Leptospirosis

Re: Leptospirosis

Emily Nightingale — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 21:53:11 GMT

[quote user="Michael Woodhouse"]

Nice article, but did you really name your dog 'teddy bear'?

[/quote] Teddy Bear is his real name... I took him on from a client who no longer wanted him... But he was called Roo then and now he's Teddy Bear and so claim full responsibility!!!! Is it that bad? He's just so adorable.

Re: Leptospirosis

Michael Woodhouse — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 21:49:10 GMT

Nice article, but did you really name your dog 'teddy bear'?

Re: Leptospirosis

Emily Nightingale — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 20:08:30 GMT

http://www.eadt.co.uk/news/halstead_dog_s_death_prompts_vet_to_issue_warning_1_1867757 Enjoy!!!!

Re: Leptospirosis

Busybee — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 21:59:20 GMT

[quote user="robloxley"]

[quote user="Busybee"]The dog wasn't actually vaccinated so it was even harder to convince the owner she should be doing so when even a vaccinated dog could have ended up in the same situation as her. [/quote]

You'll have to sell her Nobivac Lepto4...

[/quote]

Still doesn't cover her serovars - australis, bratislava and autumnalis!

Re: Leptospirosis

Chris Geddes — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 08:55:24 GMT

Drop it over to me and I'll pass it on (chris.geddes@virbac.co.uk).

Cheers

Chris

Re: Leptospirosis

Gillian Mostyn — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 23:08:14 GMT

[quote user="Emily Herskind Nightingale"]Yes please! May I have her email address?? Thank you =)[/quote]

Don't forget Arlo is also excellent at PR stuff like this......he did it for a living.... and still does I guess, in some ways....!!!

Re: Leptospirosis

Rob Loxley — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 23:07:48 GMT

You'll have to sell her Nobivac Lepto4...

Re: Leptospirosis

Emily Nightingale — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 20:01:09 GMT

Yes please! May I have her email address?? Thank you =)

Re: Leptospirosis

Busybee — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 19:13:40 GMT

Bear in mind that the vaccination doesn't cover all serovars of lepto. Our case had a serovar that wasn't covered by vaccination. The dog wasn't actually vaccinated so it was even harder to convince the owner she should be doing so when even a vaccinated dog could have ended up in the same situation as her.

Re: Leptospirosis

Chris Geddes — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 18:31:54 GMT

Excellent, if you want me to ask our PR consultant to put her eyes over let me know.

Chris

Re: Leptospirosis

Julie Innes — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 15:55:56 GMT

Lepto is one of the arguments I have no qualms about using to promote yearly vaccinations.

It exists, is spread via urine, can be present anywhere there can be rats (which is pretty much everywhere!) and is a zoonosis (my first boss contracted it from a cow and almost died!) They cannot confirm duration of immunity longer than 15-18mths.

I think it's important for the public to be aware of it, and I hope your patient recovers well, Emily

Re: Leptospirosis

Emily Nightingale — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 14:01:09 GMT

Thank you one and all.. consider the PR part of the exercise in action. Wrote the press release today (since OP I have had 3 more come in with suspect signs........ fortunately all seem ok on bloods at present) Thanks for the advice! I did look at Rajats excellent post, and found the article v v informative so thanks!!

Re: Leptospirosis

James Laidlaw — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 17:32:05 GMT

[quote user="Michael Woodhouse"]

[quote user="James Laidlaw"]I know farmers who have contracted lepto, nearly died from it and some have long lasting effects after being treated too[/quote]

I too know a chap who had lepto, but it is still a very rare disease in people despite being common in cattle. A farm I milked at as a student had a proper lepto outbreak but none of the staff got it.

I always draw farmers attention to the excellent info on lepto on the HSE website and make them aware of their obligations to employed staff.

[quote user="James Laidlaw"] if farmers knew the effects of contracting the condition, they'd probably be keen to remove the cows from the parlour, if not the herd...?[/quote]

???? How so? There is no reliable test to find a single infected animals. Cattle are too valuable just to kill them when they have a perfectly curable condition. Vaccination helps clear the infection in cattle. Economically that is the mainstay of cattle control. In the olden days whole herd treatment with a single shot of streptomycin was practised, but I can't see it happening now.

Farmers are at particular risk when cattle urinate in a milking parlour as it aerosolises and the farmer is below the animal. The most commonly affected people are those working with water. Fishermen are at risk and millions of people fish.

A dog that goes out to urinate, is well in itself and on antibiotics has to pose a low zoonotic risk. I'd rather that the dog was home [with appropriate warnings] than potentially contaminating the environment at the practice where we have unvaccinated puppies etc.

