Bites, bugs, toxic fumes among veterinarians' occupational hazards

[Guest guest]

Note part about rabies shots and lupus (paragraph 7)...

Bites, bugs, toxic fumes among veterinarians' occupational hazards

http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/pets/2010-03-25-dolittler26_N.htm

But toxic gas? Now that's a bad day.

Scratches and bites? Most are harmless claw marks or half-hearted (if ouchy)

attempts to keep the vet at bay. But that doesn't mean the full-fledged,

911-worthy mauling is out of the question. That's a bad day, too. I've only had

one so far, and (if the stats are to be believed) that means I should be in the

clear for the rest of my career. More ER-worthy bites? One every five to 10

years or so. One day in the ER, a few days of antibiotics and — if we're lucky —

hardly a scar.

How about those among us who deal in bigger animals? Now we're talking. Even so,

it might surprise you to know that the vast majority of the injuries are about

chronic, non-ergonomic maneuvering — not the kind of life-and-limb propositions

of Herriot lore (though these, of course, happen, too). After all, only a

relative few veterinarians work with the kind of spoiled racehorses who are as

willing to plant a double-barrel hoof-stamp on your backside as look at you.

Still, it's a rough-and-tumble career. More so, however, in ways you might not

expect.

Consider the ubiquitous case of ringworm. Now that's serious. I once lost six

prime months of my single life nursing a ringworm lesion on my face. Not a

calamity, but I might as well have broken my leg for the toll this large round

lesion took on my social life. Which reminds me of a first-date disaster in

which a tick made an unwelcome appearance. ( " You have … a … thing crawling on

you … there. " )

Yet none of that even remotely compares with my countless colleagues who have

contracted life-threatening infectious diseases such as leptospirosis after

exposure to something as normally innocuous as dog urine. Or those among us

happy to play Russian roulette with rabies every time we handle a stray or with

Lyme disease each time we hospitalize a tick-riddled hunting dog.

Writhing maggots, rotting flesh and runaway eyeballs may be a disgusting

proposition, but they've got nothing on the rare kind of workplace-acquired MRSA

that put my local veterinary oncologist in the hospital for months.

I also know of three vets and one dog-worker who have come down with

Guillain-Barrée syndrome, a viral infection of the brain that leaves humans in a

life-threatening state of paralysis — sometimes for months. (No link has been

confirmed between pets and humans, but since I know of no other cases in my

personal experience, it's of concern to me and to other veterinarians in my

circle.)

Then there's my veterinary classmate who came down with a shocking case of lupus

during our three-vaccine rabies immunization protocol. We'll never know for

sure, but we'll always wonder: Did she trade her good health for a career she

can no longer practice?

With all the possibilities that exist for maiming, chronic disease and

life-threatening infection in my profession, you might wonder why anyone would

put themselves in such a precarious position. I might wonder myself except when

I pause to consider the sum total of my life's physically challenging

experiences. A simple recap will prove I've put myself in harm's way far more

consistently by engaging in decidedly non-professional activities.

Like the time I flew out of a motorboat at top speed. Like the time I was thrown

by a horse straight into a jump. Like the time I received scalding,

second-degree burns to my abdomen while draining spaghetti, or the time I

suffered a scary, eyelash-singeing flash burn when the gas grill's starter

malfunctioned.

Life is unpredictable. Nothing is 100% safe.

Sure, veterinary medicine may offer a few more hazards than most, but it's

really not so bad relative to lots of other careers. And if the possibility of a

little toxic gas scares you, you really should consider another career anyway.