Orangutan brings pregnant woman to tears by 'kissing' her stomach at zoo.

A simple "kiss" from an orangutan left a pregnant woman smiling through tears after a tender encounter at her local zoo. Morgain Cole Abbott, 27, was at the Colchester Zoo in Essex, England, last month when an orangutan named Rajang noticed her baby bump and gave it a tender smooch from the other side of the glass in his enclosure. Rajang, a 48-year-old orangutan who is half Bornean and half Sumatran, also "kissed" the pregnant belly of a woman in July 2015 and then again on a different expectant mother in September of last year. Morgain said it really shows how intelligent and knowing these incredible creatures are and made her so emotional as I honestly feel humans and animals can have a connection, and I felt I could have stayed there with him all day. continue

A New App Brings Veterinary House Calls to Portland.

Health care for Portland pets is about to be even more convenient than it is for humans,as a new app will bring veterinary house calls.Portland already has a cat rapper, dog hotels and even a short-lived dog cafe. It's also the home of the Licki Brush, a silicone tongue that humans can put on their tongues to lick their cat to increase bonding. VetPronto, a San Francisco startup that allows pet owners to connect with mobile on-call vets, will soon launch in Portland. It's kind of like PostMates, but instead of a guy delivering a crispy chicken sandwich, a veterinarian will deliver pet care. VetPronto wanted to increase the transparency using on simple pricing. They work with local vets and charge a flat rate of $150 for any issue, plus ten other conditions with flat rates. For example, if your dog has diarrhea, you pay $150 for the house call, $50 for the fecal test and $25 for the medication. continue

WHO reports suspected plague outbreak in Madagascar.

WHO reported that health officials are currently investigating a suspected outbreak of pneumonic and bubonic plague in the Southeastern region of Madagascar that resulted in 62 illnesses and 26 deaths. The cases, six of which have been confirmed, occurred in two adjacent districts in two neighboring regions —Befotaka district in Atsimo-Atsinanana Region and Iakora district in Ihorombe Region. These are the first cases to be reported in the area since 1950. Five of the cases were classified as pneumonic plague and the remaining as bubonic plague. Retrospective investigations revealed that the outbreak may have started in mid-August. The remote area of infection has allayed fears that be an it might be an international threat,but however calls for more surveillance to control situation The bacteria Yersinia pestis, is responsible for plague and maintain their existence in a cycle involving rodents and their fleas. In urban areas or places with dense rat infestations, the plague bacteria can cycle between rats and their fleas. Dog owners,keep pets safe and most especially importation of dogs must be restricted to prevent spread of infections. Use flea repellent for dogs,and rodent proof your homes and kennels.

Dog to human transmission of plague.

Plague is a serious and fatal bacterial infection caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis. Humans can contract the disease from the bite of an infected flea. Rodents, including rats, often carry both the plague and the fleas that spread it. The most common type of plague seen throughout history is the bubonic plague, which is an infection of the lymph nodes, others are pneumonic plague, an infection of the lungs, and septicemic, which affects the blood. The incubation period is typically 2 to 8 days but the pneumonic plague symptoms can appear as soon as 1 day following infection.The symptoms of bubonic plague are 1)chills. 2)fever 3)seizures 4)muscular pain 5)enlarged lymph nodes especially in armpit,neck and groin area. The swelling of the site is called bubo and its found at site of flea bite. All forms of the plague require immediate treatment, as death can occur as soon as 24 hours after the first symptoms appear.Antibiotics such as streptomycin, gentamicin, doxycycline or ciprofloxacin are effective in treating the plague. The Symptoms of pneumonic plague are 1) severe cough. 2)fever. 3)difficulty in breathing 4)froth and bloody sputum 5)chest pain. All cases of pneumonic plague are fatal if left untreated and unlike other types of plague, individuals with pneumonic plague can spread the infection person-to-person through coughing, which sends tiny droplets carrying the bacteria airborne. A case of transmission of pneumonic plague from dog to owner and other 3 people was reported in morbidity and mortality weekly report (MMWR).Yersinia pestis was identified in a blood sample collected from a previously healthy, middle-aged man who was hospitalized with pneumonia, the patient was later diagnosed with pneumonic plague. The dog was tested posthumously by both PRC assay and culture with results positive for Y. pestis, two veterinary clinic employees who had contact with the sick dog, along with a woman who had contact with both the dog and its owner while they were ill, all subsequently developed illness and tested positive for Y. pestis or Y. pestis antibodies.Before developing symptoms,the woman had contact with the dog for 9 to 10 days and with its owner for 5 to 6 days. Two of the infected humans had been taking antibiotics for their symptoms before their illness was diagnosed and subsequently avoided hospitalization, all four of the infected humans recovered from the disease. Prompt diagnosis and onset of treatment gives a good prognosis.

