Dog Bite Prevention

Dog Bite Prevention

Public Private Partnerships to limit disease spread due to global travelling.

A new study from a team at the University of Arizona in the US has found that international travel – along with trade – can be listed as being among the most efficient methods of spreading infectious diseases.

   This is due to the fact that people sick with communicable infections may unknowingly board planes and spread their illnesses to both fellow passengers and the residents of their destination country. Led by Charles Perrings, a professor of environmental economics at the university, the team behind the research cited the recent Ebola outbreak as an example – while a global pandemic did not occur, and the majority of the 8,000 people who died from the disease were from the outbreak’s source countries in West Africa, a man from Liberia did become patient zero in the US and later died from Ebola. 

 Two of his attending nurses also contracted the disease, although they later recovered. While this was a thankfully small-scale example, it can be considered a microcosm of what a larger epidemic or pandemic might look like. 

 The research paper also pointed towards international trade, mentioning the hoof and mouth outbreak that cost the government of the UK billions, and other diseases such as swine and avian flu.

 In terms of solutions, Perrings suggested addressing these issues ‘at the source’, and confronting those behind the import and export of potentially dangerous materials with the risks. 

 “The recent Ebola outbreak made us realize that we are all just a plane ride away from exposure to emerging infectious diseases,” said Perrings. 

“The more trade grows as a proportion of global production, the more likely it is that diseases will be spread through trade, and the higher the economic cost of resulting trade bans. What is at risk is the food we eat, the fibres we wear and build with, and the fuels we burn. In addition, many infectious diseases that affect animals also affect people. 

Zoonoses like SARS, MERS, HIV, AIDS [and] highly pathogenic avian influenza all originated in wild animals and were then spread person-to-person through trade and travel.” He went on to say: “There are two problems to address. One is that disease spread is an unintended (external) effect of trade. 

To solve this problem exporters and importers need to be confronted with the risks they impose on consumers. The other is that the control of infectious disease is a public good – the benefits it offers are freely available to all, and so will be under supplied if left to the market. 

To solve this problem, we need to undertake co-operative, collective control of infectious diseases at the source.” He suggested financial incentives for risk reduction in developing countries and establishing a global fund to combat and control infectious diseases. 

Currently, countries have the right to act defensively in their own interests once a disease is introduced, controlling the outbreak and working to reduce the possibility of reinfection by banning trade with countries that pose a risk. This, however, will not stop new diseases emerging, said Perrings: 

“The One Health Initiative suggests that what is needed is co-operative collective action to reduce risk at the source. This requires a partnership between the rich countries that have the resources to fund global prevention, and the poor countries where disease is most likely to emerge. 

The management of infectious diseases of animals and plants, like the management of infectious diseases of people, is now a global problem that requires global solutions. 

This in turn requires a more strongly co-ordinated and co-operative approach than is currently allowed under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement.” culled from international travel and health insurance journal.

Agribusiness : how to handle rabbits.

Rabbits are tender and should be handled with care.They should never be pulled by ears or scruff,without support to feet and abdominal region.When rabbits are carried by ears,leaving feet dangling, they will struggle and likely snap their spine.The picture below shows how to carry rabbits with proper support.

Guidance relaxes requirements for pets with lapsed rabies vaccine.

Cats and dogs with out-of-date vaccinations when exposed to rabies can receive a booster and be subject to an observation period, rather than quarantine or euthanasia, according to the National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians in the 2016 edition of the Compendium of Animal Rabies Prevention and Control. The change follows a paper in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association that found that dogs whose vaccination status had lapsed demonstrated an adequate antibody response to support the change. Veterinarian Catherine Brown said the guidance does not mitigate the need to keep current on vaccination. Full Story: JAVMA News

3D-MAPPING CORRECTS FACIAL TRAUMA IN ROTTWEILER.

Three-dimensional mapping technology helped University of California at Davis veterinarians correct major facial trauma in a Rottweiler puppy. Ziba's face was nearly crushed by a car, leaving her with damage that 10 years ago likely would have meant euthanasia. But the technology helped veterinarians identify problems and devise and carry out their surgical plan, marking the 10th such procedure at UC Davis, one of a small number of facilities with the technology. Today, Ziba's face shows no signs of her injury. Full Story: KTXL-TV (Sacramento, Calif.)

Suspected Ebola case reported in Vietnam.

A 27-year-old man was quarantined at a hospital in Ho Chi Minh City after coming back from Africa with Ebola symptoms, local media reported on Sunday. The man from central Binh Thuan province arrived at Tan Son Nhat international airport in the city on February 11 with Ebola symptoms, including high fever and dry cough, online newspaper VnExpress reported.He was transferred to the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases for quarantine and observation.The man worked as a photographer in Sierra Leone.He was being treated as a tuberculosis patient. Earlier, doctors in Sierra Leone had diagnosed him with pneumonia.A death from Ebola was confirmed in Sierra Leone on Jan. 15, hours after the World Health Organisation declared an end to the deadly virus in West Africa. Ebola has killed more than 11,000 people, mostly in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia since December 2013. Story culled from;South China morning post.

Sharks could help prevent human tooth loss.

Scientists have identified a network of genes that enables sharks to develop and regenerate teeth throughout their lifetime, a finding that may pave the way for new therapies to help humans with tooth loss. The genes also allow sharks to replace rows of their teeth using a conveyor belt-like system. Scientists have known that some fish, such as sharks and rays, develop rows of highly specialized teeth with the capacity for lifelong regeneration. However the genetic mechanisms which enable this to happen were poorly understood.Now a research team, led by Dr Gareth Fraser from the University of Sheffield in UK has identified how a special set of epithelial cells form, called the dental lamina, which are responsible for the lifelong continuation of tooth development and regeneration in sharks. Humans also possess this set of cells, which facilitate the production of replacement teeth, but only two sets are formed - baby and adult teeth - before this set of specialized cells is lost. The team shows that these tooth-making genes found in sharks are conserved through 450 million years of evolution, and probably made the first vertebrate teeth. These 'tooth' genes, therefore make all vertebrate teeth from sharks to mammals, however in mammals like humans, the tooth regeneration ability, that utilizes these genes, has been highly reduced over time. "We know that sharks are fearsome predators and one of the main reasons they are so successful at hunting prey is because of their rows of backward pointing, razor-sharp teeth that regenerate rapidly throughout their lifetime, and so are replaced before decay," said Fraser. "The Jaws films taught us that it is not always safe to go into the water, but this study shows that perhaps we need to in order to develop therapies that might help humans with tooth loss," Fraser said. Through analyzing the teeth of cat -shark embryos, the researchers characterized the expression of genes during stages of early shark tooth formation. They found that these genes participate in the initial emergence of shark's teeth and are re-deployed for further tooth regeneration. The study suggests that at the beginning of the sharks' evolutionary history, their teeth were most likely continuously regenerated and used a core set of genes from members of key developmental signalling pathways, which were instrumental in sharks evolving to maintain the ability to re-deploy the genes to replace teeth when needed. Story culled from business standard.