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38. What's Causing the Increase of Leptospirosis in Dogs? A Discussion with Experts from the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

• The Animal Medical Center

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Dr. Ann Hohenhaus interviews three distinguished experts from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Dr. Sally Slavinski, Kevin Lovingood, and Caroline Bragdon to talk about the increase of the bacterial disease leptospirosis in dogs. Tune in as they discuss:

  • The increase of leptospirosis cases in NYC dogs
  • What causes leptospirosis and what species can contract it?
  • How cases of leptospirosis are diagnosed, counted, and tracked
  • The health problems leptospirosis causes in dogs and how this disease is treated
  • The role rat management, vaccines, and other strategies play in reducing cases of leptospirosis
  • How access to veterinary care can limit the ability to track leptospirosis
  • The impact of climate change on the dynamics of this and other diseases
  • Can humans contract leptospirosis from dogs? 

Also on this month's show: 

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We want to remind our listeners that this program is for informational and educational purposes only and intended to substitute for professional veterinary medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. The Animal Medical Center does not recommend or endorse any products or services advertised by Sirius XM. Welcome to Ask the Vet with Dr. Ann Hohenhaus. This is the place to talk about your pets and get advice for the top veterinarian from the Animal Medical Center in NYC. Hear from the leading authorities on animals and ask your questions. Now here's your host, Dr. Ann Hohenhaus. Hello everyone, and welcome to Ask the Vet is a podcast for people who love their pets and want the latest in pet health and Animal News. I'm your host this week. I'm Dr. Ann Hohenhaus I'm your Host every week here on Ask the Vet. I'm a senior veterinarian and director of Pet Health Information at the Schwarzman Animal Medical Center in New York City, where I'm recording from today on New York City's Upper East Side. With the warmer days ahead, many of us will be spending more time outdoors with our canine companions and outdoor cause means an increased risk of leptospirosis. Leptospirosis is a serious bacterial infection that can lead to life threatening kidney and liver failure. It's also a zoo, not a disease. And that means that people can be infected with the Leptospira bacteria as well. So for today's show, it's going to be a record because I'm going to be joined by three guests, all experts from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. And they're going to update us on their work related to leptospirosis in New York City and will help us to understand how we can protect our pets and ourselves against this bacterial disease. The Schwarzman Animal Medical Center is the only level one trauma center in New York City, and we've been the very best place for pets for over 110 years. If you want advice on maintaining your pet's health, then I'm here to help you. Just send me your questions at our Ask the Vet email, which is ask the vet at amcny.org and I'll answer your questions on next month's as a vet program. Now, if you don't have a pen or pencil, I'll give it again later in the show. But if you have one now, remember it's Ask the vet at amcny.org. And now it's time for our Trending Animal of the Month. It's time for the Internet's most talked about animal. This month's trending animal is Flaco, the beloved Eurasian eagle owl, who made headlines last year when he escaped from the Central Park Zoo in February after surviving for more than a year on his own here in the Big Apple. Flaco has sadly passed away after colliding with a building on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Flaco attracted worldwide attention and became a symbol of freedom and resilience after living the first 12 years of his life in captivity. And while there were concerns about his ability to survive on his own in New York, he was found to be in otherwise good health, according to the autopsy report. After his death last week, he weighed nearly as much as he did when his weight was last taken at the zoo, which helps to confirm what we all knew. And that was Flaco was a great hunter. This sad news prompted New Yorkers to gather at one of his favorite trees to express their condolences, pay their respects and establish a memorial for our beloved eagle owl. And while he may no longer be with us, his spirit lives on in those he inspired around the globe for wonderful, wonderful photos from everybody who loved This hour on Twitter or currently known as X. Try the hashtag Flaco, F-L-A-C-O or BirdCP, and that will get you to lots of wonderful pictures of this fabulous bird. And now for our guest at the end of last year, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene released its annual report to veterinarians on an important infectious disease, leptospirosis. The report sheds light on the prevalence of leptospirosis in New York City and its impact on our canine companions. So after several years of declining infection numbers, this recently released report found that the cases in dogs ticked up in 2022. In total, there were 20 confirmed canine left off cases in the five boroughs in 2022. And in 2021, only 18 as a New York City veterinarian. This report concerned me and pet owners should be concerned, too. So to dive into this future, it's my pleasure to welcome today's guest. Three distinguished experts from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Dr. Sally Slavinski. Kevin Lovingood, and Caroline Bragdon. Dr. Slavinski is a public health veterinarian with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. She received her DVM from Michigan State University and practiced small animal medicine for several years before pursuing a master's in public health. She worked for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as