Here is the answer key for Crossword #2 that was posted last week. To download a pdf version of the answer key, click here.… Continue Reading
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Crossword #2
Posted in Miscellaneous, Other diseasesBack by popular demand, here’s another zoonoses crossword puzzle. This one’s a bit tougher than the last one. To download a pdf version of the crossword, click here. Answers will be posted next week.… Continue Reading
Eastern Equine Encephalitis Season in Full Swing
Posted in Horses, Other diseases, Vaccination‘Tis the season for mosquitoes, so ‘tis the season for some nasty vector-borne diseases. Few are worse that Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE), a viral infection that causes typically fatal disease in horses, and less commonly other species, including people. Cases tend to start mid-summer and peak late summer to fall, depending on the mosquito dynamics… Continue Reading
Move Over mcr-1. You’re Old News.
Posted in Other animals, Other diseasesRecent identification of mcr-1, a gene that makes bacteria resistant to colistin (an antibiotic of last resort) raised a lot of concern. Now, there’s another one to be worried about, as a related gene, mcr-2 has been identified (Xavier et al, Eurosurveillance, July 2016). In this study, 105 colistin-resistant E. coli from calves and piglets… Continue Reading
Mapping Zoonotic Disease Emergence Risk
Posted in Birds, Cats, Dogs, Horses, Other animals, Other diseases, Pocket pets, ReptilesPredicting the future is a dodgy proposition at the best of times. It’s particularly hard with infectious diseases, which tend not to behave as expected. Yet, it’s important to plan surveillance, education and response. One approach is to assess where certain types of problems are more likely to develop. That can help direct resources (time,… Continue Reading
Fatal leptospirosis in an animal shelter volunteer
Posted in Cats, Dogs, Other diseasesPublic Health England has launched an investigation following identification of leptospirosis in an animal shelter volunteer. Leptospirosis is caused by the bacterium Leptospira, a bug that can be found in a variety of animal species. It’s shed in urine and loves to survive in cool, moist environments, so people and domestic animals are often exposed… Continue Reading
Medical tourism for animal cell injections….bad idea
Posted in Other diseasesOk, call me risk averse, but traveling to another country to have someone inject me with cells from organs or fetuses of animals isn’t high on my to-do list. I guess that’s a good thing, given the recent article in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report describing Q-fever in people from New York who traveled to Germany for… Continue Reading
Bovine leukemia virus and breast cancer
Posted in Other animals, Other diseasesA new study from the University of California, Berkeley, has shown a potential link between bovine leukemia virus (BLV) and breast cancer in women (Buehring et al. 2015). The short version is the study analyzed breast tissue from 239 women, and found evidence of BLV exposure in 59% of the samples from women with breast… Continue Reading
Fall Fair Fowl Factsheet – Biosecurity for poultry at shows
Posted in Birds, Other diseasesPoultry biosecurity is an important practice to limit the spread of disease. There are many viruses, bacteria and parasites that exist that can cause disease in birds. These can spread by direct bird contact or indirect contact with humans, housing and equipment. Some of these pathogens can be zoonotic and pose a human health risk. Pathogens… Continue Reading
Reducing antibiotic use in the real world… Easier said than done
Posted in Other diseasesI did a consultation today about a dog that illustrates some of the practical challenges to reducing antibiotic use. It was an older dog with a test result that could be consistent with an infectious disease, but one that is also common in healthy animals. The signs of illness that the dog had would have… Continue Reading
A near fatal dog lick?
