Hot on the heels of the H5N1 influenza in ostriches debacle in BC comes a reported outbreak of H5N1 influenza at an animal sanctuary in the same province. The sanctuary (Critteraid Animal Sanctuary) is not one I’ve ever heard of before, but based on their website, it looks like a good operation
This one’s easy. Birds are not susceptible to SARS-CoV-2. Stop reading here if that’s all you want to know. If you’d like a little more detail read on…
The SARS-CoV-2 virus originated in mammals (most likely in bats, which will be the topic of the next review) and has spread to other mammals (especially people,
A recently published University of Guelph study evaluating pet poultry flocks found (unsurprisingly) high rates of shedding of certain concerning bacteria (Brochu et al, J Vet Diagn Invest 2019).
How’s this for timing? As I was writing the post below, my youngest daughter walked in the door and said “a chick pooped on me today.”
It wasn’t a total surprise since I’d heard a vague statement from her about maybe having chicks in the class for the end of the year.
Is
Lots of media reports have been saying that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have warned people not to dress up their chickens for Halloween.
I wouldn’t have thought that policing chicken fashion would be high on the CDC’s to-do list, but the concern is obviously related to the perpetual
There are very few absolutes with infectious diseases. The minute we think we are sure about something, a new angle becomes apparent.
Regarding rabies, we always say that its host range is mammals, but basically only mammals.
Maybe not.
There have been occasional (poorly corroborated) reports about rabies in birds, but when I first read
The salmonellosis outbreak in the US associated with hatching chicks continues to expand. The outbreak, ironically associated with Mt. Healthy Hatcheries in Ohio, has now sickened at least 344 people in 42 US states and Puerto Rico with a variety of Salmonella serotypes (S. Infants, S. Newport and S. Hadar). The outbreak
“Seek and you shall find.”
That might be the simple explanation for why we’re hearing more about spillover of different types of flu viruses into dogs. Sporadic reports of dogs being infected by different flu viruses keep coming in these days, maybe we didn’t get this reports in the past because people just often didn’t
As fall fair season starts, concerns about petting zoo outbreaks rise. While deficiencies are still common, petting zoos seem to be getting better with their infection control measures. People too are starting to get better at doing what their asked to do – namely washing their hands after visiting these exhibits. However, as we’ve shown
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
