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Showing posts from January, 2006

Bird Flu Mutating!

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I just got a disturbing e-mail from Dr. Kapustin from " Nature.com ". It looks like Nature is way out in front as far as published information about the H5N1 virus. This latest publication states that the current virus flash point in Turkey shows two new mutations. The first is a switch in an amino acid change at the 223 position on the hemaglutination (H) protein. This increases it's affinity for binding to human cells and decreases it's affinity for bird cells. The second is another switch ,like the 223-haemoagglutinin mutation, it signals adaptation to humans, says Alan Hay, director of a WHO influenza laboratory at the NIMR. "There is this glutamic acid–lysine flip," he explains. "Glutamic acid is associated with flu-virus replication in birds, and lycine is in primates."These changes put us on the track to the 10 genetic changes associated with the 1918 pandemic. Dr. Tier spoke of a recent meeting where it was speculated that if we reach that

Gorilla's in our midst

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I was doing some work at the jacksonville Zoo this week with Dr. Kapustin and Dr Tier and did an echocardiogram on a Gorilla. Everytime I do one of these I am amazed at the massive size of these primates. Fortuneately for me he was anesthetized for his physical. They do a great job at the Zoo, doing this on almost every animal each year, getting blood work, x-rays and dental care done. According to Dr. Tier, Gorilla's suffer from many of the same ailments that we do with a very high incidence of Hypertension and Aortic annurism. This Gorilla was "Lash" a 30+ male, with REALLY BIG hands and teeth. As I did the Echo a dedicated team worked over lash drawing blood , monitoring vital signs and examining for any potential problems. His Echo was fairly normal and no signif icant problems were seen. Lash was a good sport and allowed himself to pose for a quick photo. Until next year.

Microchip Identification

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I worked this weekend with North Florida Horse Rescue at their microchip clinic. The hope is to have as many horses "chipped" as possible before the start of the Hurricane season starts. Alot has been learned from the disasters of Hurricanes Andrew and katrina and how we can better prepare. After Andrew went through south Florida hundreds of horses were displaced, abandoned or found dead. Several Veterinarians I know that worked in the aftermath told me of coming across drainage ditches with dozens of dead horses in them. At that point all identifying marks, brands and halter tags are gone, and they all looked the same.....bloated, brown and mud covered. Without a way of permanantly identifying them they were simply lost. In the state of Lousiana they are required to use permanant identification and 90% use microchips. Due to this fact, the overwhelming majority of horses lost during hurricane Katrina were identified. In the past there was no universal reader for different mi

Snake Bites

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We normally see several snake bites each year, however not in the winter but I saw one this week. There are plenty of snakes here in North Florida and with the rain and warm weather we have had we saw a snake bite this week. I thought it would be prudent to go over the signs you could see and some complications associated with them. Usually the bite wound is on the nose or face since they are frequently bitten while grazing. You will find localized swelling and a bloody drainage from the bite wounds and sometimes the nostrils. The good news is that not all snake bites envenomate, ( about 25% of Rattlesnake bites don't envenomate ) but even if they don't, there is frequently a severe infection since their mouths contain Pseudomonas, Klebsiella and E.Coli. The toxins in snake venom are very complex and cause either hemolysis and coagulopathies or neurologic damage. There is pain and difficulty drinking and swallowing as the swelling progresses and if unchecked the swelling can r