At Washington State University, scientists in the Paul G. Allen School for Global Animal Health are working toward an ambitious goal: no human rabies deaths by 2030. On September 28, World Rabies Day, they and global partners across the world will come together to raise awareness for the deadliest zoonotic disease on the planet. “Eliminating human deaths due to rabies, 99 percent of which are due to bites from rabid dogs, is for the first time in history within our...
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), many state departments of health and agriculture, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service are investigating eight multistate outbreaks of human Salmonella infections linked to contact with live poultry in backyard flocks. These outbreaks are caused by several kinds of Salmonella bacteria including Salmonella Braenderup, Salmonella Enteritidis, Salmonella Hadar, Salmonella I 4,[5],12:i-, Salmonella Indiana, Salmonella Infantis, Salmonella Mbandaka, and Salmonella Typhimurium. As of May 25, 2017, 372 people infected...
Read MoreThe Washington State Board of Health is considering amendments to Chapter 246-101 WAC, Notifiable Conditions. Under consideration is adding notification and specimen submission requirements for new conditions and conditions currently identified as "other rare diseases of public health significance.” These include the following: New Conditions: Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (E. coli, Klebsiella species, and Enterobacter species) Coccidioidomycosis Zika MERS and other severe communicable coronavirus infections Hantaviral infections (Andes virus, Bayou virus, Black Creek Canal virus, Dobrava-Belgrade virus, Haantan virus, Seoul virus, Sin nombre virus) Rickettsia prowazekii, Rickettsia typhi (typhus), and...
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I overheard a doctor in one of our clinics one day tell a client she wouldn’t prescribe antibiotics without a diagnosis, “for society’s sake, because we don’t want resistance.” My first thought was: “Yaassssss!” and my second thought, upon seeing the client’s face, was: “couldn’t care less.” I get it. It’s hard to change your perspective, let alone your behavior, just for the good of society. We don’t always act differently even when we know it’s the right thing to do, unless...
Read MoreThe State Board of Health will hold a public hearing on June 14, 2017, to consider updates to WAC 246-100-197, Rabies -- Measures to prevent human disease. The State Board of Health is proposing to amend the rule to incorporate the most current science related to rabies post-exposure practice and quarantine periods, and update the National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians Compendium of Animal Rabies Prevention and Control adoption by reference date for procedures related to emergency sheltering of...
Read MoreAs of February 22nd, 2017 no human or rodent cases of Seoul hantavirus have been confirmed in Washington State. During late December 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was notified about a patient in Wisconsin who presented to a hospital earlier that month with fever, headaches, leukopenia, transaminitis, and mild proteinuria. Hantavirus infection was suspected because the patient breeds and sells Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) primarily for pets and to a lesser extent for feeding to carnivores (snakes)....
Read MoreGet Smart About Antibiotics Week is an annual one-week observance to raise awareness of antibiotic resistance and the importance of appropriate antibiotic prescribing and use. Each year in the United States, at least 2 million people become infected with bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics and at least 23,000 people die as a direct result of these infections. Many more people die from other conditions that were complicated by an antibiotic-resistant infection. Antibiotic resistance, when bacteria stop responding to the drugs designed...
Read MoreEarlier this week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced it is entering the next phase of their efforts to mitigate antimicrobial resistance. For the first time, they’ll focus on medically important antimicrobials (i.e., those important for treating human disease) used in animal feed or water that have at least one therapeutic indication without a defined duration of use. The agency is currently completing changes under Guidance for Industry #213 to limit the use of these drugs to therapeutic...
Read MoreThe 2016 edition of the Compendium of Animal Rabies Prevention and Control from the National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians has been published. The new guidelines include new recommendations for post exposure protocol. Cats and dogs that are exposed to rabies and are overdue for a vaccine can have a booster shot followed by an observation period rather than be subject to quarantine or euthanasia. The 2016 edition of the Compendium also advises reducing the quarantine period from six...
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New recommendations for post rabies exposure (and suspected exposures) will be out soon in the 2016 edition of the Compendium of Animal Rabies Prevention and Control from the National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians. Other updates will also be forthcoming in the 2016 edition. What’s new? Soon, cats and dogs that are exposed to rabies and are overdue for a vaccine can have a booster shot followed by an observation period rather than be subject to quarantine or euthanasia. The 2016...
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