Kenyan farmers develop taste for insects as drought hurts crops.

The knee-high dome on Ikung'u Kathimbu's farm in Weru village, eastern Kenya, shelters an unusual crop: a termite swarm. Kathimbu walks around the structure covered with banana leaves, drumming on a tin-like vessel and stamping his feet on the ground. Farmers' traditional crops have suffered here in recent years due to long periods of drought. Some are taking up construction work to supplement their income, while others like Kathimbu are harvesting insects whenever the rainy season is delayed. At this time of year, Kathimbu's farm should be sprouting with a waist-high maize crop. But only wilting cassava stems populate the parched terrain. "Five years ago I could store enough maize and beans in my granary to feed my family for seven months," said the father of six. "But now all my grain is depleted three months after the harvest, and only cassava is left." continue

The 80-15-5 Rule for equine health.

The 80-15-5 rule suggests that everything in life can be divided into groups of 80%, 15%, and 5%. It’s got a lot of applications and it works with horses and in equine medicine.This is what it means about 80% of all of the time, horses get along just great. If it’s a medical problem that’s afflicting the horse, he is going to get better 80% of the time, no matter what is done to him (as long as it’s not something that causes overt harm). Or, if you go out for a ride, about 80% of the time it’s going to be a lot of fun, and you’ll want to come back again soon. 15% of the time, a horse is going to need some help, if he’s got a medical problem, he might need some sort of medical treatment to help him recover. If he’s got a training issue, some new piece of equipment or some new exercise might just do the trick. The 5% of the time, you’re pretty much sunk. That’s the awful, insoluble, incurable 5%. The 5% where no matter what you do, your horse is in trouble. The training problem that no one seems to be able to fix. The health issue that can’t go away because there’s no cure. Your pretty young black foal turned grey. In 5% of the cases, the horse isn’t going to get better, no matter what is done. Think of what that means for any sort of intervention! You can give medicine or massage, antibiotics or aromatherapy, acupuncture or anti-inflammatories, and the condition is going to get better 80% of the time, which, of course, is just about one reason why you can find a proponent for just about any therapy. Because 80% of the time, your horse is going to improve following treatment, whether the treatment did anything or not. For 5% of anything, you’re just wasting time and money trying to fix the problem. But here, too, just about any therapy can be tried, because, after all, to quote, oh, pretty much everyone who tries to get you to use a therapy with a guilt trip, “Don’t you want to do everything you can to help your horse?” Of course that’s what you want. But in such cases, you’re really better off to just figure out how to deal with it, or move on. It’s for the rest of the cases—that 15% in which you can make a difference—that you’re going to need to do the right thing. And that’s where science comes in to help figure out what the right thing , because you don’t want to go about giving an ineffective therapy when your horse really needs one that works. The 80:15:5 rule, it sort of sets things in perspective.When it comes to horse care—heck, in many parts of life—I think that a lot of people are inclined to think about things being the worst that they can be.Even though most horses are pretty maintenance free, and most conditions get better, people tend to focus on the bad possibilities. source

Cutting TB drug dosage in half reduces hearing loss, maintains efficacy.

Researchers in the Netherlands have discovered that carefully reducing the recommended dose of amikacin and kanamycin by half could spare patients this side effect without sacrificing the regimen’s efficacy. Jan-Willem C. Alffenaar, PhD, PharmD, associate professor in the department of clinical pharmacy and pharmacology at the University of Groningen, and colleagues wrote in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. The aminoglycosides amikacin and kanamycin — two second-line injectable drugs for the treatment of multidrug-resistant (MDR)-TB — have both been associated with “profound and permanent” toxicity, with 8% to 37% of patients experiencing hearing loss and nephrotoxicity after taking them for any period of time, according to researchers. Prolonged treatment with the drugs and at higher doses may compound these problems. continue