Cold Front Back

About twice a year, at the changing of the seasons, a cold front descends upon the Cuiabá Basin.

This is the tropics, so there are only two seasons: the wet and dry. We're coming to the end of April, so that means coming to the end of the wet season.

The cold weather has been with us for two days, but I think tomorrow will be hot again.

Yesterday I was asked to be the honourary gringo at a primary school.  I felt like a rock star in front of 40 ten-year-olds asking me what my favourite flower was (orchid), favourite group (Queen) and favourite film (Highlander).  Actually, I like lots of different songs, all rock, and I play them to get into the zone.

The rush hour traffic was terrible tonight.  Yesterday there was a blitz with some 40 police officers cordoning the road off.

And tonight by the military social club a busy roundabout was cordoned off briefly just as I approached it for another 40-odd police officers riding out on motorcycles,

The protest encampment in the city centre has gone, they left two days ago.

Tonight there was a car breakdown on Avenida Rubens de Mendonça and a bumo on the same road when a guy cut up another car but didn't do a clean job of it and knowcked her bumber off.  There was a police car right by her and she asked for help but they didn't stop.

More soon from the centre of South America.

Cold War in Cuiabá

Today has been eventful in Cuiabá.

The weather.

The long-anticipated cold front has hit and the temperautre dropped after lunch time.  This often affects everything.  My dogs were desperately hungry and jumped all over me thi evenning. In the past i have had hawks die when going through rehabiliation programmes with me and being out of condition. 

Protests

The Movimento Sem-Terra, the landless squatters that protest against private ownership of vast farms, has set up a camp in the city in protest at the political coup going on against the president.  This is not a political blog but sometimes these events cannot be ignored. 

The Cuiabá Post

Road Safety in Cuiabá today.

I was driving from Morada do Ouro to Femina, the maternity hospital at rush hour this morning, then on the ring road Avenida Miguel Sutil to the Port District and then back on the ring road.  No accidents to report.  But the road surface is still bad between what I call the the military social club roundabout and the Goiabeiras shopping mall. And you have to slow down as you get to the roundabout because there is still road works there and only one lane open.  Be ready for tailgaters who refuse to slow down.  And some motorcycle riders conitinue to drive dangerously, overtaking on roundabouts.

There is a 'Life Sign' (Placar da Vida) in Avenida Rubens de Mendonça, which morbidly quotes the number of days since fatal accidents in the Mato Grosso capital. Yesterday it read 15, so 15 days had passed since any fatalities on the roads.

Men's Fashion

The bracelet at the top can be bought in two places in Cuiabá.  One source is the street vendors outside the Pantanal shopping mall. But they are expensive and service is really poor (they are arrogant). Another source is a shop in the old city centre and they have a greater selection at half the price.

Below is a forearm sun-protection glove that intend to use for driving.

Update on Public Security in Cuiabá and Jaguar Tourism (no connection)

Mato Grosso's capital city has been getting noticeably more violent.

In our street we have a neighbourhood watch scheme.  Some of the residents have got together and paid a security firm to put up cameras.  

It's not before time.  The other evening I was sat out on my veranda.  Suddenly I heard the scream of tyres and a car turned into our street in hot spursuit. They got to the top of the street and gun shots were exchanged.  A discussion erupted on the text messaging group that is the hiub of our neighbourhood scheme. It seems there were four thieves.  Three of them got arrested.  One escaped.

I had some sad news this week.  Jorge, a friend of mind from Rondonopolis, saw one of his Aplomado Falcons die this week.  It ate a giant centipede.  Or the head of one.  Then started to salivate and died. 

The best way to prevent this is to build a weathering.

And finally.  On social media this week something was posted about the merits or otherwise of feeding wild Jaguars.  People were arguing about how it can lead to conditioning, to the detriment of the jaguar population.  As a Conservation Biologist I shall add my opinion, via this, my platform.  Firstly, much feeding, if it happens at all, appears to be occasional.  Contrast this with the Red Kite feeding that goes on in Wales.  There are no commercial 'Jaguar feeding stations'  in Mato Grosso that I am aware off.  Ecotourists don't shoot jaguars, and that leaves the argument of whether or not jaguars may lose their fear of people and approach human dwellings or livestock.  Seasonal hunger drives jaguars to search for food and come out in the open in Mato Grosso, and that is in August.

And the benefits for jaguar conservation awareness-raising through the experience of seeing a wild jaguar does, in my opnion, far outweigh the (so far non-invasive) effects of jaguar tourism.

I saw my first wild jaguar in August last year, and it certainly made an impression on me.

That's all for now.

Dog Dermatology. Furunculite/Furunculitis or Hot Spots or Pyoderma

Skin erosions and ulcers can occur in dogs for a variety of reasons.  They can be difficult to differentiate without histology, that is, identification of the agent by means of microscopy by a veterinary pathologist usung a skin scraping.

Treatment is through the administration of antibiotics, and the first choice of antibiotic is a course of  

My dog, a Siberian Husky, developed a particularly aggressive one.  Clinical experience can enable fast diagnoses.  The experienced vet that I was working alongside was able to idetnify this on sight.  There was no need to send a skin scraping for further diagnosis,

Treatment

Based on weight, 165mg/kg cefalexina was the antibiotic of choice, to be adminsutered every 12 hours orally.  I do this by opening the dog's mouth and pushing the tablet with my finger down the hard and soft palate righ to the back of the tongue.  I find it easy to see that the dog has then swallowed the pill.

Use of an Elizabethan collar is also essential because otherwise the dog will lick the wound, increasing the risk of secondary bacterial infection.

