Every year, the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) commissions "consensus statements" on specific topics. They’re developed by an expert panel, put up for review by ACVIM members (board certified veterinary internal medicine specialists), and published in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine.
Hot off the (electronic) press is the 2015 ACVIM Consensus
According to Groundhog Day lore, if the groundhog sees its shadow, you’re in for six more weeks of winter. If it doesn’t spring is around the corner.
So, what does it mean when the critter draws blood?
Sun Prairie, Wisconsin residents will find out this year, after Jimmy the Groundhog bit the town’s mayor.
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
All animals pose some risk of infection to people, to one degree or another, but the risk varies a lot between animal species. I guess I’ve always considered guinea pigs to be relatively benig, with a few zoonotic disease concerns but with bites probably being the biggest risk.
I still think that’s true, but a
It’s that time of year. No, not for snow (although it is snowing here at the moment). It’s time for the annual US rabies surveillance report in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (Dyer et al. Rabies surveillance in the United States during 2013).
The highlights…
Today, guidance documents coordinated by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Veterinary Medical Association were released. CDC descriptions of the two documents are below. Click on the title to get the document.
Interim Guidance for Public Health Officials on Pets of Ebola Virus Disease Contacts
This document provides interim guidance
I go on periodic rants about people abusing service animal rules to take their pets places they cannot normally go (while potentially compromising the critically important need for true service animals to have unfettered access).
Sometimes, it’s nice to know I’m not the only one.
A recent article (pointed out by a writer from the VIN
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
The US Food and Drug Administration has released the 2011 NARMS (National Antimicrobial Resistances Monitoring System) executive report. It’s a good-news/bad-news outcome, which may be as good as can be expected, but at least there’s some good news.
Here are some areas that were highlighted by the FDA.
What zoonotic microorganisms do pangolins commonly carry?
Are some pangolins higher risk than others?
What infection control measures should be used?
I don’t know, and from a cursory review of the literature, I don’t think anyone really knows.
So, do we really want to be exposing them to some of our most susceptible individuals –