an epidemiologic intelligence officer, after which she came to New York City, where she serves as the director of the zoonotic and Vector borne Disease Unit. She's a diplomat of the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine, a member of the National Association of Public Health Veterinarians, and also serves as co-chair of the National Companion of Animal Rabies Prevention. She's a member of the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, where she participates in the vector borne and zoonotic disease subcommittee. Also joining us today is Kevin Loving Good. He's a zoonotic disease epidemiologist, again, with the zoonotic and vector borne disease unit at our Department of Health here in New York City. And he conducts surveillance on leptospirosis and avian influenza by investigating dead animal clusters reported through the NYC 311 phone system. He's also a one health coordinator and works with colleagues in animal, human and environmental health sectors. He has a bachelor's degree in microbiology from San Diego State and a master's degree in public health from NYU. And our third and final guest today is Carolyn Bragdon. She's the director of Neighborhood Interventions for the Pest Control Services of New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. She works to develop and improve neighborhood level responses to rat Infestation. Currently, she's overseeing a large rat reduction program, which includes three boroughs and five agencies. Her bachelor's degree is in community health and social psychology from Tufts, and she too has a master's degree in public health. But hers is from the Johns Hopkins University. Having Sally and Caroline, thanks so much for joining me on the vet today. Thank you so much for having us. What a treat. So this is the first time I've had three guests. I've had two. And the difference is that when I had two guests, they were the two guests who were in two different places. And we did all of this by phone. I'm not sure Zoom was even invented then. Much easier now to do it in Zoom where I can actually see you guys and, you know, see if you're trying to get my attention that you want to ask a question. So I'm going to start my first question today with Sally and ask her if she can explain what canine leptospirosis is and how you guys at the health department track this disease in New York City. Sure. Yeah. Thanks again so much and for having us today. We're so excited to be able to share what we've been doing and impart some of the findings we've had with you in your listeners. And so as you so nicely explained. Leptospirosis is a disease caused by a bacteria, bacteria called Leptospira. And as you mentioned, and it's zoonotic, which we say means it can be transmitted between humans and animals. And this is a disease that occurs globally all around the world, and it tends to be most common in those areas that are warm where you have tropical climates, but can also be found here in New York City. And every year, we do see multiple cases of leptospirosis in dogs as well as in people. So as you mentioned, in New York City, at our health department, we have the dedicated unit called the Zoonotic and vector borne disease unit to some outfall to have to say over and over again. So we call ourselves overdue for short. And this is where Kevin and I work. And here ends of do we use one health approach, meaning an interdisciplinary approach, where we look at human, animal and environmental health to help monitor leptospirosis in both people and dogs? And, you know, when you look nationally, there's no national system for tracking or counting canine leptospirosis. So we've borrowed from the human health world and came up with a surveillance system that we use to systematically count cases in New York City. So first we had to update our health code. And in our health code, we've mandated that veterinarians and laboratory laboratories are to report positive test results on animals to us here at the health Department, just like we do in the human health world, where we require human health care providers and diagnostic labs to report positives in people. And then every time we receive a new report, we can begin an investigation. And what we're trying to do is learn more about the clinical course in the dog rides, like what were their signs and symptoms, when did the illness start? And also see if we can figure out how and where they may have been infected. And so to kind of do this in a systematic way, we created what we call a case definition that's getting a little bit technical. But essentially this case definition is for surveillance purposes only, right? Like we're using it as the health at the health department, but it's not something that's used in the clinical world to guide clinical management. And really what we're doing is looking at certain criteria that we gather through the investigation to see if the dog meets all the criteria that we need to count it as a case. And that allows us to do this in a systematic manner. So then what are the signs of leptospirosis? And how do you make sure that that dog you're interested in actually meets that case definition? Yeah. So you know, most infections that we it to have most infections are asymptomatic, right? So for a dog that becomes infected, the owner may never even know because that dog never gets sick. But for those dogs that do get sick, there can be a fairly broad spectrum of illness. Right. But illness probably is going to include some degree of lethargy. Dogs just not feeling right. They might have a decreased, decreased appetite or a complete loss of appetite. There might be diarrhea, some vomiting. A lot of times there's excessive thirst and urination. So the dog's looking to drink a lot more water, looking to go outside to pee, a lot more than usual, and sometimes jaundice or a yellowing of the skin and eyes. And with dogs, you know, your furry dog's probably not so easy to see on the skin. And so it's something you're going to see that's more noticeable