Pet Wounds Fuel Screwworm Outbreak, Humans Now at Risk

We’ve been keeping an eye on this, and here’s the latest, it’s not stray dogs that are getting infected. It’s actually pets, and the common link? Untreated wounds. That’s a big concern, because if a pet with an open wound can get infected, so can humans. Especially those with cuts or scrapes. Bautista broke it down for us, there are simple steps you can take to protect yourself, your pets, and your neighborhood.

 

Kim Bautista, Chief Vector Control Officer, Ministry of Health

“One of the primary roles that the ministry has is to support the national response committee in creating awareness amongst the public. As Doctor Pech pointed out, the highest incidents currently being seen is in dogs. These are not necessarily stray dogs. Many of these dogs are dogs with owners. So, why I emphasize in terms of proper wound management in both humans and animals is because if you are monitoring your pet then you will be able to nip that transition early on in your neighborhood. Because, if you are seeing the dog with an early infestation and BAHA is called out and they kill off the larvae in that wound, the way the transmission works is it is within a twenty-one day cycle, on average you will have from larvae to adult. So if the wound is not managed and you are not killing those larvae as those larvae develop they fall on the ground, they become adults and increase the population of the fly in the area. So, early detection and wound management is the key and likewise in humans. If you know your animal has an infestation, an infection, then you are managing that properly then you yourself if you have a wound will have to keep it bandaged up and minimize exposure.”