Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Occupational health hazards in veterinary medicine: zoonoses and other biological hazards.
- Journal:
- The Canadian veterinary journal = La revue veterinaire canadienne
- Year:
- 2012
- Authors:
- Epp, Tasha & Waldner, Cheryl
- Affiliation:
- Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences · Canada
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
This study looked at the health risks that veterinarians in western Canada face while doing their jobs. It found that only a small number of veterinarians, about 17%, reported having a disease that can be passed from animals to humans, like ringworm, or being exposed to rabies in the last five years. Most injuries from bites and scratches came from cats, and a significant portion of these led to infections. Additionally, around 38% of veterinarians said they developed allergies during their careers, and many of them changed how they worked because of these allergies. Overall, the study highlights the various biological risks that veterinarians encounter in their profession.
Abstract
This study describes biological hazards reported by veterinarians working in western Canada obtained through a self-administered mailed questionnaire. The potential occupational hazards included as biological hazards were zoonotic disease events, exposure to rabies, injuries due to bites and scratches, and allergies. Only 16.7% (136/812) of responding veterinarians reported the occurrence of a zoonosis or exposure to rabies in the past 5 years; the most commonly reported event was ringworm. Most bites and scratches (86%) described by 586 veterinarians involved encounters with cats; 81% of the resulting 163 infections were due to cat bites or scratches. Approximately 38% of participants reported developing an allergy during their career, with 41% of the affected individuals altering the way they practiced in response to their allergy.
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Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22851775/