in the whites of the eyes. And in our really severe cases. It can lead to kidney disease, kidney damage, liver damage, vascular disease, and in some instances, that can lead to death. And then in terms of dogs that meet the case definition, as I said, it's we're kind of looking at a combination of things. We're looking at the test results along with the dog's clinical presentation, looking at their vaccine history and whatnot, and again, looking to see if these criteria that we that we've established are met. So after we gather all this information over the course of our investigation, where we're calling the owners, talking to the owners, talking to the veterinarian who saw the dog, we want to look at what kind of test was done. What are the results again? When did the dog become sick with the dog recently vaccinated? You know, we know not all tests are 100% accurate and sometimes you might get a false positive result. You know, it seems that most often the test that's done is the test that's used to detect antibodies against leptospira. But sometimes antibody tests might be positive because the test detected antibodies from leftover vaccine or maybe antibodies from an old infection with leptospirosis, Sometimes there's just cross-reactive antibodies in general. There's also molecular tests such as PCR. Those are used to look for leptospira DNA in a dog's blood or a dog's urine. And those molecular tests tend to be fairly reliable in that a positive result usually means the dog is infected. But if it is negative, it doesn't always mean the dog's not infected. And sometimes if there's a high clinical suspicion, there may be additional testing that gets done. So, you know, considering all these factors, it's really important to look at all these pieces to determine if we're going to decide if a dog meets the case definition and we ultimately count them in our case count. So, Ivan, I want to bring you into the conversation. And you're the person who's tracking these cases and figuring out if they meet the definition. Can you talk about what your surveillance has shown in canine leptospirosis? Absolutely. And thank you for having us here. Our data has greatly helped us in understanding leptospirosis in New York City. But for us, it's important for us to note the limitations of this system before we go into the data. Most notable is that we're not able to capture every dog that got sick with leptospirosis. Not all sick dogs are seen by a vet or maybe not receive a full diagnostic workup, which may be due to an owner's financial restrictions or inability to access care. So our data is likely biased towards dog owners who have the means of access and affordability to veterinary services and therefore are more likely to have diagnosed klepto diagnosed and reported. But let's review what we've been able to capture. Overall, we've seen 298 dogs with leptospirosis across the city in all five boroughs between 2007 and 2022, we see an average of 18 cases per year with a wide range of as few as 13 and 28. And our peak of 32 cases in 2018. Our full year or last full year of analyzes data are from 2022, when we had about 20 cases, as you mentioned earlier. Brooklyn tends to have the most followed by Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island and the Bronx. We don't really see clusters or outbreaks of leptospirosis. Rather, it's individual cases and maybe rarely two dogs that share the same home. Cases occur year round, but they tend to peak around late summer and early fall. We found that dogs of any age breed or sex can be affected by leptospirosis. The median age is about four years and they range of two months to about 16 years old. Most cases were about male at about 64%, and most were spayed and neutered. Most cases we found were small breeds, but that might be reflective of dog ownership in New York City, and that was followed by the medium and large breeds. We also found that most dogs have kidney and liver disease, and the most common signs reported included vomiting, loss of appetite and lethargy. It's in our interviews with the dog owners and certain test results. Most dogs are infected with a strain of leptospira that is commonly associated with rats. So in New York City, rats are the primary source of infection for both dogs and humans. Also, when we speak with dog owners, we may identify residences with rat infestations. We're fortunate to work closely with our colleagues in the Health Department's pest control program. They can work with property owners to implement rat control methods when indicated and then also during these interviews with dog owners will educate them as well as animal health workers, about their risks and ways to prevent this process. I'll go ahead and turn it over to Caroline to speak a bit about what the city is doing to mitigate rats. Thanks, Kevin, and I'm happy to be included in this conversation. Thanks for having me. So I'm going to talk a little bit about New York's pest control services program. And we have a pretty robust rat management program here in the study. We've been looking at patterns of rat activity in the city for for many, many years and working closely with other city agencies. The health department is overall the lead agency in responding to rats in New York City. And our approach to our control is both multi-pronged and data driven. Our primary role is to perform inspections for rat activity, and then when we identify rat activity to work with who whomever owns the property to remediate those rat related conditions. We have a program called Rat Indexing where our inspectors walk block by block across the city to check every property for signs of rats and conditions that might attract rats. We also inspect properties in response to 311 complaints when rat signs or conditions that may attract rats are observed. The property owner on file will receive a commissioner's order to abate, and this requires them by the health code to remediate those conditions. Then the Health Department comes back and checks the property to see if