Here’s a question that I get commonly: “What do I do to an outdoor area that might have been contaminated by a dog with parvovirus?”
There’s not a lot of research to back anything up, but understanding the virus and some basic principles helps us come up with some reasonable recommendations.
Parvovirus is…
Well, "news" perhaps isn’t the best description since we’ve been seeing it for a while, but a paper in an upcoming edition of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology (Gold et al. 2014) entitled "Amikacin resistance in Staphylococcus pseudintermedius isolated from dogs" provides published support for the trend we’ve been seeing.
Staphylococcus pseudintermedius is
Finally.
While having nothing to do with my previous rants on the topic, the FDA has issued warning letters to the manufacturers of Angels’ Eyes and similar products that are vaguely disguised antibiotics sold for purely cosmetic reasons, and without a veterinary prescription. These products have been widely available to decrease tear staining (hardly
“Animal-loving grandmother died from rare infection after her pet dog licked her hand and bacteria spread into her bloodstream.” For me, the first thing I think of when I hear that is Capnocytophaga canimorsus (to which most people respond “Capno-whata cani-whatsis?”).
It’s a tragic but textbook example of what this common dog-associated bacterium
I’ll admit it – I don’t understand dogs. How is it that they have this incredibly well-developed sense of smell, but my dog feels it necessary to roll in the most disgusting smelling things he can find? I guess it’s not that he feels like he needs strong body odour, just that he has a
Unfortunately, Naegleria fowleri, more popularly known as the "brain-eating amoeba," is in the news again. Sadly, the latest case is a 9-year-old Kansas girl that died recently from N. fowleri infection. It’s still an extremely rare disease but it’s still a significant concern because infection is almost always fatal.
Naegleria fowleri is a
Plague… it’s a term that typically conjures up images of the devastating "Black Death", the pandemic that killed 75-200 million people in Europe back in the 14th century. Yet, it’s not just a historical disease. Plague is still present in a variety of small mammals in different regions worldwide (see map), including parts
Issues about infectious disease risks from the pretty much totally unregulated importation of dogs continue to rise, and I’m dealing with them in one way or another almost daily at the moment. I’ll stay away from the discussion of what we are and aren’t (mostly the latter) doing in Canada, since I’ve covered that before
Rabies is a very serious disease. We’re very lucky in Canada that in most parts of the country the prevalence of this disease is now quite low, in large part due to wildlife control and vaccination efforts. Unfortunately that also seems to make some people quite lax when it comes to (common sense) things like
I guess it’s not surprising but it’s sad when people are skirting the pathetically lax canine import regulations and falsifying rabies vaccination status. In the US, the CDC has issued a Health Alert because of an increasing number of dogs that are being imported with "questionable" documentation of rabies vaccination.
These dogs are destined for
