In a series of blog posts, Scott Weese, DVM and Maureen Anderson, DVM review Covid-19 in animals by family. Industry pros are thankful for the efforts being made to help keep Covid-19 in perspective.
Thank you Drs. Weese and Anderson!”
Source: WormsandGerms Blog. Link. Worms & Germs Blog is an educational website coordinated by Drs. Scott Weese and Maureen Anderson of the Ontario Veterinary College‘s Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses.
The site focuses on infectious diseases of companion animals (household pets and horses), with an emphasis on zoonotic diseases – diseases that can be transmitted from animals to people. They actually take a broader approach, considering diseases that can be spread from animals to people AND from people to animals.
Source: COVID-19 in Animals Review:
- Part 1: Cats, October 15, 2020. Link.
- Part 2: Dogs, October 19, 2020. Link.
- Part 3: Pigs, October 27, 2020. Link.
- Part 4: Mustelids (Mink and Ferrets), October 29, 2020. Link.
- Part 5: Horses, October 30, 2020. Link.
- Part 6: Marine Mammals, November 2, 2020. Link.
Commentary: The phylogeny of dogs and mustelids flows from the dog/bear branch of carnivores. Considering other animals in that branch, raccoons are significantly present in rural, ruralpolitan, suburban and urban areas. Scavengers, they pose (to me) a significant potential to become a reservoir for zoonotic viruses having been previously identified as reservoirs for leptospirosis, rabies and distemper.
NOTE: Fur harvest season has just begun across the U.S. Now would be a time to collect samples from harvested raccoons in areas where mink have been infected, such as Utah and Wisconsin. Similar efforts to identify CWD in deer are ongoing. Surely our industry can find a way to check raccoons at fur buyer locations.