the owner has responded. If they fail to comply, owners are issued violations subject to fines. Here at the Health Department. We also have licensed pest management professionals, otherwise known as exterminators, who may also then follow up and conduct some extermination work on those properties. The health department works with property owners to offer free training on how to remediate rats. We want owners to know what to do. We offer free classes across the city in multiple languages on how to do proper rat management. We also publish written guidance materials in multiple languages on our rent information portal. And in addition to that, we make inspection results available online so anyone can go at any time to our website and look up their most recent inspection. Our inspection data enables the department to analyze which neighborhoods in New York City carry the heaviest rat burden. Using the data and knowing that successfully combating rats requires collaboration. The department works closely with multiple city agencies to address the conditions that are attracting rats. If you are interested in learning more about this work and we hope people will be interested, you can read about our rat mitigation zones on the Health Department website and you can also look up your neighborhoods inspection data on the rat portal. Just go to NYC dot gov slash rats. I'll turn it back to you. This is also fascinating because access to care is such an important point of discussion in veterinary medicine today. And never would I have thought that access to care would. I don't know why because I should have, but it would limit our ability to really hone down on what dogs have left out and where lepto is because if the people don't have access to vet care or can't afford access to better care because we have lots of veterinarians in New York City. But but there there are limitations. So really an interesting one, health implication of access to care within the profession. So, Kevin, let's go back to your lepto surveillance for 2022, and the case is kind of uptick in 2022. Do you want to talk about what you think might be behind that? Yeah, absolutely. And that's a great question. Quick background for the listeners. We publish a surveillance summary report that's shared with veterinarians across New York City. We find that this report is valuable to the animal health community as it offers a very city wide perspective for them who may only know about the dogs that they treat. It's a nice way for us in the unit to give back to the veterinarians who help us a lot with our surveillance activities. So the uptick from 18 to 20 cases we find fairly small as we've had in years with much higher case counts such as the 32 in 2018. But the increase does come after a few years of declining cases stemming from the pandemic in general. The recent fluctuations could have been influenced by numerous factors, perhaps such as changes in the number of dog ownership, or perhaps changes in frequency of outdoor activities that stemmed also from the pandemic. Right. It's really difficult to pinpoint an exact reason. However, shifting to a different lens, when we're looking at our human cases, we've seen a clear trend where the number of cases has increased over time. The numbers are still relatively small. Historically, we saw about 0 to 7 cases per year, but in more recent years we saw about 13 cases in 2022 and 17 in 2021. I'll turn it over to Caroline again, who can explain a little bit more about the activity that's going on in the city. Thanks, Kevin. So since the city reopened after the pandemic, we are also seeing an uptick in rat activity in many neighborhoods across the city. What we know is that rats thrive when they have ready access to food and water, a place to live and effective transportation routes. And rats are very attracted to areas with uncontained garbage, especially food waste, grease spills and food litter because rats prefer to live close to their daily food source. They tend to nest and breed in close proximity to areas that have a lot of uncontained waste or spills. Now rats leave behind urine and droppings everywhere they go. So, you know, in areas with high productivity, you can pretty much assume that there is rat urine and droppings throughout that area. So what we usually advise is for dog owners to avoid letting dogs sniff around garbage areas and also anywhere else you might be seeing rat activity. And this will help keep dogs safe and limit their exposure to rats. Yeah, I had a new puppy visit and they I said to the lady, Now should we vaccinate your dog for leptospirosis? And she knew about the disease and said, there are. I see rat every day when I'm out walking my dog. And I was like, okay, well then it's a leftover vaccine for this puppy. So, Sally, how can pet owners tell if their dog is at risk for lepto? And what are the ways that dogs can get infected? Clearly, Caroline has given us a hint, and that is sniffing around trash where rats might have been. Yeah, we're going to be repeating a lot of things throughout the course of this. You know, as I mentioned before, in New York City, we find rats are the most common source of leptospirosis for dogs and fur for people. And, you know, as Caroline mentioned, when in fact, an infected rats urinate. Those bacteria are set in the urine. Right. And so these bacteria, you know, they tend to usually die fairly easily when they're exposed to dry air or UV light from the sun. Freezing conditions. You know, our household disinfectants can easily and quickly kill the bacteria. But with the right conditions, these bacteria can persist in the environment for four weeks. They really like warm, moist environments. So think of puddles. Think of waterlogged lawns and soil and dogs, and people are infected. When these bacteria can enter the body through open cuts or fresh wounds or even through mucous membranes. So think about the eyes, the nose, the mouth, and the risk of infection is going to be greater. Like Caroline said, in those places where there