Published by Ontario Veterinary College (519) 824-4120, Ext. 54401

May 11, 2006

OVC research in media spotlight

OVC was in the headlines recently for research focused on the health risks associated with companion animals and zoonotic diseases.
The Canadian Press reported on Tuesday on a warning from Drs. Scott Weese and Stephen Kruth, Clinical Studies, that family pets should not be forgotten in drawing up plans for a possible flu pandemic or other emerging infectious diseases. The article was published in Tuesday’s Globe and Mail.
Crises such as the SARS outbreak have shown that pets can become infected and even transmit illness to humans, Weese and Kruth argue in an upcoming commentary to be published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.
In related news, Weese and PhD student Sandra Lefebvre were in the spotlight for their research on the health risks associated with companion animals visiting hospitals and nursing homes. The researchers were featured on CTV's national news over the weekend. In a recent study, they found that 80 per cent of therapy dogs are carrying zoonotic diseases that can potentially pass from animals to people.
The story also made newspaper headlines across the country last week.
Meanwhile, USA Today quoted Weese in a report last week on a dangerous new strain of MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. The bacterium that was once associated almost exclusively with infections acquired in hospitals and nursing homes, is spreading outside health care settings in communities across North America.
The article says the new strain of MRSA is causing infections from abscesses to deadly blood poisoning, bone infections and pneumonia, often in the young and the fit, including professional football players, high school athletes and previously healthy children.
Read the article in the Globe and Mail
Read the CTV news article and watch the video clip
Read the USA Today article