risk for a range of complications because of their condition and the treatments that are required. Some complications can be life-threatening, so there’s lots of research into factors associated with disease in people with
West Nile virus in Colorado
It’s that time of year again… at least in some areas.
West Nile virus (WNV) infection has been identified in a horse in Colorado. It’s not really a surprise. West Nile virus is one of those pathogens that we know is coming back every year, we just don’t know exactly when. The date of
More on MERS-CoV and the camel link
MERS-CoV, the Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus, continues to cause infections (often fatal) and confusion. For a while now, there’s been speculation that camels are the source of this virus, based in part on how commonly antibodies against the virus (or a related virus) are found in healthy camels. It always seemed strange, though
Brain-eating amoeba and dogs
Unfortunately, Naegleria fowleri, more popularly known as the "brain-eating amoeba," is in the news again. Sadly, the latest case is a 9-year-old Kansas girl that died recently from N. fowleri infection. It’s still an extremely rare disease but it’s still a significant concern because infection is almost always fatal.
Naegleria fowleri is a
Plague from dog
Plague… it’s a term that typically conjures up images of the devastating "Black Death", the pandemic that killed 75-200 million people in Europe back in the 14th century. Yet, it’s not just a historical disease. Plague is still present in a variety of small mammals in different regions worldwide (see map), including parts
Superbugs and import control
Issues about infectious disease risks from the pretty much totally unregulated importation of dogs continue to rise, and I’m dealing with them in one way or another almost daily at the moment. I’ll stay away from the discussion of what we are and aren’t (mostly the latter) doing in Canada, since I’ve covered that before
Bad time to be a camel
Camels are getting a lot of bad press on the infectious disease front lately. There’s been the ongoing question of their role in the epidemiology of the very serious Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). This enigmatic virus (like the similarly deadly SARS coronavirus) is a tremendous public health concern, with high deaths
Attack of the marauding pine weevil
That’s a great title that I can’t take credit for. A colleague (and regular supplier of papers for blog posts) Dr. Stephen Page send me a paper from the Journal of Clinical Microbiology with a more convoluted title “The Capnocytophaga canimosus isolate that caused sepsis in an immunosufficient man was transmitted by the large pine