A playground in New South Wales, Australia, has been closed because its sandpit was linked to salmonellosis in two children. Sandboxes are a potential source of a few different infectious diseases since they can be used as litterboxes by animals such as cats, raccoons, and apparently, bandicoots.
In the Australian incident, two kids
Australian Elmer Fudds beware… there are concerns that feral pig hunting is a risk factor for brucellosis in New South Wales. Brucellosis is a rare disease, but a report like this raises concern because it can be nasty, and it can also be hard to diagnose (or it’s not considered right away).
We
As if horse owners and veterinarians in Queensland need another infectious disease challenge…..
Recently, a horse in southwest Queensland was diagnosed with Australian bat lyssavirus infection. This virus, which is similar to rabies, is present in some bats in Australia. It can be transmitted to people from bats, causing fatal disease, but human
In a rather impressive effort – considering the issues inherent with working with a virus like Hendra virus, the nature of the disease and the low economic value of a vaccine that would only be used in a very restricted geographic area – a Hendra virus vaccine has been released for horses. Equivac
The latest edition of Emerging Infectious Diseases has an article describing a Salmonella outbreak in New South Wales, Australia, that was linked to playground sand (Staff et al, 2012).
The outbreak stretched over a long period of time, from 2007-2009, and involved a strain of Salmonella called Salmonella Java. During the course of
While I guess it’s getting beyond the point where Hendra virus infections in horses in Queensland, Australia are considered "news," it’s still a highly concerning situation. Infections caused by this fruit bat-associated virus continue to occur in the region and there’s no sign that this problem is going to go away any time soon.
In
Although the weather in Southwestern Ontario seems quite confused lately regarding whether it wants to be winter or spring, at least we’re still a few months off from having to worry about mosquitoes and the viruses they carry once again. Warmer parts of the world, however, are in the midst of their mosquito season, and
Bob Katter, an Australian Member of Parliament and leader of the Australian Party, has proposed culling flying foxes (fruit bats) as a way to control Hendra virus, which is spread by these large Australian bats. He’s not the first person to make such a proposal, but it’s a knee-jerk reaction that in reality doesn’t
While you don’t want to read too much into a single case, 2012 has started off in a bad way for Queensland horses. Hendra virus was identified in a Townsville area horses that died. This zoonotic viral disease is largely restricted to Queensland, Australia, but it has a high fatality rate in horses (and people).
Despite relatively intensive efforts, no cause has been identified for the deaths of 22 horses ona Kooralbyn farm in Queensland, Australia. Readily identifiable causes have been ruled out, leaving two main theories:
As mentioned in an earlier post, one possibility is botulism It can be very hard to diagnose botulism in horses, and the
