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A deadly fungus that can infect cats and people is spreading

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Re: A deadly fungus that can infect cats and people is spreading

#101

Post by CalRobert »

drdexebtjl wrote: post #97
AdamN wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I may be crazy but I feel like we shouldn't be giving medicine to animals with communicable diseases (unless the medicine reduces the chances of animal->human transmission). We're just reducing the effectiveness of these medicines over time.

Citation needed. We ought to have learned after the Covid “herd immunity” policies that killed hundreds of thousands around the world, that infectious disease control should be grounded on actual research, and not on simplified world models. Researchers currently recommend treatment.

I think they meant to cull them

Re: A deadly fungus that can infect cats and people is spreading

#102

Post by mschuster91 »

MisterTea wrote: post #15

> “I’m convinced that half of the human cases that come from cats are people who are trying to stuff pills down their cat’s throats to treat the sporotrichosis,” Do yourself a favor, crush the pill and put it in food. Problem solved. Difficult with multiple cats but I had two and one needed medication so I put this little guys on a window sill he loved to perch on which the other cat didn't care to reach.

> Do yourself a favor, crush the pill and put it in food.

This does not work on compounds sensitive to stomach acids. Some medications (both veterinarian and human) have to be specially coated to survive this environment [1], if you crush the pills the medication gets less effective, completely ineffective or, like ibuprofen, irritate the stomach. Or, worst case, the medication is designed for retarded release in the stomach acid - and now that you've crushed it, the entirety of the compound is dissolved in the stomach at once.

Please always ask your veterinarian/physician, the pharmacy staff and always read the medication's application notes because particularly physicians often are unaware and the same ingredient on the prescription might be fulfilled by a crushable or a non-crushable variant which only the pharmacist knows.

[1] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magensaftresistente_Tablette

Re: A deadly fungus that can infect cats and people is spreading

#103

Post by mschuster91 »

pikminguy wrote: post #38
MisterTea wrote: post #15

> “I’m convinced that half of the human cases that come from cats are people who are trying to stuff pills down their cat’s throats to treat the sporotrichosis,” Do yourself a favor, crush the pill and put it in food. Problem solved. Difficult with multiple cats but I had two and one needed medication so I put this little guys on a window sill he loved to perch on which the other cat didn't care to reach.

A. I have cats that don't go anywhere special that the other cats don't go so that doesn't work unless I supervise. B. It's difficult to make sure they get the entire dose, again unless you supervise. And good luck getting a cat to finish food they've decided they are done with. C. I have cats that are picky enough to ignore any food that has a crushed pill in it. They can always tell. Yes even if I use smelly food.…

> Slowly dissolving in the stomach could be an important aspect of the delivery.

Depends on the coating - some coatings only dissolve once they are out of the strongly acidic stomach. Slow dissolution is used in retarded medication, which may or may not be coincident with targeting post-stomach delivery.

Re: A deadly fungus that can infect cats and people is spreading

#104

Post by aardvark92 »

drdexebtjl wrote: post #85
happyopossum wrote: post #80

So a disease that has killed 11,000 people in a country with a population of >200 million over 30 years is a ‘ginormous outbreak’? This kind of hyper-scary overreaction from the CDC official being quoted and other government agents is a big cause of the current loss of trust in those institutions. A few years ago monkeypox was gonna kill all of us and our dogs, I get “extreme heat” and “severe weather” warnings for d…

Infected 11,000, not killed. From what I can tell, deaths are in the dozens (over 30 years). I’m worried about the cats, though.

If it had killed 11,000 people we’d be hearing much more about it. It made news that Ebola hit a record high of 1,000 cases this week.

Re: A deadly fungus that can infect cats and people is spreading

#105

Post by drdexebtjl »

CalRobert wrote: post #101
drdexebtjl wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Citation needed. We ought to have learned after the Covid “herd immunity” policies that killed hundreds of thousands around the world, that infectious disease control should be grounded on actual research, and not on simplified world models. Researchers currently recommend treatment.

I think they meant to cull them

I understand, didn’t mean to imply they were suggesting herd immunity. But then you’ll have people not taking their cats to the vet because they don’t want them to be culled, increasing exposure and limiting our access to reliable data.

My point is, take this uninformed opinion that goes against the researchers’ recommendation for what it is: wrong.