are a lot of rats and where you have conditions that allow the bacteria to persist. So where do you find lots of rats? Just like Caroline said, where they're going to find food. What are conditions that allow the bacteria to persist in the environment? Just like we said, those warm, hot, humid, wet climate conditions. So, Caroline, you want to talk a little bit more about rats and their persistence in New York City. Sure. We we do lots and lots of inspections here at the health department, as I said before. And I think the key is understanding that we see rats living in areas with uncontained garbage. And the more garbage you have in a neighborhood, the more rats are going to find. So rats tend to congregate in the very most densely populated neighborhoods of the city. And to reduce rat populations, we really must work together across agencies on eliminating rats, access to garbage and nesting areas. And this includes containerized waste, repairing broken down infrastructure like cracks in holes and sidewalk and building foundations, and also ensuring that waste is removed promptly from neighborhoods. It's also really essential that property owners, you know, take responsibility for managing their own properties and hire licensed pest professionals When rats are found, and then to work closely with that professional on both treating the area safely and also removing the conditions that are attracting rats. So then, Kevin spinning off of work, Caroline said. What advice do you have for art? Well, my notes say for New York City dog owners, but really this would be for any dog owner to avoid left Joe. Now, this is just not a New York City problem. That's correct. As Caroline just mentioned, rats are attracted to food and there's often plenty of food found near trash cans, trash bags, and our numerous food vendors that we have in this city. Right. So in addition, keep them away from areas that allow the bacteria to persist where those rats urinate. The dog's owners should be aware of their habits and use that leash to curb their dog during walks. That can help reduce the risk of exposure and prevent that transmission. But it's also important for dog owners to know what is not a risk. A simple walk on a dry sidewalk, perhaps playing at a dog run and being at a doggie daycare, for instance. They do not pose a major risk of transmission here in the city. That's really, really important things because so many dogs in New York City love their dog parks and their daycare. So, Sally, do you think that the changing climate and the interface between the urban wildlife and people has anything to do with our risk of lepto? I am so glad you asked that question like we are all still learning about the impacts of climate change and as we continue to experience the effects of climate change in New York City, we're also interested in learning about the disease dynamics of leptospirosis and other infectious diseases that we see here in New York City. But we do expect, as in New York City, experiences increased precipitation and higher temperatures and humidity that we see with climate change that that's going to allow these leptospira bacteria to survive in the environment for longer periods of time. And then the other concern is that, you know, rats are likely to adapt well to a warming climate and possibly even thrive when using our urban infrastructure. So they'll likely continue to contribute to the spread of left out in our shared environments. And I know Caroline has some thoughts, too, about climate change with us and rats, so I'm going to turn it over to her. Thanks, Sally. So life is much tougher for rats in cold weather months, and the rat population gets very stressed out during extreme cold, which limits rat breeding behavior. So as winters get warmer and shorter in New York, it's contributing to year round breeding by rats. So we're seeing that more litters of pups are born every year and basically we no longer have a cold winter assisting us with population control. So it's it's probably leading to an increase in the rat population overall in the city. Yeah, I would argue we don't really even have winter anymore in New York City. The this conversation has brought up a lot of points of things that are being discussed in the profession wide. One is access to care. And the other one is about leftover vaccines. Currently, the leftover vaccine does not appear on the the recommended for old dogs list. But I've seen some things where people are discussing whether or not that vaccine should be recommended for all dogs. Sally, do you want to talk about the fact that many dogs in your report, Kevin's report, weren't vaccinated against lepto? And do you know how effective this vaccine is? Sure. So, you know, I'll tell you what we know based on what we've read and a little bit about our data. So we do know it looks like vaccines do prevent leptospirosis. You know, when we look at our own data for 2022 for dogs died from lepto and looking at those for dogs, three of those dogs had never been vaccinated. The fourth dog, we don't know, we weren't able to obtain any information to know whether or not it had been vaccinated. And then looking at all of our data since our first full year of surveillance. So that's going back to 2007. As Kevin mentioned, we've had a total of 298 cases of canine lepto. And when we look at vaccine history for them, almost all of them, that's 93% had never been vaccinated against leptospirosis. So from our data and of course, we don't have denominator data, right? So we can't tell you how many dogs are getting vaccinated, but the vast majority of the dogs that are are being reported out have never been vaccinated. And then when you look at the effectiveness this of the vaccines, you know, we tend to defer to experts like yourself in the clinical world. And then also the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine or ACVIM. And from all that they've published, you know, we we know that current vaccines will protect against the leptospira strain that we see here in New York