Learning The Hard Way: A True Story

Posted on February 3, 2010

Written By Bradford P Smith, Professor Emeritus, Univ of California , Davis

Many years ago there was an equine veterinarian who had a young daughter. Not surprisingly she liked horses, and she was certainly the apple of her father`s eye. He was a creative man and liked to build toys for his children. In those days, children had not yet heard of all the electronic games available today, so children did things like play on wooden horses. The vet, wanting to build the best possible rocking horse for his daughter, went into pathology and with the owner’s permission removed the pretty flax colored tail from a mare that had died of some mysterious pulmonary disorder (which was later diagnosed by the pathologist).

He put the tail in a plastic bag and put it in the trunk of his car. After several days, he took it out one weekend and attached it to the beautiful little rocking horse that he had built. His daughter was delighted with the horse.

A month later the vet developed a fever of unknown origin, and fell ill. After extensive tests, he was diagnosed with disseminated coccidioidomycosis. The fungus had apparently been on the horse tail that he had taken and inadvertently incubated in the trunk of his warm car. He had been exposed to a massive number of spores when he opened the plastic bag containing the tail. The fungus entered via his lungs and rapidly disseminated. Imaging showed lesions in many organs, including the brain. After a very long battle with every possible treatment attempted, a promising young life was lost.

Why am I relating such a sad tale? Because we do sometimes learn the hard way, and zoonotic diseases that veterinarians develop or bring home to their family can be a deadly serious issue. A story such as this reminds us to be careful. Do not come home to your family and friends wearing clothing that is soiled or could be contaminated from work, and certainly do not bring samples or tissues away from a clinic or hospital. There have been cases of veterinarians and veterinary students infecting children or pets with such agents as Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis, for example. Wear hospital clothing at the hospital, and change when you leave. Wash hands thoroughly and frequently. When we are young, we have a tendency to think that we are immortal and will never get sick. If only that were the case!