Re: A deadly fungus that can infect cats and people is spreading

#106

Post by bee_rider »

AdamN wrote: post #82
MisterTea wrote: post #15

> “I’m convinced that half of the human cases that come from cats are people who are trying to stuff pills down their cat’s throats to treat the sporotrichosis,” Do yourself a favor, crush the pill and put it in food. Problem solved. Difficult with multiple cats but I had two and one needed medication so I put this little guys on a window sill he loved to perch on which the other cat didn't care to reach.

I may be crazy but I feel like we shouldn't be giving medicine to animals with communicable diseases (unless the medicine reduces the chances of animal->human transmission). We're just reducing the effectiveness of these medicines over time.

To some extent, maybe.

Although, it needs to be balanced against other options. I’m sure this list isn’t exhaustive but we have:

* Medicine

* Uncontrolled spread

* Somehow modify the animals’ behavior to spread illnesses less

* Wipe out infected animals

2 and 4 seem less than desirable. 3… I mean “herding cats” is an expression for a reason, right? They are not very obedient in general.

Is there a good option I missed?

Re: A deadly fungus that can infect cats and people is spreading

#107

Post by bee_rider »

curiousthought wrote: post #90
userulluipeste wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We are lucky that mass epidemics that plagued humans so far didn't affect the brain. Affections like rabies, that require individuals biting each other, and which are the inspirational source of all those zombie fantasies, do not count. That is an attack vector easy to spot and manage. The scary scenario is the one like with this Sporothrix Brasiliensis fungus, which can spread by merely "sneezing out the infectious…

Toxoplasma gondii affects animal behavior, I don't think it's a stretch to think it (or something similar) could affect humans in some way we haven't measured yet.

I think this is widely speculated already, right? It is just hard to measure human behavior. I mean one of the proposed effects on Wikipedia is a reduced aversion to cat urine. But obviously there is a correlation/causation question there, haha,

Re: A deadly fungus that can infect cats and people is spreading

#108

Post by MichaelZuo »

kalenx wrote: post #96
busssard wrote: post #42

We will see more and more fungi infecting mammals in the coming years. Mammals and birds evolved higher body temperatures in part to protect from fungal infections. As most fungi are dying above 37°C. But a high temperature summer is a selection pressure on any mushroom trying to survive, and hence might evolve to survive 40° summers and thus also survive in our bodies. I really hope cordyceps is one of the last to d…

Not sure about that. Outside temperature above 37 were common in many highly populated areas, even before "high temperature summer" (e.g., India, Indonesia, most of Brazil, etc.). If there was an actual selection pressure, we would have seen its results by now.

Would a daily peak above 37C counts for the parents point? It has to be longer term temperature I imagine.

Re: A deadly fungus that can infect cats and people is spreading

#109

Post by sillystuff »

jsiepkes wrote: post #43
MisterTea wrote: post #15

> “I’m convinced that half of the human cases that come from cats are people who are trying to stuff pills down their cat’s throats to treat the sporotrichosis,” Do yourself a favor, crush the pill and put it in food. Problem solved. Difficult with multiple cats but I had two and one needed medication so I put this little guys on a window sill he loved to perch on which the other cat didn't care to reach.

Its not always that easy. For example cerenia tastes very bitter for a cat. My cat will start drooling almost uncontrollably if he tastes it. He has a kidney condition and needs it for the rest of his life. I've tried crushing it, but he will then just ignore the food because of the bitter taste of the pill. Putting it in something like easy-pill will work a couple of times. Until he realizes the disgusting taste he…

Some drugs are available online / locally through compounding pharmacies as transdermal creams that you apply to the inner surface of the cat's ear.

From a quick search, it looks like cerenia is available in this form.

Your last sentence, "[pilling cat] (without drama) is by putting it deep into his mouth" must mean you have a very chill cat [emphasis mine].

Re: A deadly fungus that can infect cats and people is spreading

#110

Post by pizzafeelsright »

shahsjsjjsz wrote: post #6
everdrive wrote: post #2

Everything is spreading. We're a large interconnected world, and we'll inherit everyone's problems eventually. There are better alternatives, but it's not something people will seriously consider.

Not having cats is an option that is not seriously considered. Dogs are even worse. Make them shit in your own backyard please. If you are a city dweller please do not keep “pets”, it’s bloody ridiculous, thank you.

Keeping an animal that defecates indoors and allowing it contact with food prep area is obscene.
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