By Scott Weese on Posted in Dogs,Rabies,VaccinationThe World Health Organization has issued new rabies vaccination and post-exposure prophylaxis recommendations. Here are some of the highlights: Post-exposure prophylaxis People who have not been previously vaccinated against rabies should receive immunoglobulin (antibody) promptly, followed by a series of rabies vaccines. Immunoglobulin can be given after vaccination has started, if logistics require that; however, it… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Dogs,Other diseasesI 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, it’s… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Cats,Dogs,Horses,RabiesHere are updated versions of the US rabies maps from yesterday’s post, with the addition of some more data. Pennsylvania’s looking more biohazardous now but that’s because we got a lot more data for that state. If we get more data from other areas, the maps will be updated accordingly.… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Cats,Dogs,Horses,Rabies,VaccinationWe track a few different diseases, both for research and for general education, including rabies. The maps below provide an overview of rabies in dogs, cats and horses in the US in 2017. It’s not a complete representation of cases, since we don’t have access to everyone’s surveillance data. It’s compiled through monitoring various reports… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Reptiles,SalmonellaNot that I needed one more reason to avoid them, but a recent CDC release warns about the risk of Salmonella infection associated with rattlesnake pills. These pills, a literal variation of the old “snake oil” remedies, are apparently marketed as a cure for a variety of ailments, including cancer and HIV. Yet, the best evidence… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Dogs,Other diseasesMy 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, that’s not… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Animals,Birds,Cats,Dogs,Horses,Other animals,Other diseases,Pocket petsThe 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 end of the… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Dogs,Other diseasesAs 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 day… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Dogs,RabiesA dog attacks someone and is shot by police. Unfortunate, but sadly it happens. The sheriff’s investigator notifies the county health department, which says the dog needs to be tested for rabies. Good. That sometimes gets missed. The investigator then tells the owner that he has to remove the dog’s head or he’ll face a charge… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Dogs,RabiesIf a dog bites a person or another animal, there are two ways to make sure that the bite couldn’t have resulted in transmission of rabies virus: Euthanize the dog and test the brain for rabies. Ensure the dog is still neurologically normal 10 days later (if this is the case, then the dog could not have… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Dogs,RabiesWhile waiting in line to check-in for a flight in Orlando, a JetBlue passenger was bitten by a dog. This raises lots of issues and questions, and for the bitten individual, she’s dealing with a pretty nasty bite and also the potential need for rabies post-exposure prophylaxis. She was bitten while checking in, so it… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Other animals,Other diseasesThe 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 animals (Strong… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Other animals,Other diseasesFrom 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 widely… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Dogs,Other diseasesThe 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 unknown, since it’s reasonable… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in RabiesAs expected, rabies continues to be an issue in Ontario following the emergence of raccoon rabies in the Hamilton area in late 2015, and a separate emergence of fox rabies northwest of there around the same time. Hopefully raccoon rabies will be eradicated, as it was the first time it entered the province (1999-2005), but… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in RabiesA couple times in the past few weeks, I’ve had questions along the lines of “Bat rabies isn’t really a big deal, is it?” and “How common in rabies in bats? It’s not really that common, right?” We don’t know how common rabies is in the bat population, since most testing of bats is sporadic… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Birds,SalmonellaHardly a week goes by that I don’t get a question (or a dozen) about backyard poultry. As more cities consider or enact laws allowing urban poultry, the debates about and around this issue increase. It’s also becoming a big business, with ample options for people to buy chicken coops (or high end chicken condos),… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Other animals,Other diseasesYes, 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 distal phalanx… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Other animals,Other diseasesWhen 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… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Dogs,Other diseasesCute. Frustrating. Cuddly. Biohazardous All of these apply to puppies. It’s well recognized that puppies (and kittens) pose increased infectious disease risks, for a few reasons. These include a higher likelihood of shedding various pathogens, greater environmental contamination when they poop on the floor (or anywhere else) and a tendency to cause minor bites and… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Reptiles,SalmonellaIt’s not a shocker, but another multistate turtle-associated outbreak of salmonellosis has been ongoing in the US. CDC has reported on an outbreak of Salmonella Agbeni infections involving 37 people in 13 states. As is almost always the case, the number of reported infections is probably a small fraction of the number of people who actually… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Other animals,RabiesHere’s the latest map of the terrestrial rabies cases in southwestern Ontario. Raccoon-variant cases still centre on the Hamilton area. It was never assumed that this particular outbreak would be eliminated quickly, given the case numbers seen in the first several months and the additional challenges of trying to control the spread of the virus in… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Cats,Deworming,Other diseases,Parasites,ToxoplasmosisI’m not sure I wrote about it at the time, but last spring we adopted Rumple (technically Rumpelstiltskin, pictured below… rough life) from the Guelph Humane Society as part of their Barn Cat Adoption program. He quickly migrated from the barn and set up shop as a garage and deck cat (which also lead to… Continue Reading
By Scott Weese on Posted in Horses,Other diseasesI’ve had this paper from One Health (Chan et al 2017) on my “to blog” pile for a while, since it’s an interesting story. Like any case report, it’s a bit of an oddball infection, and not likely indicative of a major or new risk. However, there are often a few good general take-home messages from… Continue Reading
