As if another reason was needed, a recent study from Australia (Martinez-Anton et al. 2018 J Vet Internal Med) found a strong association between dogs that consume raw chicken meat and a serious neurological condition known as acute polyradiculoneuritis (APN). APN is comparable to Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) in humans. The main objective of
Update: Petland puppy Campylobacter outbreak (Jan 29)
I was talking to someone today about their new puppy, their puppy’s diarrhea and (take a guess) the fact that they developed diarrhea shortly thereafter. Odds are pretty good that puppy and owner both have campylobacteriosis. While this infection isn’t related to the ongoing US multistate Campylobacter outbreak linked to puppies from Petland stores,
Are dogs good sentinels for human Lyme disease risk?
My lab has been spending a lot of time on Lyme disease over the past couple of years. It’s a fascinating (and frustrating) disease to work on, and we need to learn a lot more about it. In this region, we’re seeing clear changes in tick populations and the diseases they carry. With climate change,
Fossil fuels and antibiotics: An analogy
The post below is reproduced from CANresist.blog. It applies equally for veterinary medicine.
I think most people buy into the concept of fossil fuels being finite resources. Someday, they’ll run out or logistics and cost of extraction will make them impractical. Accordingly, we’re thinking about ways to reduce and improve use (to delay the
What’s up with canine leptospirosis
As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, this seems to have been a bad year for leptospirosis in dogs in various areas. In at least a few location in Ontario, we are seeing a very high rate of disease, well beyond what we’ve seen before. I was giving some talks in Buffalo the other
WHO Guidelines on Use of Medically Important Antimicrobials in Food-Producing Animals
The World Health Organization has released new guidelines on the use of “medically important antimicrobials” (MIAs) in food animals. Here’s a list of their recommendations, along with the strength of each recommendation and quality of evidence behind it.
- We recommend an overall reduction in use of all classes of medically important antimicrobials in food-producing
Antibiotics and dairy calves
From CANresist.blog:
Reducing Antibiotic Use in Dairy Calves
This topic’s huge, and there’s always a risk of trying to oversimplify the problem or solutions.
However, some solutions for some issues might be fairly straightforward. Whether it’s on a farm, in a hospital or in a doctors office, there are situations where I think it’s
Update: Petland puppy Campylobacter outbreak (Oct 31)
The CDC has posted an update on the outbreak of Campylobacter infections in the US linked to puppies from Petland, a pet store chain.
Here are the highlights:
- The case count is now up to 67, in 15 states (see map and graph of case occurrence below). The true number of infected people is
Piranha bite response
Yes, piranha bite response is a pretty niche topic. Nevertheless, it’s interesting (at least to me).
A recent paper in Pediatric Emergency Care (Berkowitz and Goldsmith. An unexpected fish bite. 2017) covers this topic. It starts off this way:
A 22-month-old boy presented to the pediatric emergency department with a missing right fourth
Croc stories, times two
When I think about bad things that can happen from interacting with a crocodile, infectious diseases don’t jump to the top of my list (ingestion and amputation being the two first things that come to mind). That leads me to the first crocodile story (thanks Stephen), a rather light-hearted description that everyone but the bitten