Birth defects in children of vets

Re: Birth defects in children of vets

Jacquin Mitchell — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 18:19:47 GMT

I was tested for Toxo in my 3rd pregnancy and was surprised to be negative as well. I have had plenty of opportunity to acquire infection!

Jacq

Re: Birth defects in children of vets

Vikki Moran — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 17:48:02 GMT

i was tested negative for toxo in both my pregnancies, as i requested the test at 6 weeks ish.

i avoided gas, always used scavengers, avoided xrays where i could etc... both kids are fine (well my son has a clotting disorder but that's inherited and therefore irrelevant!)

I was surprised at being toxo negative, having had cats myself for my whole life, as well as work!

both kids were born at term.

Re: Birth defects in children of vets

Allie Woodward — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:02:05 GMT

I have had 2 children and worked until 36 weeks with both of them. They were born at 40 +4 and 40 weeks. They (appear) to be normal so far!

I had no screening for Toxo in my second pregnancy although as my husband spent the last 4 months of my second pregnancy in hospital, I was emptying litter trays at home which probably posed more of a risk than anything I encounter at work!

Re: Birth defects in children of vets

Camilla Edwards — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 19:12:33 GMT

Actually I think it proves how rare toxo is in this country! I know a few vets/nurses who have tested and all come back negative - if anyone would have it then we would. I therefore decided not to be tested for toxo during pregnancy, and just be hygienic.

Re: Birth defects in children of vets

Jill Steed — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:34:03 GMT

Does that assume all 7000 have children? is it 1:5000 babies born? Very confusing things, statistics!

Re: Birth defects in children of vets

Hannah Wynne Richards — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 12:00:00 GMT

A 1 :5000 incidence, and approx 7000 female veterinary surgeons on the active list suggests that there should only be 1.4children with aortic coarction amongst the entire profession, and yet there are 2 just amongst contributors to this forum. Not statistically significant but suggestive

Wynne

Re: Birth defects in children of vets

James Allsop — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:52:41 GMT

My Wife worked full time in SA practice, avoided any chemo cases,xrays and masked anaesthetics - stayed full time until 4 weeks before. Normal baby - now2yrs old

Re: Birth defects in children of vets

HERETIC — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 21:27:56 GMT

Anecdotal evidence makes bad science but in the practice I work in in 25 years ther have been 3 prematures,one stillborn and 3 normal pregnancies to staff or their involved spouses.Doesnt sound too good huh.

Re: Birth defects in children of vets

Jill Steed — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:40:33 GMT

Thanks Kit and everyone else for sympathy re David. I hope your son didn't have other problems.

Re. the 1:5000 statistic I'm sure as you say it is something bound to occur in the veterinary community at some point. Also as no doubt you are aware any sort of heart defect in the parent shortens the odds considerably, and I was thought to have a VSD as a baby (must have been minor if so as no surgery required). Probably amazingly fortunate that the second baby was normal!

Re: Birth defects in children of vets

Jill Steed — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:23:50 GMT

Glad yours were ok!

Re: Birth defects in children of vets

Kit Sturgess — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:49:22 GMT

I am very saddened to hear about your son. My son was born with aortic coarctation amongst other cardiac changes. My wife is a vet too although she was not working at the time as she was looking after my other child who was born perfect (and she was working at that time). Interetsingly she was also tested for Toxoplasma at the time of the first pregnancy and was negative. About 1:5000 babies are born with coarctation so I suspect that it was bound to occur sooner or later within the veterinary community with over 13,000 vets on teh RCVS register.... unless there are other cases out there? With regard to the paper from Australia re x-ray exposure I suspect there is much more hand holding of animals and so potentially higher exposures.

Re: Birth defects in children of vets

debby vaughan — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:07:17 GMT

Sorry to hear of your problems, I've got a perfectly "normal" 5 year old boy, He was 2 weeks late and had to be shoe-horned out, though not quite the sun-roof approach!! Like your second experience I had reduced my working days to one weekly right up to my due date and was still doing theatre work and handling cats etc. I had worked full time up to about 22 weeks covering someone elses maternity leave. We had good scavenging, not sure if this makes the difference. I've known several other vets and nurses who've had children and not aware of anybody having a child with defects. Sounds like a good study waiting to be done

Re: Birth defects in children of vets

salome2001 — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 22:45:10 GMT

I also came back negative for toxo despite being heavily cat-oriented at work and havibg always had cats at home (outdoor). Personally I think the undercooked meat aspect is prbably more important than the cat aspect

With regard to isoflurane exposure, the fact that it's impossible for a pregnant employee to stay out of the operating theatre is not an excuse to ignore H&S for that employee. My boss was appalling in his treatment of me during my pregnancy but at least the nurse responsible for H&S took it seriously. Some things you can do are:

- nurse (non pregnant) to fill iso vaporiser at start of day rather than start of surgery

- always use filling tubes, not pouring direct from bottle

- avoid masking down

- use cuffed tubes

-check all equipment at end of every day for leaks

-also remember that there is significant iso exposure from exhaled gases from recovering patients so make sure the ventilation in the recovery room is also good.

