Antibiotics get used a lot in dogs and cats (and other species) that undergo surgery. A lot of the time, the antibiotics are unnecessary. I suspect in many cases veterinarians know it’s unnecessary, but they still use them out of habit, fear of complications, fear of complaints from owners, lack of consideration of the potential
Antimicrobials are often used at the time of surgery, but it’s widely accepted that there is tremendous overuse of antimicrobials in this context in both human and veterinary medicine. Antimicrobial prophylaxis is indicated in some surgical patients to reduce the risk of surgical site infection, but in a large percentage of cases use of antimicrobials
It’s World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week. Did you know that? Probably not. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a huge global health threat with an unfortunately crappy marketing plan.
I’m on my way back from the BC One Health and Zoonoses Symposium where I was talking about AMR. It’s a complex issue and there are a
The Canadian Journal of Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiology has been good, recently, for a zoonotic disease article or two. The latest edition has a report of Pasteurella multocida infections of prosthetic joints (Lam et al. 2015). Pasteurella multocida is a bacterium that’s commonly found in the mouths of dogs and cats, and
This is an increasingly common question, as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius (MRSP – essentially the canine version of the high-profile human "superbug" MRSA) has expanded greatly in the canine population. As more dogs get MRSP infections and even more become inapparent carriers of this bug, more dogs that are carriers will need surgery (both elective and
Merlin’s been a great dog so far, but despite that, there’s no need to propagate his genes. So, Monday was the big day… neuter time! As expected, since returning home he’s been feeling sorry for himself, but otherwise so far, so good.
Being someone who deals exclusively with infectious diseases and does surgical site infection
One of my favourite stories about surgeons comes from a book by Irwin W. Sherman called "The Power of Plagues." In the pre-anesthesia and pre-antibiotic era, speed was considered the sign of a good surgeon. One surgeon, Robert Liston, was particularly renowned for his speed. However, speed sometimes lead to problems. In one surgery
