The Animal Ultrasound Association have been working hard to maintain supplies of essentials to our members during this challenging time. Clinell sanitising wipes, in particular, have been in huge demand over the past week and a half. We have been prioritising the orders of members over others and keeping pricing low, and are now out of stock – so can only hope that those who did order genuinely did so for their work!
High levels of hygiene should of course be standard practice for all scanning businesses, all the time. Right now, we are all mindful of trying to protect humans, but in our daily work, the focus is on the animals that we are scanning. Scanners, probes and gel bottles should always be sanitised between clients, particularly as the animals you are scanning are particularly vulnerable (as they are quite likely to be pregnant!). Most professional scanners also own dogs and cats themselves – and if you’d say “no” to the concept of animals being allowed into shows without any documentation or health checks, you should be saying “no” to the idea of bringing your scanner into the home of an unknown animal and then back into your home, where the next pet to come into contact with it may be your own.
If biosecurity wasn’t top of your list before, the current situation should be your wake-up call.
Last month, David Harwood ran a webinar for AUA members on infectious diseases in goats (you can watch the replay here). It was mainly attended by our goat breeder friends in the United States (the Scan Pad is a very popular machine for goat pregnancy scanning), but recent events make his expertise even more relevant to all of us. Some diseases in ruminants can pass only from farm to farm, but some – termed zoonotic diseases – can pass from animals to humans. This is precisely the origin of the current Covid19 pandemic.
If you are interested in David’s story of how various epidemics played out across Britain in the past, and how they were ultimately controlled, his autobiography ‘Rural Tranquility to National Crisis’
If you are a goat breeder and want to research disease in a serious way, we highly recommend the latest edition of David’s veterinary textbook here:
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