I’ve written a lot in general about the risks of rabies and other infectious diseases from imported dogs. However, we have to remember that borders are political, not biological, and that rabies (like certain US presidents) doesn’t respect such borders, whether they’re between countries or between provinces.
Whenever we move animals or people, we risk
Most people don’t realize the massive number of dogs that are imported into Canada every year, for all kinds of reasons: from people moving with their own pet, to importation of large shipments of dogs from puppy mills or rescues (the latter ranging from really good operations to really dodgy). Moving animals (or people)
While rabies kills approximately 50,000 people a year globally, there’s no reason anyone should die from rabies in places where people have access to a well developed public health system. Rabies is almost invariably fatal, but is also almost entirely preventable with appropriate and timely response to an exposure. The weak link is getting people
Our latest WormsAndGermsPod episode is a chat with Andy Gibson and Ian Battersby about canine rabies and, in particular, the work of Mission Rabies to help achieve the goal of zero canine-mediated rabies deaths by 2030.
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Bats are getting a lot of attention around here following the recent death of a person in Ontario from rabies. The infection was “suspected to have been acquired from direct contact with a bat…” Most rabies deaths that occur in North America nowadays are due to transmission from bats, but all too often
A tragic case of rabies in a person in Ontario was reported earlier this month. Very few details about the case have been released publicly, other than the person was exposed to a bat in Ontario and became progressively ill, later being admitted to hospital with clinical signs of encephalitis and symptoms consistent with rabies.
We started WormsAndGermsBlog on a bit of a whim. I didn’t really know much about blogs but Maureen Anderson and I we were working on a project to develop infectious and zoonotic disease resources for different audiences, and realized that making physical flyers (or CDs… remember those?) wouldn’t be overly impactful or sustainable. Around that
UPDATE: Shortly after this was posted, the US CDC walked back most of the requirements discussed below. This post will be left up for the historical record, but please note that the information no longer applies. Updated information was posted on July 22, 2024.
Here’s our current list of frequently asked questions about the impending
Our oversubscribed CVMA webinar on the new US dog importation rules coming into effect on August 1 showed just how many questions are still out there about the changes. An FAQ is in the works that will help address many of these, so stay tuned for that.
The topic of this post is: why are
UPDATE: Shortly after this was posted, the US CDC walked back most of the requirements discussed below. This post will be left up for the historical record, but please note that the information no longer applies. Updated information was posted on July 22, 2024.
Changes to US canine importation rules continue to confuse, confound and
