Cute. Frustrating. Cuddly. Biohazardous
All of these apply to puppies. It’s well recognized that puppies (and kittens) pose increased infectious disease risks, for a few reasons. These include a higher likelihood of shedding various pathogens, greater environmental contamination when they poop on the floor (or anywhere else) and a tendency to cause minor bites and
A reasonable question, expanding on the recent discussion about urban chickens and disease risks, is: why don’t we know how often people get sick from urban chickens?
To answer the question, we need to think about how diseases are diagnosed and reported.
Let’s say I decide to raise some chickens in my backyard.
Urban chickens continue to be in the news, with debate about instituting (or enforcing) bylaws banning or restricting the raising of chickens in backyards running next to articles on how to raise your own backyard flock.
People have various concerns, including:
But
Presentations from the 2015 Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses (CPHAZ) Symposium are now on YouTube on the Worms & Germs Blog channel.
There is a wide range of talks, including topics such as West Nile virus, Lyme disease, salmonellosis, MRSA, Toxoplasma and various other zoonotic diseases.
I have three kids that are all now (thankfully) past the diaper stage. I have no idea how many diapers I changed, but I don’t have a huge desire to start doing it again, especially for chickens.
Yes, there are now diapers for chickens.
I understand the whole urban chicken concept. I don’t actually have
Following outbreaks of campylobacteriosis in a Canberra, Australia nursing home, health officials have recommended banning puppies from aged care facilities. Two outbreaks that involved at least 15 people occurred in one such facility last year, and a healthy puppy was identified as the cause. Unlike many reports in which people try to blame an
The 15 cm of snow that fell last night is as good of an indicator as any that agricultural fair season is over in this region. But, planning ahead is important (and often not done well with fair petting zoos), so it’s never to early to make a plan for next season. Petting zoos can
As I mentioned the other day, I took a fecal samples from Merlin, our new puppy, to see what I’d find and show how you have to be careful with interpreting diagnostic test results. In addition to an unconcerning (for me) amount of clostridial bacteria in a fecal smear, Campylobacter was also isolated on
The focus of this blog is companion animals, but sometimes I just can’t resist commenting on other areas, and this one’s too good to pass up.
Today’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports, published by the CDC, describes Campylobacter jejuni infection in two men. Campylobacter is a zoonotic bacterium that causes diarrhea (and sometime severe
As we approach the holidays, a lot of people are going to eat and/or drink too much, and suffer the consequences. The same can happen with dogs, and sometimes both the dog and their owner pay the price. Dogs get into things they shouldn’t all the time… too much food, garbage, dead critters and various
