Here are some more leftover questions from the talk I did a talk recently for Third Age Learning in Guelph:
As West Nile virus seems to be spreading, is there a vaccine becoming available for the general population?
Probably not, but that’s just a guess. While it should be possible to make an effective
Before the emails start rolling in… yes, it’s from a satire site.
See Dr. Sarah Boston (veterinary cancer surgeon extraordinaire)’s take on how veterinarians are misleading people into protecting people.
EXPOSED – Vaccination of Pets Found to be Part of Larger Plot to Prevent Rabies in Humans
The indoor vs outdoor cat debate never seems to end.
Some decry outdoor cats as the world’s most destructive “invasive species.”
Cats kill large numbers of birds every year.
In an
As is typical for this time of year, the annual US rabies report has been published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (Ma et al, 2018).
Here are some highlights:
No, we haven’t changed to a cooking blog, I’m talking about bites of the canine variety. I can’t think of any specific data that would show it, but I wonder whether bites are more common around the holidays, with disrupted schedules and more visitors (and a potential midnight intruder in a red suit).
The rabies-related
Human deaths from rabies are common in some developing countries (where tens of thousands die from canine rabies every year) but rare in developed countries. It’s an almost invariably fatal disease, but at the same time it’s almost completely preventable because of the quality of vaccines and post-exposure prophylaxis available. Getting those treatments to the
Being an equine vet in some parts of Australia (namely Queensland) is scary… to the point that people are leaving equine practice or refusing to treat certain cases. That’s because of Hendra virus, a bat-associated virus that infects horses and which can spill over into people. It hasn’t infected many people, but it is
Canine influenza continues to cause problems in Ontario. The central Ontario (Bracebridge, Gravenhurst, Orillia) clusters continue to be monitored, with new positives that were expected based on known contact with infected dogs. Whether these clusters have been contained (or are containable) remains to be seen. Testing and contact tracing continues.
As mentioned previously, there was
The 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;
The recent H3N2 canine influenza cluster in Ontario is hopefully still contained. Some infected dogs continue to shed the virus, but a good thing about flu is that there’s no long-term carrier state. Dogs will typically shed the virus for a couple of weeks, but then it should be gone. Accordingly, if the affected dogs
