Animals and MS Treatment
So, I haven’t been officially diagnosed with MS, though my doctor suspects it. We have ruled out most everything else, and I have an MRI next week..
But something that’s been worrying me is the treatment options as many of them play a role in decreasing immune response.
I have many pets of my own (sugar gliders, chinchillas, ferrets, cats) and I foster various small animals (rats, mice, rabbits, hamsters, hedgehogs etc…)
I also work in research while I’m getting my veterinary medicine PhD (mostly with primates).
My concern is if there is a risk working with animals while on the medications. With my own pets I’m not concerned, but worried with foster animals that are more likely to bite, and primates at work.
Thanks for your thoughts!
How many times a month do you get bitten? Can you wear gauntlets to protect yourself? I would take the drugs as stopping the progression of your MS outweighs the rest. Personally I've taken dmds for over 20years and I've never had a cut of scratch get infected. I always sterilize and use sudocream but I've never been bitten by a monkey or a ferret
@sprout It depends on the animals that I’m fostering— I’ve had a few gnarly rat bites from aggressive foster rats this past month. I could probably request non-aggressive animals from the rescue and try to find gloves, but rats can bite through a lot haha. My ferrets luckily don’t generally bite. I’m most worried about the primates because if anyone gets an exposure (cage scratch, animal scratch/bite, needle stick), we have to get blood drawn and start prophylactic Herpes B anti-viral pills. They definitely have the potential to transfer more disease/bacteria for sure. But exposures are also rare. Good to know you haven’t experienced infections from scratches though! I just worry a little about the bacteria in their mouths.