As awareness of canine infectious respiratory disease complex (CIRDC, formerly known as “kennel cough”) has spiked recently, there are more discussions happening about respiratory vaccines in dogs. A large number of different bacteria and viruses play a role in CIRDC. We can vaccinate against a few of them including parainfluenza virus (the most commonly
Update: Canine Infectious Respiratory Disease (January 10)
This may be my last update on this topic in the short term (unless things change, of course).
The good news:
- Cases of canine infectious respiratory disease complex (CIRDC) around most of the US and Canada seem to be waning, if not back to normal. Since we have no formal surveillance, we have to rely
Your Dog’s Social Network: Why It Matters
No, I’m not talking about a need for Facebook for Dogs. I’m talking about the interaction and contact networks that dogs have, which are important for understanding and mitigating infectious disease risks. Let’s use my dogs as an example.
Dog 1: Ozzie
Antimicrobials Used For Growth Promotion: WOAH Call For Countries to Do What They Said They’d Do
The World Organization for Animal Health Health (WOAH, formerly the OIE) has issues a call to countries to live up to their commitments to phase out the use of antimicrobials for growth promotion in animals. This is low-hanging fruit in terms of antimicrobial stewardship that you’d think would have been addressed by now, but
US Antimicrobial Sales For Use in Animals, 2022
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s 2022 Summary Report on Antimicrobials Sold or Distributed for Use in Food Producing Animals has been released. It includes some good signs and some bad signs in terms of curbing antimicrobial use (AMU) in the US, but it’s clear we still have a lot of room to improve.
What Were They Thinking? Purchased Skunk With Rabies
In case anyone would like a break from all the canine infectious respiratory disease (CIRDC) posts, take a moment to gawk in disbelief (as I did initially) at this human-created debacle:
Skunk purchased from Michigan breeder tests positive for rabies.
How many things are wrong with this, just based on the headline? Ugh.
For
Respiratory Disease in Dogs Sweeping Across the US: Outbreak of Disease or Media Attention?
I’ve held off writing about this but since I’ve been answering many emails about it every day, here we go.
The questions I keep getting (as usual) are “What’s going on with this reported outbreak of respiratory disease in dogs in the US? What new disease is this?”
I’m not sure there’s a
Antimicrobial Prophylaxis in Animals
Continuing my World Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Awareness Week series, let’s talk about antimicrobial prophylaxis in animals.
If you asked random people on the street “Should antibiotics be given to healthy animals?” I’d expect the answer to be a resounding no. But, as with most things related to AMR, the answer is not as
Veterinary Antibiotic Use Targets: Do We Need Them?
This is a question I get a lot. My typical answer is “yes, but…”
The “but” can lead to a long discussion. I have a bit of a complex relationship with antimicrobial use (AMU) targets.
WAAW 2023: Why Should We Care About Antimicrobial Resistance?
As we start World Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Awareness Week (WAAW) 2023, I’ll cover a variety of areas about this important topic.
Why do we even care about AMR?
AMR is an urgent international problem. It threatens the healthcare (human and animal) gains that we’ve made over the past century. It’s estimated that AMR was