We’re in the middle of summer, and many of you probably enjoy taking advantage of the great outdoors at this time of year. And you’re not alone – ticks love this time of year too. They tend to emerge in the warmer weather, so between spring and fall is the peak time for occurrence of…
A third of us are infected with Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite that can be transmitted to us by animals. Cats represent a major source of this organism, and are therefore a common route of infection for us since they continually shed the parasite. Consequently we can become infected with Toxoplasma gondii if we come into…
“Chocolate poisoning” represented one of the “Top 10” pet poisonings reported by the Animal Poison Control Center of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). This occurs as a result of an adverse reaction to the alkaloid theobromine in chocolate. The toxicity affects dogs more than cats, probably because they are…
The hip is one of the most common fracture sites in people, with hip fractures most frequently occurring in elderly patients, representing an extremely serious outcome of osteoporosis. In younger patients, hip fractures typically occur as a result of high impact injuries, such as those associated with a traffic accident. Patients with osteoporosis, however, have…
Since I’m a veterinary pathologist by training, I thought you might like me to share some aspects of this side of my work with you. Some of my daily routine involves microscopic evaluation of sections of tissue from animals, often for diagnostic purposes. So I’ll try and share some interesting cases with you from time…
By now you’ve likely heard something about the outbreak of food-borne illness due to E. coli that is currently causing problems in Germany. This outbreak, reportedly the world’s largest due to E. coli, has so far killed 15 people and left more than 1000 others ill. Although the exact source of the virulent strain of this…
Yesterday I listened to a very interesting webinar by Richard Friedberg, MD PhD, Professor and Deputy Chairman of the Department of Pathology, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA. Dr Friedberg is also Chairman of the Pathology for Baystate Health (Springfield, MA), where he oversees a 22-pathologist academic/private practice operation responsible for 50,000 surgical specimens,…
