The UCLA Department of Epidemiology is seeking volunteers to participate in the Veterinary and Zoonotic Surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) and Other Coronaviruses Study, a study of animal healthcare and welfare workers, in order to assess their potential exposures to SARS-CoV-2 and other zoonotic pathogens, clinical symptoms, mental health, and attitudes and practices associated with the
SARS-CoV-2 in Cats and Dogs: Canada
An abstract in the upcoming ECCVID Conference (ESCMID conference on coronavirus disease) has some of our very preliminary Canadian dog/cat surveillance data (Beinzle, Marom and Weese, SARS-CoV-2 infection in pets). A press release went out about it from the conference that’s been picked up by various news agencies, resulting in some articles about the
One Health…Less Talk, More Action
A group of us wrote a Letter to the Editor of Lancet in response to a recent One Health paper. Not surprisingly, it wasn’t published, but we think it’s an important message, so here it is:
A Call to Action for a One Health approach in COVID-19 and Beyond
While we echo Amuasi and
Plague, Cats and Travel Histories
A couple of months BC (before COVID-19), I was planning a live simulation exercise for our hospital. The goal was to see how well we could identify and handle a nasty, reportable zoonotic disease, and to look at our personal protective equipment training and needs (COVID-19 helped with that last one, at least).
Here’s the
Vaccine Globalism, Not Nationalism
The amount of money being spent developing a COVID-19 vaccine is astounding. (The amount being spent on ensuring people will actually get such a vaccine, not so much – but that’s a different story.)
Beyond vaccine hesitancy, one potentially major issue with vaccination is inequity. Rich countries have greater ability to produce and/or buy vaccine.
COVID-19 and Pet Visitation Programs
As things continue to gradually open up (more gradually in some areas than others), myriad questions of “can we do…” or “how do we do…” come up. One that I’m getting increasingly is about pet visitation or pet therapy programs. These programs can be very valuable to patients in hospitals and residents in
Rat Bite Fever in the US
Rat bite fever (RBF) is an uncommon disease in people, but one that I nonetheless spend a lot of time talking about with owners, veterinarians, and physicians (and sometimes lawyers). It’s a bacterial infection spread by (you guessed it) rats. The causative agent of RBF is an obscure bacterium called Streptobacillus moniliformis, which lives
Updated Veterinary COVID Guidelines
As things change, both in the epidemiology of COVID-19 and our approach to containment, re-assessment of how we practice veterinary medicine and COVID-19 protection is important. The latest iteration of our guidance document has been released: COVID-19: A Guide to Reopening Veterinary Medicine in Ontario, Stage 3. As for the previous versions, this is
Foodborne COVID-19 Fear
I’ve been away and need to catch up on some posts. I was planning a nice non-COVID post, until a few seconds ago when I saw the CNN headline “Chinese officials say chicken wings imported from Brazil tested positive for COVID-19.”
My response… oh crap.
Not because I fear a wave of foodborne
Veterinary Clinic Access and COVID-19 Risks
I get a lot of emails about vet clinic access from a wide spectrum of individuals. This includes:
- Owners who are upset they aren’t allowed in the clinic with their pet
- Owners who are worried that their vet clinic isn’t doing enough to prevent transmission of COVID-19
- Vets who want to know how to increase