A new Expert Guidance Document has been released by the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology (SHEA) and published in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.
R Murthy, G Bearman, S Brown, K Bryant, R Chinn, A Hewlett, BG George, EJC Goldstein, G Holzmann-Pazgal, ME Rupp, T Wiemken, JS Weese, DJ Weber. Animals in Healthcare Facilities: Recommendations
From CTVnews.ca "A Brazilian [soccer] player was taken to a hospital for an anti-rabies shot after being bitten by a police dog during a match. The incident happened in the second half of a first-division game between Democrata and Tupi on Sunday in the Minas Gerais state regional championship. Democrata striker Joao Paulo
H5N8 avian influenza has been identified in a dog in Korea. The dog was from a duck farm in the South Gyeongsang province. While other dogs in the past have been found to have antibodies against the virus, this the first report of finding the antigen in a dog.
It’s an important
Concern (paranoia?) about Ebola in animals has died down lately, which is a good thing. In the meantime, guidelines have been developed to help handle potential animal Ebola-exposure issues, which is also a good thing.
While I’ve been slow posting them, Canadian guidance for management of companion animals potentially exposed to Ebola virus and for
Residents of the Nunavut community of Kugluktuk are being warned about rabies in the area after a puppy that originated there was diagnosed with the disease in Saskatchewan. It’s not the first time rabies has been transported from a northern community in a dog, and this case should serve as yet another reminder of
Records are meant to be broken, and rabies incubation period is no exception.
I’m often asked what the incubation period of rabies is in people. My general answer is "a long time, and we don’t really know how long it can be."
A report in the Annals of Neurology (Boland et al 2014
I’ve written a fair bit about leishmaniasis in dogs lately, mainly in the context of potential risks from imported dogs. This parasitic infection is a concern because it can be serious and hard to treat, and also affects humans. Dogs are the main reservoir of Leishmania infantum, and it’s an important cause of disease
Yes, that’s an "oops," but it’s also not completely preventable.
A stray dog and her 6 puppies were sent to a foster home recently by a South Boston, VA animal shelter. It’s a common and logical thing to do, to get the puppies into a lower risk environment until they are old enough to be
I’ve written a lot lately about importation of pets and associated infectious disease issues. A recent paper in the journal Zoonoses and Public Health (Sinclair et al, Dogs entering the United States from rabies-endemic countries, 2011-2012) provides some interesting data on this topic.
Dogs entering the US from countries where rabies is present
No, not really. Just for the sake of training.
The ongoing Ebola epidemic in West Africa, along with a few "escapes" of the virus into other regions, has brought scrutiny on the potential role of animals (beyond the wildlife reservoirs) in Ebola virus transmission. Concerns have led to development of contingency practices in some regions