Re: Birth defects in children of vets

Stephen Ashman — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 22:12:35 GMT

ok but if I got sent a questionnaire for a study I probably wouldn't go to the effort to go find these readings, but I probably would hazard a guess at the number of exposures I poop off in an average week. My point is just that this study works within the constraints of a questionnaire, but yes another study based on dosimeters may give more info.

Re: Birth defects in children of vets

sarah mason — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:31:11 GMT

You can find out your dosimeter readings, the practice RPS should have at least the past 2 years records filed somewhere.

Re: Birth defects in children of vets

Stephen Ashman — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:05:54 GMT

a bit tricky for a questionnaire though, I can't say I know what any of my readings have been.

Re: Birth defects in children of vets

Gillian Mostyn — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:27:11 GMT

I was thinking that too - surely dosemeter readings would have been a better indication of radiation.....

Re: Birth defects in children of vets

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:41:04 GMT

I'm puzzled as to how taking more than 10 radiographs per week necessarily equates to occupational exposure to high dose of radiation.

Re: Birth defects in children of vets

Alex Gough — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:45:24 GMT

Just came across this abstract which is of relevance to this thread:

Birth defects in offspring of female veterinarians.

J Occup Environ Med. May 2009;51(5):525-33.

Adeleh Shirangi¹, Lin Fritschi, C D'Arcy J Holman, Carol Bower

¹ School of Population Health, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Australia. a.shirangi@imperial.ac.uk

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the risk of birth defects in offspring of female veterinarians exposed to occupational hazards such as radiation, anesthetic gases, and pesticides in veterinary practice. METHODS: The Health Risks of Australian Veterinarians project was conducted as a questionnaire-based survey of all graduates from Australian veterinary schools during the 40-year period 1960-2000. RESULTS: In a multiple logistic regression controlling for the potential confounders, the study showed an increased risk of birth defects in offspring of female veterinarians after occupational exposure to high dose of radiation (taking more than 10 x-ray films per week, odds ratio: 5.73 95% CI: 1.27 to 25.80) and an increase risk of birth defects after occupational exposure to pesticides at least once per week (odds ratio: 2.39 95% CI: 0.99 to 5.77) in veterinarians exclusively working in small animal practice. CONCLUSION: Female veterinarians should be informed of the possible reproductive effects of occupational exposures to radiation and pesticides.

alex

Re: Birth defects in children of vets

beldather — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 18:08:22 GMT

I like the precautionary principle. Halothane wasn't particularly nice, so I'm going to be hard pressed to be convinced that a related drug is 100% safe.
As a result I try my best to reduce iso exposure as low as possibe by not masking down, iso is never on unless tube is connected, active scavenging and good maintenance of equipment as well as good ET seal (but then Iso exposure plays second fiddle to other reasons for that). In fact my radiation exposure is probably higher then my iso.

Paranoia is my friend

Regards

Blair

Re: Birth defects in children of vets

Ian Mostyn — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 17:21:58 GMT

I have just checked all the data sheets for isoflurane and there is little agreement between companies. Virbac make no mention of pregnancy at all, a couple of companies just mention good scavenging and ventilation and a couple say stay out of operating theatres and recovery areas. How on earth are we meant to make a sensible H&S assessment when there is that amount of variation on the same product.

When Gillian and one of our nurses were pregnant, I made them (well, asked Gillian nicely!!) wear an xray badge all the time and I didn't do anything different with the isoflo except we did an environmental audit during that time which came back as incredibly low, trace levels. Good scavenging is probably the key.

Ian

Re: Birth defects in children of vets

Gillian Mostyn — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 22:56:15 GMT

plenty of risks in consults. Apart from the physical strain - lifting, manhandling, bending etc... then the drug and infection risks are endless....steroids, topical treatments, cleaning chemicals, zoonotic risks, toxo, ........and on and on....

Assuming good scavenging, I'd say operating was easier and safer - more help from other staff as well!

Re: Birth defects in children of vets

Jill Steed — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 22:52:06 GMT

It just isn't feasible in a small practice to keep pregnant staff out of theatre.

I'd have hated being restricted to consults, which I suppose are the least risky things,for 8 months, but maybe in large practices that could be an option.

Re: Birth defects in children of vets

Niall Taylor — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 22:45:40 GMT

[quote user="Gillian Mostyn"]where does that leave employers with a pregnant vet or nurse?[/quote]

Or indeed with any female nursing/veterinary staff of child bearing age - accidents happen and all that! According to the letter of the law you would have to assume that any or all such staff could be pregnant at any time without even knowing it. The situation is impossible. Unfortunately that's no real answer to the original question though, I don't believe their actually could be such an answer.

Niall

Re: Birth defects in children of vets

Gillian Mostyn — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 22:38:04 GMT

[quote user="Niall Taylor"]Are the drug company just covering themselves by overdoing the safety warnings or are H&S guidelines reckless?[/quote]

I'd say the drug companies are just covering their arses - in the event of a problem they can simply say 'well, we said not to do that...'. However, where does that leave employers with a pregnant vet or nurse?