Review of 2008
On behalf of all the authors of the blog, and CABI, I would like to wish you all a Happy New Year and thank all of our readers for the comments supplied throughout the year. I hope these will continue and flourish onwards during 2009. Sorry for the delay in this post, but its finally…
Save the Guinea worm?
Earlier in December I came across this blog entry about the Guinea worm, a parasite you really don't want to be infected with. For more information about it, follow the link in the previous sentence, or this one about efforts by the Carter Center (founded by former US President Jimmy Carter) to eradicate it. The…
Bringing the mammoth back from the dead
In a very interesting news feature in Nature, Henry Nicholls discusses the real possibilities of inverting the course of evolution by bringing the mammoth back to life.During the last decades, hundreds of animal genomes have been published and the genome of the charismatic extinct Mamuthus primignenius has very recently joined the list. Henry Nicholls’s paper…
Are wild treeshrews alcoholics?
It’s normal enough to see drunk students hanging off of tree branches (isn’t it?), but what about small rat-like creatures? It turns out that wild mammals may also be behaviourally and physiologically challenged by alcohol in their food. Frank Wiens and colleagues recently discovered that pentailed treeshrews (Ptilocercus lowii) and 6 other mammalian pollinators of…
The First European Veterinary Week, 10-16 November 2008
European vets are gearing up for their first veterinary week, which will be held from 10-16 November in various locations across Europe. This is a joint initiative organised by the European Commission and the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe (FVE). The organising team is also supported by an advisory group of stakeholders (farmers’ organizations, industry…
A little more on Paget’s…
Just a week after finding out that Paget’s disease might be linked to distemper virus, I was surprised to see the disease mentioned in a story in the Guardian newspaper, in connection with a pianting I know well from visits to the National Gallery. The painting entitled ‘A Grotesque Old Woman’, is one of the…
One medicine; in practice
The ‘One-medicine’ movement has been boosted by the launch of a new web site at http://www.onehealthinitiative.com. It aims to promote the idea of ‘one medicine’ throughout the world and provide information on this initiative for the public, political and governmental leaders, news media, and all ‘One Health’ professionals, advocates, and supporters. The concept of ‘one…
Take care with reintroductions
I recently came across an item in Science Daily describing an article1 in Current Biology about the introduction of a notorious pathogen to an endangered animal population by reintroductions from a captive breeding programme. The Mallorcan Midwife Toad, Alytes muletensis, classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN, has been found to be infected with the fungus…
Canine distemper and Paget’s disease: zoonotic?
I came across a brief report in a local Michigan paper (thanks to the internet) of an outbreak of distemper in Manistee County, Michigan. The short report said that “Police said they’ve recently shot at least a dozen foxes and raccoons wandering around backyards and golf courses. A local veterinarian was reported to have said…
Is Your Dog Over 60?
Dogs age more rapidly than humans, especially large breed dogs, and it is thought that one year to a human can be as many as seven years biologically for a pet dog. For example, if your dog is eight years of age, in “human years” your pet is approaching his sixties. The life expectancy of…