[/quote] Your words: "Emily - in cows with clinical lepto you keep milking them." If you know they have lepto, shouldn't your advice be to take them out of the milking group at the very least. If you don't know they have it then yes, but not much you can do. Education key. Just though your comments were a bit blasé, that's all.

Re: Leptospirosis

Busybee — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 15:19:39 GMT

[quote user="robloxley"]

Where you are considering the human health aspects, I'd humbly suggest you refer your patients to their GP for advice (who may in turn want to take advice from the HPA). Giving poor advice with regards to a potentially fatal zoonosis wouldn't be something I'd want to do.

[/quote]

We also got the owner to sign a declaration stating she fully understood the zoonotic potentials of having a potentially infectious dog at home and advising her to seek medical advice if she became ill. This was on advice of one of the specialists.

Re: Leptospirosis

Rob Loxley — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 14:41:57 GMT

Re: Leptospirosis

Michael Woodhouse — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 13:14:15 GMT

[quote user="James Laidlaw"]I know farmers who have contracted lepto, nearly died from it and some have long lasting effects after being treated too[/quote]

I always draw farmers attention to the excellent info on lepto on the HSE website and make them aware of their obligations to employed staff.

[quote user="James Laidlaw"] if farmers knew the effects of contracting the condition, they'd probably be keen to remove the cows from the parlour, if not the herd...?[/quote]

Re: Leptospirosis

Chris Geddes — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 09:11:13 GMT

Emily - you can tell I'm not in practice any more from the advice I'm about to give...(though I'm saying it for purely sentimental reasons not financial!) This is a really unfortunate set of events and you don't want to see it happening again. Use it to highlight importance of annual vaccination, with story in local press (with pic of this dog happily recovered and soundbite from owner about forgetting about boosters and how she wont forget again) and do a vaccine amnesty etc. Also practice newsletter/ website / Facebook... I had a similar set of events when I was in practice - owner couldn't afford to vaccinate second dog when first dog died (presented very late also due to lack of money)...second dog succumbed too. It sounds like your owner is forgetful rather than poor...make sure you don't have other owners in similar situation! :( Back to business hat on - good PR for practice too!

Re: Leptospirosis

Busybee — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 08:48:09 GMT

Hi Emily,

Have a look here.... http://www.vetsurgeon.org/forums/t/13312.aspx

That case that I had a few months back ended up staying in with us for 1 month. I also had the conundrum of when to send her home. The things to consider are:

- Zoonotic potential - not just to the owner but to yourself and your staff, don't forget that!

- Hygiene - the most infective portion of the dog is by far and away it's urine, so ensure the owner is able to thoroughly and properly manage the dog's toileting.

- in contacts - in my case, the owner was a breeder so had another 15-odd dogs at home, hence why she may have stayed in with us longer than would have been necessary.

- the dog's clinical state - if dog well, eating, not needing IVFT, kidney/liver parameters under control and has started at least amoxyclav or amoxicillin and, if possible, doxy, then you're probably onto a winner.

- how long they are infective for - I spoke to a number of internal medics about this one and no one could answer it for me. They suggested testing urine PCR at least 1 month after finishing all antibs to get the best idea, though low shedders can be missed.

Our case was an ancient pointer with horrific azotaemia which, now about three months down the line, is running round like a puppy with no sign of renal failure what-so-ever!

Read the document Rajat included in the other link - The ACVIM consensus statement on Leptospirosis - as it was invaluable when treating our case.

Good luck! :)

Re: Leptospirosis

James Laidlaw — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 08:18:23 GMT

Michael - we weren't quite as flippant about ignoring lepto in dairy herds in NZ - I know farmers who have contracted lepto, nearly died from it and some have long lasting effects after being treated too. I wouldn't think sound advice would be to carry on being in contact with known infected animals, and imagine if farmers knew the effects of contracting the condition, they'd probably be keen to remove the cows from the parlour, if not the herd...?

Re: Leptospirosis

Michael Woodhouse — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 22:07:10 GMT

[quote user="Emily Herskind Nightingale"]My question is how long should we keep her isolated for? Obviously there is a zoonotic concern but how long for?[/quote]

Emily - in cows with clinical lepto you keep milking them. They still urinate in the milking parlour. Farmers constantly come into contact with their secretions.Yet cases of leptospirosis remain low.

If the dog is bright and well then I'd send it home with strict instructions re personal hand hygiene.Obviously if sick then keep in.

I wouldn't be especially concerned about confirming it in this dog if the other positive. As long as fit and well at 2nd vacc stop worrying.