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.
In case you need a break from all the discussion about H5N1 influenza and the multitude of species it now seems to be able to infect, there’s nothing like a good zoonotic parasite story to make your skin (or pants in this case) crawl. (I promise that this will be a normal-length blog post…
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
Canada has a long-standing requirement for rabies vaccination of most categories of dogs and cats being imported from countries not considered free of non-bat rabies. While this requirement helps protect dogs and cats from rabies infection should they be exposed to endemic wildlife rabies that is present in Canada, it does little to prevent rabies
As the weather cools down and wildlife of various kinds become less active (as do many pets and people!), we tend to see a decline in the number of rabies cases detected in the province. It doesn’t mean the risk is no longer there, it just means we’re less likely to encounter the animals that
For the second time in 7 months, rabies has been identified in a dog in Ontario that was imported from Iran through a rescue organization. The first case was detected in July 2021 in an adult dog that started to develop signs of rabies within 10 days of arrival in Canada, and was euthanized 2
The companion animal Ontario Animal Health Network has produced a series of mini-podcasts on COVID-19 precautions in veterinary clinics, featuring none other than Dr. Scott Weese. Each mini-podcast features a quick 3-5 minute “lighting round” on common questions and topics – bite-sized bits for busy practitioners and clinic staff who may only have a
I’m always on the lookout for good-looking, easy-access resources to help communicate (and to help others communicate) messages around safe and responsible pet ownership, which is how this blog got its start! I also don’t like re-inventing the wheel when I don’t have to, and I appreciate that many organizations have people with vastly better
While the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated controversies continue to dominate our collective attention, much older, more familiar diseases are still out there too, causing their old familiar – and deadly – problems. Rabies has once again reared its snarling head, this time in the small Arctic coastal community of Tuktoyaktuk, NWT. Rabies is
We all know that backyard chickens are becoming increasingly popular – despite some of their associated infectious disease hazards, which we’ve discussed many times before. The latest “pandemic pastime” takes the trend to a whole new level, with scores of people fostering chicks or ducklings as a family activity, aka something
