Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Turning headline news into punchline gold. Five nights a week. The Last Show with David Cooper. A deadly, well, maybe not deadly, but a horrible infection is spreading from cats to humans. Beware. We are joined by Dr. Cliff Redford. It is vet talk. It is pet talk. And don't worry, I think it's only happening in Uruguay right now, or at least that's where, you know, scientists have found it.
Chapter 2: What is the newly discovered fungus spreading from cats to humans?
But still, let's talk about Sporothrix brasiliensis and what you need to know about it. Bada bing, bada boom. Dr. Cliff is here. He's got a book coming out in September. Do you want to be plugging your book so far or not quite yet?
No, no, not yet. Not yet.
Just be aware that we will be plugging a book at some point.
We absolutely, that is the only reason why I'm here. Not because you don't like me.
Come on.
To build the relationship. No, I love this. I love this. Look, can we get out like the pun about this being a catastrophe right at the beginning? Wow.
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Chapter 3: How does Sporothrix brasiliensis affect cats and humans?
Pretty good. Pretty good. I'm a fun guy. Wow. Oh, wow. Double.
Cat fungus. You got the cat fungus puns up the wazoo. I don't even know what that means. Does wazoo mean rear end? That seems wrong. Cat fungus fever.
Yes, sporothrix brasiliensis or brasiliensis. You got very, very close. It is all throughout South America. It is a new... A new fungus? A brand new fungus? It is generally a brand new fungus. First seen 10 years ago. And it infects cats and other animals.
and people, but in cats, it shows up as these nasty pustules and open sore lesions around their mouth, their nostrils, their face generally, their claws, like their paw pads. And what they did not realize, because when they first found it 10 years ago, 10 plus years ago, was it was just in this one section, the southeast coast of Uruguay.
And there were the occasional person that would pick up these lesions as well. But in the last 10 years, all throughout South America, 10,000 people have been diagnosed with it now.
Can we cure this fungus with antifungal creams or pills or whatever?
Apparently, yes. Okay, good. Apparently, it's very, very easy to treat. But what sort of makes this pique the interest of scientists is they quickly realized that cats and people that were being diagnosed with it had no connection with another cat or a person that had it. So they were confused at how it could spread.
Can I guess? Can I guess? You can guess. Doesn't fungus have spores? Doesn't it spread in the air?
It can, but that's not what's happening with this one.
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Chapter 4: What are the symptoms of the cat fungus in pets?
you know it does need to go out it is going to smash up your house if you don't let it go out but for your next cat you don't need to train it to do that yeah you want to keep them indoors they live a lot longer as pets and i say that as pets because the studies show that cats that go outside regardless of rural versus urban whatever they're lifespan or their time as your pet is three years.
Wow. Is the average. And we assume, oh, they're gone. They must have crawled up into a hole somewhere to die, which is this weird myth that people have with cats. Oh, when they're sick that they hide. It must have known it was dying, so it went out to die. No, it went out and then a coyote got it or something. But a lot of these cats become strays.
A lot of these cats become adopted or air quotes rescued by another person down the street who assumes they must be a stray. Look how much they like drinking my milk. They're hungry. And it's like, no, you are just taking my cat away. So three years is the average, whereas when they stay inside, it's 15 years. Oh, okay. Tomato's seven, so, you know. There you go. Is it tomato or tomato?
Let's call the whole thing off, Cliff. Very nice. I got jokes. Well done. You are a fun guy. Thank you. Anyway, so this fungus is going around. So if you get these weird pustule lesions on your skin, guess what? Go to the doctor, a real doctor, not a veterinarian, a real doctor.
Well, maybe if it's your cat, take it to a real veterinarian.
Correct. But for you, if a person gets these lesions, very, very easy to treat.
And the fungus is called, one more time, Sporothrix brasiliensis. I wonder if it was first identified by biologists or whatever in Brazil, and that's why it's called brasiliensis. That is exactly why, David. Okay. I wonder how I figured that out. Wow. Could it have been that it had the word Brazil in it? Could have been. Could have been. Hey, that's why they pay me the big bucks. I'm a genius.
It might have been the country beside Brazil. And then they were blaming Brazil. And they're like, this is the nasty, dirty Braziliansis. Oh, yeah. That could have been it.
It reminds me of that other cat fungus that's not a real fungus, but I insist on calling it a fungus. The brain fungus, toxoplasmosis, the parasite that some huge amount of number of cats has. And in South America, the number is extremely high. And then the parasite goes to humans and it maybe affects our behavior in ways we don't know.
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Chapter 5: How is the cat fungus spreading if there's no direct contact?
It makes us love our cats potentially. It makes us more less risk averse. Yeah. It's a wild thing.
They believe, they meaning people on podcasts who aren't actually scientists. Yeah. They wonder, but they hear it from scientists. They wonder if that's where the term crazy cat lady came from. It's the single lady who has a million cats and she slowly goes crazy. Is she crazy because she has a bunch of cats and they have toxo? Or was she crazy, therefore she got a bunch of cats?
They aren't mutually exclusive. That's what. Who knows. All right. We got something big to discuss. Something that people will want to be aware of. I almost want to tell them now because it's like such useful information. But there's this dog treat.
that vets are saying is sending puppies into surgery just by eating the treat and of course the treat bills itself is safe should i be worried about this don't give it all away because we're going to talk about it after the break but should pet owners be worried about this they should definitely be aware because it's not just one treat it's a whole bunch of them oh no oh no give me a little give me a little bit about it because i feel like anyone who's got to go to work now or whatever it's cruel not to get you know give me a little tease
Yeah, I mean, they're basically, I don't know how to say it. No, I'm not going to give you a tease.
A 67-year-old grandfather fails to show up for a meeting with his son at a local tire shop, sparking a desperate search. And he wouldn't be the only victim. I'm Global News crime reporter Nancy Hixt. You might listen to a lot of true crime podcasts this year, but they're not crime beat. Season 8 drops April 21st. But you can hear the first story now, one month early, only on Amazon Music.
Ooh, you're about to find out the juicy truth about a certain kind of dog treat that could send your puppy to the emergency room. The companies say it's safe. Veterinarians say, probably not. I'm here with Dr. Cliff Redford, who's definitely a real veterinarian. I know that because he went to veterinarianism school. And check out his podcast. It's called Vet Life.
And he's here on our segment called Vet Talk. Or is it called Pet Talk? Cliff, welcome back. Thank you, as always. Should I be worried about these treats?
Well, you don't have a dog. That you know of. Oh, what? Do you give treats, like commercially made treats that you buy at the kitty cat treat store to Tomato?
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