Dr Bob Rees Blood Sucker Season Starts Interview

Dr Bob Rees Blood Sucker Season Starts Interview

As Australia swings into another La Niña weather event, pet owners are being reminded about the importance of guarding against parasitic insects that can spread from pets to people.

Approximately 21 per cent of all notifiable diseases in Australia are zoonotic - meaning that they are transmitted from animals to people.

"While potentially deadly animal-borne pathogens like Hendra virus grab the headlines, the reality is that the most likely nasties people are going to come into contact with are from biting parasites, like fleas and ticks that can plague their pets," Dr Cameron Webb, Entomologist, University of Sydney, said.

According to Dr Cameron, fleas love warm and moist conditions, so with another La Niña weather pattern predicted there's a bumper parasite season on the way.

"Fleas love humid and warm weather and it is expected that during the coming summer, flea populations will thrive."

With 63% of Australian households owning a pet, Dr Webb believes cat and dog owners should be aware of the risk of increased flea activity and what that means for their pet and their family.

"A flea may be small but it has powerful back legs that enable it to jump incredible distances. In human terms, it's like being able to jump the length of a football field," Dr Webb said.

"Fleas are not just a problem for cats and dogs; they are more than happy biting people as well. Bites most often occur on the lower legs and while the bites won't last more than a few days, they can cause significant irritation."

According to Dr Bob Rees, Technical Services Veterinarian, Bayer Healthcare, it's important to remember that fleas are only a problem for people because they share their home with pets.

The best thing you can do is treat your pets with a product, like Advantage, that kills both juvenile and adult fleas, and stops them from biting. It's also important to treat areas where your pet moves about, like its bedding.

"Pets are such an important part of our family and that relationship shouldn't be marred by a bout of fleas. Prevention is obviously the best approach and there are effective treatments available to ensure your entire family is protected from fleas," Dr Rees added.

Interview with Dr Bob Rees

Question: What types of insects spread from pets to people throughout the household?

Dr Bob Rees: The two primary parasites that we are most concerned with at the moment are fleas and ticks. The reasons we are concerned are due to the current weather conditions, with these types of external parasites the weather conditions we are experiencing at the moment is absolutely ideal. We are referring to the conditions of nice warm weather, previous rain and high humanity which are absolutely perfect for these parasites. Fleas and ticks are the parasites we predominately see on dogs and cats (our pets) and of course if they're on dogs and cats eventually they can cause problems for us, as well.


Question: How can we prevent these insects spreading from pets to people?

Dr Bob Rees: The best thing pet owners can do is try and get in early to control these infestations because it is much easier to control them when the parasite numbers are low, than it is once they have bred. I think the main thing is pet owner awareness, pet owners must be aware of these current weather conditions and the potential for these parasites to really blow out in terms of their population.

Pet owner awareness is the most important thing to start off with; people need to know that this Summer could potentially be a bad one.


Question: Fleas thrive during the summer months, how can parents protect their pets and children?

Dr Bob Rees: It starts with protecting your pets. The best way to protect your pet, if the animal is not being treated at the moment for these parasites, is to get professional advice. You can receive professional advice from your vet or somebody you trust who works in the local pet shop.

Be careful when selecting the products that you use to treat and protect your animal because some of them are really good and some are quite poor and actually a waste of money.


Question: Can you talk about the flea and tick symptoms when they come in contact with humans?

Dr Bob Rees: There are quite a number of different presentations of flea and tick infestations when they are affecting humans. The obvious symptom is that the fleas bite. Fleas don't particularly like humans, they'd much rather be biting dogs and cats but if they have a chance they will certainly bite humans as well; it is simply the irritation of being bitten by an insect. The other concern is that some of these parasites carry other organisms which they can transfer through the bite into the blood stream of humans and some of these can really cause some quite serious problems, particularly in kids, in elderly people or those who are immunocompromised. It's not just a simple matter of a couple of flea bites probably won't hurt, they may just itch for a couple of days - there is the potential to spread some quite nasty conditions from fleas to humans.


Question: If fleas do come into contact with humans and pets, how can we treat the habitat?

Dr Bob Rees: In some cases there can be very heavy infestation and then pet owners need to realise it won't be sufficient just to treat the animal; the animals environment needs to be treated as well and this includes washing the animals bedding on a regular basis because they can live in the material. If we are talking about problems with ticks, ticks like conditions such as long grass and low overhanging branches, it would be a good idea to keep the grass well and truly mowed and that will remove part of the environment for the ticks, as well.

It is essential that the animals are treated but the environment needs to be considered as well, especially if you want to stop the rapid buildup of these parasites in the environment.

If pet owners have a multi-animal household such as a cat and a dog every animal in the household needs to be protected. Cats and dogs are both affected by fleas, many people say "they have never seen a flea on the cat" but that's not true, the fleas may be in a lower number and not as obvious on the cat, but they will certainly still be there. If the cat is not treated, as well as the dog, then the cat will become a constant source of flea infestation in the household. Not all flea treatments can be used on both cats and dogs; pet owners definitely need to check they're buying the right treatment for their animal.

As a pet owner there are many things to consider because fleas can be pretty tough to get on top of, particularly once they become established. Pet owners need to realise once they start treatment, they will not have overnight success. Once treatment has begun, it will take more than 24 hours to treat the animal although there will be a reduction if you've used a very good treatment, they won't disappear overnight; pet owners need to be patient.

It's important that pet owners know they need to treat their pets for fleas, every month of the year.

Question: Do you have a product that you can recommend to pet owners?

Dr Bob Rees: Yes! The current trend of flea and tick control is what we call topical or 'spot on' products, Bayers brand of Flea Control is a titled Advantage for both cats and dogs. Advantage is sold throughout the world and is a major success story within Bayer health because it is developed in Australia and exported to the world as a primary leading flea control product.

Most 'spot on' treatments are a very low level of liquid that is applied to the back of the neck or between the shoulder blades in dogs and within 24 hours it will have spread around the animal's body completely and will protect them from re-infestation. It is easier to put the liquid on the back than mix with food, especially if you are talking about cats as they pick it up quite quickly.


Interview by Brooke Hunter