City associated with rats or ICTR or Hemorrhagic. And then, you know, a recent study of of experimental trials of some of the commercially available vaccines found greater than 80% protection against clinical disease. And that's that's great. These vaccines, once administer, are thought to protect for at least 12 months. And then, you know, when you start this vaccine series, my understanding for many of these it's to initial injection site, you're going to space about four weeks apart. You can start it in puppies as young as 12 weeks of later or later and then repeat it annually. And then, you know, in terms of adverse events from leptospirosis, vaccines, they they seem to be similar to other vaccines that we give our dogs. And so while patient factors such as breed or size might influence some of the vaccine adverse effects, the rate's really not higher than what we see with distemper, parvovirus or rabies vaccines. So yeah, I, I would concur with Sally on the the rates of adverse effects. I have some dogs that are predictably don't feel good the day after they get a vaccine and then they're back to themselves the next day, which is kind of like when you get a flu vaccine or a COVID vaccine. So I, I don't see I think there's a higher rate with left Joe, either. And so I don't think that's a good reason not to vaccinate a dog. So, Kevin, part of your job is not only surveilling dogs with Lab Joe, but also people. So could a dog give lab to Could a dog develop due to their human? And should pet owners be worried about getting letter from their dog? It's absolutely possible for a transmission to occur, However, through our surveillance in New York City, there are no known reports of owners or veterinary staff diagnosed with leptospirosis after living with or for a dog that had leptospirosis. Even in literature, there are very few reports of dog to human transmissions. However, leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease and both owners and animal handlers should take precautions. And that can include avoiding contact with their dogs urine by wearing gloves if they have an accident in the house using household disinfectants and thoroughly washing their hands after cleaning up just normal. Good hygiene is going to protect people against leptospirosis. So mopping, washing, all that kind of stuff. So, Sally, if a pet owner thinks that their dog has leptospirosis, what should they do? Yeah. So if a dog owner thinks their pet has left this process, it's definitely important to reach out to their veterinarian as soon as possible. You know, this is a bacterial disease, as you mentioned, And and there are antibiotics that can be used to to treat affected dogs. You know, those dogs are left untreated or maybe treatment has started very late in the course of illness. Leptospirosis can progress to severe disease and possibly even death. So it's really important that antibiotics get started when leptospirosis is suspected that this might even occur. You know, a veterinarian might even start antibiotics before the test results are back if they're highly suspicious, pending the clinical presentation of that dog. So really best to call your vet as soon as you think that's a possibility. And at AMC, we have quick in clinic tests. They're not perfect. As Sally already said, every test is not 100% perfect. But the quick in-clinic test is something that we do all the time. If if we have leptospirosis on our list of diagnostic possibilities. So I want to go to the Williamsburg outbreak, meaning that there were multiple media outlets in January 2022, so couple years ago now saying that Williamsburg had a leptospirosis outbreak, but yet your data says something different. What do you have to say about that? Kevin When news broke out about a report of a cluster of up to, we were surprised because we don't ever see clusters of cases. After the initial media report, we started our investigation by calling the veterinary clinics around the Williamsburg area. We found only one case, as you said, unfortunately, a dog that had died because of the infection. We did not identify any other cases or any information that supported the initial claims, but a joint inspection of a dog run in Williamsburg was done by the Health Department and Parks department. And while they found only minor Redick tivity several mitigation measures were implemented in and around that dog run. We want New Yorkers to have information about what is happening in their communities, but sometimes word of mouth can move faster than the findings from our investigations. That and fake news. So this one was an example of where something kind of got of control before you guys had a chance to do your good, thorough investigation. I think this also brings up another point. So Lepton is a disease that New York City mandates that I as a veterinarian, if I have a letter, have to report to the health department, but we don't have disease surveillance for most animal diseases. And that posed a problem when there was this supposed respiratory outbreak, kind of like last fall, like all kind of early winter. And one of the things that hampered that whole media frenzy about maybe not that much was that you guys don't have the data that you need. And so I think that's important for listeners to understand is that our friends here on this show have a good process in place on laptop, but that's one of the few animal diseases that we keep tabs on. And so that's that's a challenge. So, Kevin, in addition to the rats, are there other animals that could transmit left? Joe And what does that mean people should do to try and avoid in New York City? Obviously it's the rat. Yeah. So as described earlier, the bacteria Leptospira has adapted in a way that allows them to persist in certain animal species. There are a variety of strains that we call several groups of the different leptospira bacteria. These strains are associated with a specific species. So the Serogroup bacteria, MRSA, for instance, is associated with rats. And through our laboratory tests