CAHSS Podcast Series - Animal Health Insights

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) is a contagious viral disease that continues to impact domestic and wild birds. In March of 2024, HPAI was detected in dairy cattle in Texas, and has since spread rapidly across the United States. To date, it has not been detected in Canada in cattle. In this new miniseries, Dr. Murray Gillies, a veterinarian and the Interim Division Director for the Canadi...

Les moustiques - si vous vivez au Canada, vous devez faire face à ces insectes nuisibles pendant une grande partie du printemps et de l'été. Avec le réchauffement climatique, il est probable que nous verrons apparaître quelques nouvelles variétés de cet insecte irritant dans l'espace aérien canadien, et malheureusement, la variété des espèces signifie également que nous devons faire face à de nouv...

Mosquitoes – if you live in Canada, you deal with these pesky bugs for a significant portion of the spring and summer. With warming global temperatures, it is likely that we will see a few new varieties of this irritating insect appear in the Canadian airspace, and unfortunately, this also means we have some new vector-borne diseases to deal with. Mosquitoes carry and help to spread a variety of i...

Les antibiotiques (un type de médicament antimicrobien) sont utilisés autant en médecine vétérinaire qu’en médecine humaine pour traiter et prévenir les infections bactériennes. Les médicaments antimicrobiens sont classés en fonction du type d'agent pathogène qu'ils combattent - par exemple, les antibiotiques sont utilisés contre les bactéries, les antiviraux contre les virus, les antifongiques co...

Antibiotics (one type of antimicrobial medication) are used in both veterinary and human medicine to treat and to prevent bacterial infections. Antimicrobial medications are classified based on the kind of pathogen they fight – for example, antibiotics are used against bacteria, antivirals against viruses, antifungals against fungal infections, etc. The development of antimicrobial resistance (AMR...

Ces dernières années, le monde porcin a connu une vague d'activités visant à gérer et à prévenir la propagation de la peste porcine africaine à travers le monde. Cette maladie (qui n'infecte que les porcs) a eu de graves répercussions sur la santé et la production porcine mondialement, causant souvent la mort de près de 100 % des porcs infectés. Au Canada, jusqu'à présent, nous avons eu la chance...

The past few years in the swine world have seen a flurry of activity to manage and prevent the movement of African Swine Fever around the globe. This disease (which only infects pigs) has had severe impacts on swine health and production worldwide, often causing death of almost 100% of infected pigs. In Canada thus far we have been lucky to maintain ASF disease-free status, which means this diseas...

With foaling season upon us, it is the perfect time to take stock of our infection prevention and control practices - we want to ensure our mares have easy foalings and produce the healthiest offspring possible. The first few months of a foal’s life can be challenging as their immune system develops – even in ideal situations they may face bacterial, viral or parasitic infections that can make or...

There are a number of health challenges that are prevalent in pig production – and we know that biosecurity is the name of the game when it comes to disease prevention. Some diseases seem to evade even the strongest biosecurity plans and this can be frustrating for producers and their veterinarians as they try to achieve optimum care for their herds. Porcine respiratory and reproductive syndrome i...

Medical doctors and veterinarians both include antimicrobials (antibiotics) in their medical tool-kits to treat bacterial infections. In this age of antimicrobial resistance, both types of medical professionals are keenly aware of the necessity for judicious use of antimicrobials for their patients. Zoonotic bacteria are of particular interest to both human and vet medicine as they can infect a va...

Most people are at least vaguely familiar with Rabies - a fatal zoonotic disease that affects thousands of people and animals around the world. In North America, we are lucky to think about rabies rarely – usually in the context of an animal bite, or maybe faint memories of “Old Yeller” the movie, or when and if a bat gets into the house. Canadian veterinarians may see a case or two of rabies ever...

Chaque année, une journée est dédiée à une campagne internationale de sensibilisation pour souligner l'importance de la rage, une zoonose mortelle qui touche des milliers de personnes et d'animaux dans le monde. En Amérique du Nord, nous avons la chance de rarement penser à la rage - généralement lors d'une morsure d'animal, ou peut-être de faibles souvenirs du film "Old Yeller", sinon quand une c...

