Weekly Update: Rabies at Lake Como; Clothes against ticks; FAO talks AMR
Heidi Vesterinen

Local

Rabies in the Twins

A bat found from a popular city park next to lake Como in St Paul, Minnesota has tested positive for rabies. The woman who handled the animal is currently getting rabies prevention shots.

Rabies is present in Minnesota in wild animals. It is most often found from bats and skunks, but foxes and raccoons are also occasionally found to be infected with the virus. In 2017, a total of 34 cases (PDF) of animal rabies where found from the state, including one horse, one cow, and one cat.

All cats, dogs, and ferrets owned in Minneapolis must be vaccinated against rabies. This protects not only the pets, but also their owners from the invariably deadly infectious disease.

StarTribune

National

Clothes against ticks

A new study by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows promising results on the effect of permethrin-treated clothing to prevent bites by medically important ticks. This type of clothing is available already at stores for consumers.

The study was done for three important ticks: the blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis; the lone star tick, Amblyomma americanum and the American dog tick, Dermacentor variabilis. The permethrin treatment causes the ticks irritation, making them more likely to fall off the clothing before reaching naked skin than on non-treated regular clothing. In addition, one minute exposure resulted in all ticks being unable to move normally, thus posing no more than minimal risk of biting.

Earlier this year CDC reported that tick-borne diseases have more than doubled since 2004. Tick-borne diseases are also spreading geographically, affecting new states and regions each year. So there is plenty of reason to figure out how to best protect ourselves from these nasty critters.

Journal of Medical Entomology | CDC

Global

Say no to growth promotion

FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva urges wiser antibiotic use in food animals. Antimicrobials are still being used as growth promoters in many places, especially in livestock and acquaculture. the FAO Director-General said such practices "should be phased out immediately.”

FAO has an Antimicrobial Resistance Action Plan through which it seeks to improve awareness on AMR and related threats, develop capacity for surveillance and monitoring, strengthen governance and promote good practices and the prudent use of antimicrobials. As part of efforts to implement the action plan, FAO supports countries and rural communities and works closely together with WHO and OIE.

Examples of this work can be found around the world. The organizations have supported Ghana, which has just launched an antimicrobial resistance policy and a national action plan. They are also assisting the Government of Cambodia to incorporate and implement the responsible use of antimicrobials in their law system. In Vietnam, FAO is helping to collect samples in aquaculture systems to boost surveillance.

FAO

Questions, comments, feedback about today's Weekly Update? Please email Dr. Heidi Vesterinen.
Receive the Weekly Update right in your inbox on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Subscribe now at z.umn.edu/WeeklyUpdateSubscribe

Heidi Vesterinen

Heidi Vesterinen

Heidi is a Finnish Public Health veterinarian who has previously worked with creatures great and small in Finland, the United Kingdom, India and Nepal. She graduated from the University of Helsinki in 2013 and is also a Veterinary Leadership Program Alumni from Cornell University. Heidi has a background in meat inspection, NGO work and lobbying and she enjoys analysing complex system and problem solving. Outside of work she loves yoga, photography and her cats.