and investigations, it's shown that this is the most common serogroup in New York City, indicating rats are the primary reservoir for both human and talk cases. In fact, a recent research study that tested rats for left doe found 30 to 40% of rats carried the bacteria. Other animals known to carry different strains of leptospira bacteria include raccoons, mice and even cattle and pigs. There's even one specific to dogs, and it's called Can a Koala. But thankfully the Serogroup is not seen here in the city. While these other strains are not common, it is still very good practice to minimize the exposure of dogs to environments wherever raccoons and mice can be found, as these could be the same environments where rats could also be found. Yep. And we've got rats in New York and we've got those cute little striped bandits, the raccoons that we see in Central Park as well. So we're we're really high on the lecture list. Well, I want to take this opportunity to thank my trio of guests today, Sally Slavinski, Calvin Lovingood, and Caroline Bragdon for joining me today on Ask the Vet. Thanks so much and was a pleasure. Thank you so much for having us. And if you want more information or to view the canine left or report, visit the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene at NYC dot gov backslash doh. Thank you guys so much for being on. I know that keeping your pet healthy is important to you and with that I hope you'll reach out to me if you have a question about your pet's health, I'll respond to your question on next month's Askthe Vet podcast. All you have to do to get your question answered is email me at Ask the Vet at amcny.org. Now we've got a break coming up, but stay tuned because there are lots of interesting animal stories and answers to questions when we return. We're back with Dr. Ann Hohenhaus on Ask the Vet. Welcome back to Ask the Vet. It's time for the animal news. It's time for animal headlines, the biggest animal news from across the world. Our first story is about a stingray. I don't think we've ever had a story about a stingray before. A stingray named Charlotte who lives in a small North Carolina aquarium. And she is the center of a mystery after it was discovered she's expecting. But she doesn't have a boyfriend. No male stingray companion for the last eight years. Initial theories were that maybe Scarlet had one of the young male sharks in the tank as a boyfriend. But experts said, no, no, no, you can't have a shark, an array, have babies together. So the phenomena thought to be behind Charlotte's unexpected pregnancy is believed to be something called parthenogenesis. what a mouthful. It is a rare form of reproduction where the babies are produced with only a mom and not a dad. And that results in babies. That could be clones of the mothers, meaning genetically identical, or sometimes the mother's genes of rearrange themselves. And the mother and the baby are a little bit different. Charlotte is the first documented case of a stingray of her species. Resorting to parthenogenesis for reproduction. The reasons why this happened are not fully understood, but it's a fascinating subject for scientists and observers alike. Her caretakers expect that Charlotte is going to have triplets or quadruplets and should deliver any day now. The aquarium is posting updates on its Facebook page, which is Facebook.com backslash team Ecco E-C-C-O. So just hunt that down on Facebook and you can probably watch Charlotte and her soon to be born stingray pups. Our second story is a heartwarming one of resilience and hope. After the Maui wildfires, a family moved to Montana, but they have managed to be reunited with their cat, Mahina, who was lost during the devastating wildfires last August. After the fires, the family filed a missing pet report. But when they later moved to Montana, they lost hope of ever finding Mahina. After surviving alone for more than 100 days Mahina was identified through her microchip, leading her remarkable return. The family says Mahina has adopted well to her new life in Montana. Which can you imagine how Hawaii to Montana just sounds like such a difference? She's an indoor cat, but it's this story highlights the importance of a bond between people and their pets and also reminds us of the importance of microchipping our animal companions, making sure the chips are registered and keeping that information up to date. No Chip Mahina would still be somewhere on her own in Hawaii as opposed to back to with her family in Montana. Our third story is Thibodaux, a 36 year old white alligator. I didn't even know alligators could be white living in the Omaha Zoo. And recently, Thibodaux had surgery to remove 77 zero coins from his stomach. The coins were discovered during a routine X-ray when the veterinarians taking care of this alligator found metal foreign objects in his stomach. So to remove the coins, the veterinarians had to insert a PVC pipe into the alligator's esophagus to protect his mouth and the delicate equipment needed to get the coins out of his stomach. Because can you imagine what those alligator teeth would do to an endoscope. Thibodaux has made a full recovery from this procedure and has rejoined the other alligators in his habitat. And every other alligator got an X-ray to make sure that there's not a need for coins to be removed from the other alligators. So where'd these coins come from? Not no one knows for sure, but they assume that zoo visitors have been tossing coins into Thibodaux mouth when he opens his mouth up. Because if you toss a coin into the water, it was laying the bottom of the alligator pool. I don't think that the alligator could really pick those up. You know, they don't really have hands that pick things up in their snout is not very good. You can eat a zebra, but it can't it can't pick up a coin off the bottom. So visitors should know that you should never throw coins into the enclosure of water or the mouth of any animal in the zoo, because this is extremely risky and prevents a health care crisis for that pet. That's