An example of a bacterial pyoderma: this is a case of acute moist dermatitis aka pyotraumatic dermatitis aka a hot spot in a Siberian Husky bitch.  It appeared overnight.  Note the multifocal distribution.  There is another hot spot such as this on the other flank.

Reference:

Ettinger, S. J and Feldmn, E.C. (2005). Textbook of Veterinary Internal Medicine. Sixth Edition.  Volume 1. Elsevier Saunders. 

Doença de Carrapato/Tick-Borne Fever in the Baixada Cuiabana. Anaplasmosis/Ehrichiosis/Babesiosis

This article is for purposes of clarification of a veterinary issue in Cuiabá, that of tick-borne fever, which is rife in dogs here. Written for final-years and new grads in veterinary medicine.

I love identifying the sciences involved in veterinary medicine.  Today's text envelopes the sciences of parasitology, haematology, cycnology and posology.  Paratology because Ehrichia spp, Babesia spp. and Anaplasma spp are all blood cellular parasites. Haematology because, this is the science that studies the blood, and, as mentioned above, these are blood parasites. Cynology because cases that I looked at this week involved dogs, and the study of dogs is called cynology.

The correct treatment of a disease depends upon its diagnosis.

Canine Anaplasmosis.

A word on epidemiology.  Tick-borne disease here in the Cuiabá Basin is caused by the bacterium Anaplasma platys, a gram-negative, obligate intracellular bacterium.

It causes thrombocytopaenia,which is a drop in the blood stream's red blood cells.

Dogs become infected when bitten by an infected tick.

Symptoms are characterised  by sudden onset, a reluctance to move due to painful limbs and high fever. This in cases uncomplicated by secondary infection.

Treatment is with doxycicline, 10mg/kg for 28 days.
Again, this is in uncomplicated cases.


Reference:

http://www.capcvet.org/capc-recommendations/ehrlichia-spp-and-anaplasma-spp1/. Accessed 8th April 2016.

Canine Babesiosis

Ticks 

Ticks such as Rhipicephalus sanguineus are extremely common in the Cuiabá Basin, the Baixada Cuiabana of Mato Grosso, Central Western Brazil.  Owners of houses where ticks have been seen should begin a spraying regime, spraying the whole property with amitraz.

The bacteria of the genus Babesia readily infect dogs when these are bitten by an infected host, the ticks Rhipicephaphis sanguineus, Dermacentor spp, and Haemaphysalis spp.  Three species of large Babesia (Scoeman, 2009) infect dogs worldlwide,  In the Cuiabá Basin the least pathogenic one is found, Babesia vogeli.  There is also the possibility of Babesia gibsoni.

Diagnosis of Babesia spp.

Improved PCR techniques have allowed better diagnosis.

Control.

Both trans-stadial and transovarial transmission in the tick can occur. Trans-stadial means that the bacterium can remain in the body of the host tick as the latter grows, from nymph to larva to adult. Babesoa spp can also be trasnmitted by blood transfusion.

Risk Factors

Babesiosis mostly occurs in young dogs, but those of all ages can be affected.

Incubation period.

This varies from 10 to 28 days depending upon the species of Babesia.

Pathogenesis and Clinical Signs

Severeity of Babesios depends upon

• the species of Babesia sp.,
• the presence of seconadary infections
• age of the pet
• immune status of the pet

The disease can be peracute or chronic or even subclinical. When severe there is hamolytic anaemia, acid-base alterations, there can be multiple organ failure and acute renal failure, hepatopathy, icterus, hypoglycaemia, respiratory distress,  neuropthaies and there can pancreatitis in the presence of other complications.

Treatment of Babesiosis.

Eliminate thee parasite and reverse the anaemia with fluid therapy.  I spray my peoperty with 20ml/20litres of Ivermectin, every two or three weeks.

Prognosis of Babesiosis.

This is usually good.

Babesiosis as a Zoonosis.

Whilst Babesios can affect human, it is not passed from the pet but is contracted in the same way, that is, by the victim being bitten by an infected tick.

Reference.

Schoeman, J.P. Canine Babesiosis. Ondestepoort Journal of Veterinary Research, 76: 59-66. (2009).

Incidentally, the only place I have come across with a worse tick problem than Cuiabá is Aride Island, in the Seychelles.  The Sooty Terns there used to suffer terribly with infestations of ticks.

This is a bottle of Amitraz.  That is the commercial name.  The active ingredient is ivermectin.  Ivermectin acts on the central nervous system of the tick.  

I dissolve 20ml of Ivermectin in 20litres of water and use this spray gun to spray my whole property every three weeks to control ticks. 

Lifestyle page (up for a limited time). Should I Tell My Parents?

This is a complex question that only you can know the answer to.  It depends on such a lot.  It depends on how old you are, your level of emotional maturity.  And your parents's emotional maturity. And your relationship with your parents.  Are your parents still together.

No matter the nature of the problem, I can offer some wisdom.  You need to analyse your parents.  Their level of education for a start.  But much else besides.

Let me try and make this simple.

The human personality is complex and made up of hundreds of peronality characterisitics,  These characteristis need to be taken into account before you tell your parents.  I want you to ask yourself, do my parents possess the qualities necessary for hearing my problem?

So ask yourself.  Are they patient? Are they attentive listeners?  Are they empathetic? Are they judgemental?  Can they listen without judging and interrupting?  Are you likely to feel good or bad about yourself afterwards?

If you have parents with the qualities mentioned about, you may want to consider sharing your problem with them.  If not, seek professional help.

I will say this, though.  "You can always tell us anything" possibly only applies to the teenage years when your parents are feeling insecure or fearful of losing a connection.  Make a mistake in adulthood and you are on your own, unless your parents are exceptiomal.