If you have a good doc, now might be a good time to get some Rx for the family like Cipro, or whatever they recommend as the best "catch all" in an emergency. One would use it as insurance against not being able to get medicine due to public disorder, not as a self-medicate prophylaxis unless an absolute emergency.
What about a Z-Pack? Zithromax is a VERY strong, very effective antibiotic which continues to work in your system for 10 days after one has taken the last dosage.
I would be interested to see what any of our medical experts had to say as far as any antibiotic recommendations. What IS the most effective across the widest spectrum?
My hubby is a doc.
Thanks for your concern.
*hugs*
CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE, CERVIDS - USA (WISCONSIN)
Pioneer Press, Twin Cities.com [edited]
http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/news/local/states/wisconsin/8164937.htm Wasting disease: Whitetails Unlimited says CWD findings could raise new fears
A new test that found preliminary indicators of chronic wasting disease in
wild deer in more than a dozen additional counties could lead to a new wave
of fear about the disease among hunters, the leader of Whitetails Unlimited
said Thursday.
"It raises questions, and here we go, fear of the unknown again," President
Jeff Schinkten said. "If they are really finding stuff, that is reason for
concern."
According to state records reviewed by the Associated Press, 159 deer shot
last fall tested positive for the disease on a new screening -- or rapid
test -- approved by the U.S. Agriculture Department and used by the
Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory for the first time.
However, through Thursday, only 42 of those positives were confirmed with a
second test -- immunohistochemistry -- that's considered the "gold
standard" for diagnosing so-called mad-deer disease. Dr. Mark Hall, head of
pathology at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Veterinary
Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, said chronic wasting disease can only be
confirmed by immunohistochemisty, he said.
Based on testing the past 2 years, the state Department of Natural
Resources says it has found 316 wild deer with the disease in 8 southern
counties - Columbia, Dane, Iowa, Kenosha, Richland, Rock, Sauk, and Walworth.
The new test -- called the IDEXX screening test -- so far in 2004 has
detected deer positive for the disease in 14 additional counties: Chippewa,
Crawford, Dodge, Eau Claire, Grant, Jefferson, LaFayette, Manitowoc,
Marinette, Marquette, Portage, Taylor, Vernon, and Waukesha, state records
show.
The screening test is designed to produce some false positive results so no
animals with the disease are missed, said Julie Langenberg, a wildlife
veterinarian for the state Department of Natural Resources.
Still, Langenberg acknowledges "there's a possibility" the new test is
detecting some deer at an earlier stage of the disease.
The DNR found chronic wasting disease in 3 bucks shot near Mount Horeb in
2002, marking the first time it was found east of the Mississippi River.
The disease jeopardizes Wisconsin's annual $1 billion deer-hunting
industry, because health experts warn no part of a diseased deer should be
eaten. There is no scientific evidence the disease, discovered in Colorado
in 1967, can infect people.
Steve Oestreicher, chairman of the Wisconsin Conservation Congress, one of
the state's leading hunting and fishing groups, said Thursday he wouldn't
read too much into the IDEXX test results, given the DNR uses it as a
screening tool.
"I don't think it will cause a firestorm," he said. "There is certainly the
possibility that CWD is on the landscape more than we think. We certainly
hope not, but that is very possible. Right now, we just keep our faith in
the veterinary lab."
Hunters in Wisconsin are not told whether a deer they shot tested positive
on the IDEXX test. If the deer tests negative on the IDDEX test, it's not
tested a second time. Schinkten and Oestreicher said those results
probably should be reported to the hunter.
"I won't feed deer to my family if I hear positive. Why take any kind of
chance?" Schinkten said. Hunters should decide for themselves whether the
screening test results are mostly false positives or "has somebody
uncovered something here," Schinkten said.
A landowners group critical of the DNR's handling of the disease says
hunters should be told that deer are testing positive for the disease with
one test but not the other, giving them the most complete information in
deciding whether to eat the venison.
Citizens and Landowners for a Rational Response believes the results of the
new testing likely provide early evidence that CWD is more widespread
across the state, said spokesman Mark Peck, a landowner from Arena.
During the deer-hunting season immediately after chronic wasting disease
was found in Wisconsin, license sales dropped 10 percent. Sales rebounded
the next season after the DNR reported the disease had not been found
elsewhere in the state following the testing of tens of thousands of deer
with immunohistochemistry.
A drop in hunter interest could develop again if people have concerns about
the positive results of the screening test, Schinkten said. "I got to
believe this rapid test has some validity to it somewhere," he said.
But Schinkten said some are so sick of hearing about CWD that the recent
developments will mean little to them. "There are some people who are just
fed up with CWD," he said.
According to the website for IDEXX laboratories on the HerdChek test, this
is a USDA-approved rapid test for White-tailed deer with 98.8 percent
sensitivity and 100 percent
specificity.
http://www.idexx.com/production/ruminant/ruminant7.cfm Although there may be false positives, probably no true positives are missed.
This kind of an increase raises some questions. Are there that many false
positives? Is the rapid test detecting the presence of the prion at much
lower levels than immunohistochemistry? Has this disease always been
present in cervid populations at undetectable levels? or has the disease
been present, and we have previously written the deaths off as winter kill,
starvation, overpopulation, or some other term that was appropriate at the
time? There are no easy answers to these questions and perhaps no answers
at all. But we certainly have more questions about this disease than we
have answers. -