Wild pigs are known to wreak environmental havoc across all types of landscapes, and they can be difficult to find, let alone to manage once they’re established in an area. Information about the habitats that Canadian wild pigs utilize can help inform decisions about how best to manage wild pig populations, and perhaps may also be useful to decrease crop damage or livestock interactions at the wil...

Our veterinary patients deal with the effects of “worms” in a number of ways – we frequently see animals who suffer from gastrointestinal illness, weight loss, blood loss, and occasionally kidney, cardiac, muscular or neurologic diseases that all may relate to parasitic infections. If you’re a pet parent or animal producer – your eyes may glaze over a bit when your vet discusses the health risks a...

Spring has sprung in North America – and with the return of these migrating birds, we see predictable waves of poultry infections with influenza. Each year there is the potential for different strains of this flu to impact the health of our egg and meat producing birds – whether they are raised in small backyard flocks or in commercial poultry production systems. Dr. Jean-Pierre Vaillancourt – a v...

Le printemps est arrivé en Amérique du Nord – et avec le retour de ces oiseaux migrateurs, nous assistons également à des éclosions prévisibles de grippe aviaire dans la volaille. Chaque année, différentes souches d’influenza aviaire peuvent avoir un impact sur la santé de nos oiseaux producteurs d'œufs et de nos poulets à chair - qu'ils soient élevés dans de petits troupeaux de basse-cour ou dans...

In 2019, a “new bug on the block” showed up in British Columbia, and an extensive effort was launched to locate and eradicate an intimidating non-native hornet species. You’ve likely heard of these Asian Giant Hornets as they were all over the news – a big wasp – with strong stingers and the buzzy potential to harm native pollinator species and honeybees in Canada. Paul van Westendorp, the provinc...

As caretakers and advocates for the animal populations within the wilderness areas in Canada’s national park system, teams of wildlife experts work collaboratively to try to maintain this balance of health in their regions of care. In the past few years, in Alberta’s national parks, Parks Canada wildlife specialists were challenged to manage an outbreak of a disease within one of the park’s waters...

When it comes to providing veterinary care for small ruminants like sheep and goats, one of the most frustrating challenges for production can be the management of parasitic infections. Individual farms vary widely in their amount of pasture, availability of other species for pasture rotations, and their general deworming and parasite management protocols. Often a veterinarian is called in to addr...

Lorsqu’il est question de soins vétérinaires aux petits ruminants comme les ovins et les caprins, la gestion des infections parasitaires représente l’un des plus gros défis de la production. La quantité de pâturages disponibles, la disponibilité de différentes espèces pour effectuer la rotation des pâturages et le protocole de gestion du parasitisme varient beaucoup d’une ferme à l’autre. Souvent,...

Mental health is an essential facet of health and well-being for everyone, but there are unique facets of mental health that can be affected for all those who work with animals and who navigate the challenges associated with an animal health incident. Dr. Margaret McGeoghegan and Dr. Luc Bergeron discuss the significant mental health impacts of these situations on producers and veterinarians, and...

Some diseases have the potential to be so threatening to animal or human health, or so rapidly contagious, that veterinary authorities need to aware of a single case as soon as possible. For some of these reportable diseases, actions or interventions are required immediately, while for others, veterinary authorities need to be aware of their occurrence simply for disease surveillance and monitorin...

There are a number of clinical signs that always strike a bit of fear into the veterinary heart –  for example, livestock that show blisters on their nose, mouth, or near their hooves, the dog or cat with unexplained neurological signs (especially if they had recent interaction with a bat), or the acute death of a number of animals. In any of these cases (and in many others) a veterinarian must ke...

When diseases affect our wildlife, they can also impact the health of domestic animals and humans. Diseases may "spillover" from wildlife to other species, can be maintained in nature, develop new and more potent strains, and can travel across provincial, territorial, and national borders, often unimpeded. Increasing stresses due to habitat loss, international trade of animals and their parts, cli...

When we bring dogs from far away into Canada, it is essential that we consider infectious organisms they may also bring into our country as “tag-alongs”. This a veterinarian and molecular-parasitology researcher (who is devoted to tackling zoonotic parasites) shares details on which infections should be top of mind when importing dogs, and describes a cautionary tale of an imported parasitic disea...