Posted in Cats, Dogs, Other diseasesI like to write about interesting papers that appear in the medical literature. A problem with that is that it’s often weird cases that get published. So, it’s important to keep things in perspective. Regardless, reports of rare things still provide some insight, as long as people don’t over-react (which, unfortunately, is often the case).… Continue Reading
White House antibiotic resistance action plan
Posted in Other diseasesThe White House has released a "National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria". This follows on the heels of "Executive Order 13676: Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria" which was issued by President Barack Obama on September 18, 2014, along with the "National Strategy for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria" presented by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science… Continue Reading
Mad Cow in Alberta
Posted in Other diseasesLast week the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) announced that a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), more commonly known as Mad Cow Disease, was found in an Alberta beef cow. BSE belongs to a group of diseases called transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) that are not caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi or parasites, but rather… Continue Reading
Lyme disease & ticks: New infosheet
Posted in Other diseasesThe latest Worms & Germs infosheet, all about Lyme disease and ticks, is now available on the Resources – Pets page. Although it’s getting colder and occasionally snowy up in Ontario, there are lots of parts of North America where ticks are active all year round. It’s particularly important for any "snowbirds" who may travel… Continue Reading
Ebola: precautions and paranoia
Posted in Other diseasesAwareness is good. Being proactive is wise. Being paranoid? That’s another story. As this unprecedented Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa continues to expand, many people in North America have journeyed from ignoring it, to considering it a disease that you only get if you’re in Africa, to thinking they need for move to some… Continue Reading
Never a simple story: West Nile in California
Posted in Other diseasesOrange County CA is currently experiencing a major outbreak of West Nile infection in people. Since January 94 cases have been confirmed, three of which were fatal, representing nearly a quarter of the 400 cases reported across the country so far this year. The number of cases of infection with a mosquito-borne virus like West… Continue Reading
New pig disease arrives in Ontario
Posted in Other diseasesIt was only a matter of time, so it’s not particularly surprising, but a potentially devastating pig disease has made its way into Ontario. It’s not a concern to people or other animals, but it’s worth mentioning here anyway (both to say it’s not a public health or non-pig health concern, and since it’s a… Continue Reading
The “criticall important antibiotic” debate
Posted in Other diseasesLast week, I mentioned the antibiotic use plenary session at the ASM-ESCMID conference on methicillin-resistant staphylococci in animals. The session was designed to discuss the use of "critically important antibiotics" in companion animals – drugs like carbapenems (imipenem, meropenem) and vancomycin, which are used for treating serious multidrug-resistant infections in people as well. After the… Continue Reading
Hygiene hypothesis, fecal exposure and other strange musings
Posted in Other diseasesDoug Powell, renowned for his food safety efforts and Barfblog, often uses the phrase "don’t eat poop" when it comes to food safety. I’ve stolen that line and I now use it a lot too when talking about zoonotic disease. However, over time, I’ve started to wonder whether the line always applies. I was giving… Continue Reading
Dear vet clinic design ‘experts’: Pet owners aren’t stupid
Posted in Other diseasesIn the latest edition of the American Animal Hospital Association’s Trends magazine, there’s an article about veterinary clinic design. The section dealing with exam rooms says: Discussion is ongoing about whether sinks are needed in the exam room now that hand sanitizers are available. I’m not sure who’s discussing this. Hand sanitizers are great and… Continue Reading
Petting zoo E coli: Wales
Posted in Other diseasesIt’s perhaps a good sign for public health when I don’t tend to come home from a local fair and write a rant about the sorry state of the petting zoo. Around here, things seem to have improved at most events over the past few years, probably largely because of the efforts of local public… Continue Reading
Dr. Seuss for the infectious disease crowd?
Posted in Other diseasesFrom one of my grad students who, contrary to his claim, maybe does spend too much time on YouTube. … Continue Reading
Murray Valley Encephalitis down-under – Help from the chickens
Posted in Other diseasesAlthough the weather in Southwestern Ontario seems quite confused lately regarding whether it wants to be winter or spring, at least we’re still a few months off from having to worry about mosquitoes and the viruses they carry once again. Warmer parts of the world, however, are in the midst of their mosquito season, and… Continue Reading
Dumb and dumber get campy
Posted in Other diseasesThe focus of this blog is companion animals, but sometimes I just can’t resist commenting on other areas, and this one’s too good to pass up. Today’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports, published by the CDC, describes Campylobacter jejuni infection in two men. Campylobacter is a zoonotic bacterium that causes diarrhea (and sometime severe complications) in… Continue Reading