absolutely unnecessary. So the zookeepers want people to throw coins into a wishing well that donates funds to the American Association of Zookeepers rather than into the closures and mouths of animals in the zoo. So, folks, on behalf of my zoo colleagues do not throw coins anywhere in the zoo except into their donation box. And finally, I just want to share a bit of information from AMC. Last month, we opened the Denise and Michael Kellen Institute for Surgical Care and this new 7000 square foot surgical facility features five operating rooms, a minor procedure room, and all your cats, because they are getting their own recovery area, no dogs allowed. So this expansion is wonderful for AMC and adds surgery area from 61st Street all the way to 62nd Street, which is a huge change in our ability to do surgery. Such a happy day when that surgery area opened. And now we've had so much to talk about today that we'll only have time for one question from our listeners. But if you submitted them, I'll roll them over to next month's show. So our our question today comes from Julie in New York. Julie asks, What is the best way to help a baby bird that seems to be alone and injured? So this is a really important time of year to ask this question, Julie, So thank you for writing in. So first of all, if the baby bird you find has feathers, it's probably a fledgling meaning, a baby bird learning to fly and as parents are probably close by. So leave that baby bird alone and the parents are going to stop by, feed it and take care of it until it figures out how to fly. If it's a nestling, that's like a thing that looks like a plucked chicken, those probably are not going to survive. Once they've come out of the nest by accident, that way. So one thing you could do is to contact a wildlife rehabilitator. They're the ones who care for wild animals that are injured. And you can find your local wildlife rehabilitator by going to your state's Department of Natural Resources or Department of Environmental Conservation or some agency that sounds like that. And they're the ones who will take these injured babies and try and hand-raised them. Certainly, if you think the baby is near death, you can go to a veterinarian who oftentimes will, you know, sadly but courageously euthanize those babies in order to, you know, take the best care that they can of them. Also, don't forget that you should always be careful around wild animals because they can be dangerous. And we don't want anyone to be bitten, scratched or pick up some sort of infection. Now, we're going to take our second break of the day. And when we come back, we'll have information from AMC's Usdan Institute. We're back with Dr. Ann Hohenhaus on Ask the Vet. Welcome back to Ask the Vet. I just want to share some important information from AMC's Usdan Institute for animal health education marches Poison Prevention Month, which is a good reminder that many of the poisonings that we see at the Schwarzman Animal Medical Center are everyday substances that are hazardous to our furry friends, things like over-the-counter medications, prescription medications, your dog's own medication, or the dog jumps over some medications and the cat eats it. All of those things we see and they are potentially dangerous for your pet. Also, keep in mind that grapes, chocolate and products containing the sweetener known as xylitol are toxic to animals. Cleaning products we already talked about rodenticides. Rat poisons are toxic to animals. Insecticides. Don't forget to keep your recreational drugs, antifreeze and essential oils away from your pet. All of these things are potentially life threatening for a dog or a cat. Also, this is a good month to remember to be sure that your refrigerator has on it the animal ASPCA. Animal poison control. That number 888-426-4435 or the pet Poison Helpline at 1 855-764-7661. And although fees apply, it is absolutely worth every dime to have these experts talk to us, you and your veterinarian, about what your pet just ate. Senior pets, much like their human counterparts, may face both physical and cognitive challenges as they grow older and what we describe in animals is called cognitive dysfunction syndrome, which is a degenerative condition that leads to a decline in brain function in aging pets. And we see marked behavioral changes in our dog and cat friends. So on April 4th at 6 p.m. Eastern Time, Dr. Kate Anderson and Dr. Pamela Perry, behavior experts from Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine will discuss cognitive dysfunction in dogs and cats. As usual, this Usdan event is free and online hosted via Zoom. But to attend, you have to register so that we can send you the zoom link and that registration can be found at AMCNY dot org slash events for access to other timely and relevant pet health articles, upcoming events, tutorials, and Pet parent education resources. Check out the Usdan Institute at AMCNY dot org backslash Usdan Institute. I want to take this opportunity to thank my guest, Dr. Sally Slavinki, Kevin Lovingood and Carolyn Bragdon from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene for giving us the lowdown on left Joe today. A big shoutout to all my listeners for your continued support as Ask the Vet podcast is ranked number four on Feedspot’s Best Pet Podcast. Don't forget, if you want to know more about your pet's health or ask a question, you can email me at Ask the Vet at AMCNY.org, and I'll answer your questions on our next show. The Ask the Vet podcast can be accessed on the serious app across all major app platforms and on AMC's website. All of this is possible with thanks to AMC's partnership with Sirius XM. Don't forget to check us out on social media. The Animal Medical Center on Facebook, AMCNY on Twitter and Instagram. Don't forget, take a moment and give asked the vet a review and be sure to like and subscribe so you receive new episodes as soon as they drop. I look forward to working with everyone next month on another aspect of that podcast. Thanks and have a great month everyone.