DEAR READERS: I was glad to see the University of Minnesota’s Dr. Michael Osterholm on MNSBC’s “Morning Joe” (March 13) discuss something other than contaminated surfaces and hand-washing -- namely, aerosol infection, or the transmission of a virus in respiratory droplets when people talk, cough or sneeze. Floating microparticles of dust and viruses in the air, especially in poorly ventilated indoor environments, are problematic, along with lung-damaging particulate air pollution.

Dr. Osterholm has previously voiced concerns about live farm animal exhibits at state fairs, especially the “miracle of birth” swine barns, where families can go and see sows giving birth to piglets -- risking infection from swine flu and antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

I goofed up yesterday, greeting a friend while dog-walking with a reciprocal elbow-bump: That part was fine, but I pet her dog when he came running up to greet me. If I had had the virus, I could have at least contaminated her dog for a short while, who might have cross-infected her!

As I’ve said before, we are likely to keep experiencing pandemics in the future, requiring ever-more vaccines and medications, so long as preventive medicine remains human-centered and reactive rather than proactive. Governments must address wildlife poaching, trafficking, habitat encroachment and the killing of animals, wild and domesticated, for human consumption. For example, the hepatitis E virus was recently found in 40 percent of U.S. slaughterhouse pigs that were tested. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, zoonotic diseases are very common, both in the United States and around the world. Scientists estimate that more than 6 out of every 10 known infectious diseases in people can be spread from animals, and 3 out of every 4 new or emerging infectious diseases in people come from animals.

For more, see my article “What Coronavirus (COVID-19) Is Telling Us: A Holistic Veterinary and One Health View” on my website (drfoxonehealth.com).

DEAR DR. FOX: I often see, especially in the warmer months, a person riding a bicycle while their dog is on a leash or rope, having to run with the bike. Am I wrong, or is this outright cruelty to the dog? The pavement is normally hot, the biker is riding too fast and the poor dog can’t yell for them to stop or slow down. I wonder how the biker would enjoy being towed behind a bike, unable to tell the operator to stop. Your thoughts on this activity, please. -- W.R., West Palm Beach, Florida

DEAR W.R.: You raise a serious dog-welfare issue I have repeatedly discussed in my column; this activity is just as irresponsible as leaving a dog in a closed car in hot weather and walking a dog on hot pavement. These are especially dangerous for older dogs and those with brachycephalic (“pushed-in”) faces, such as pugs and bulldogs. They are especially susceptible to heat stroke and death from hyperthermia.

Exercise is not a panacea, but in degrees of intensity, can be highly beneficial. But overexercising any dog after the long, less-active winters is ill-advised, often leading to costly knee (cruciate ligament) damage, especially when the animal is overweight. I advise a spring wellness exam for dogs before they get more active, and especially when the owner is a runner or cyclist who takes the dog along, with all due safety precautions.

On a different note, a friend asked me about using a dog buggy, essentially a small pram, to take her dog out since she was not very active or stable on her feet. Her toy poodle was only a year old, and still not pee-pad trained.

She got upset when I said not to use the buggy as a substitute for walking her dog on a leash and allowing her to run around in a safe area. Dogs need to get out and sniff all around as much as they can, chase a ball or play with another dog. I told her about two women who used telemeter devices to record dogs’ heart rates when they are enjoying the outdoors and “shaking it off.” After shaking, and while sniffing, the dogs’ heart rates went down. This is part of their relaxation response.

I added that one study has shown small dogs who do not get much of a chance to run around -- an activity that helps maintain regular bowel function -- are more prone to develop inflammatory bowel disease, as well as obesity and all its complications.

On my advice, my friend is now sending her dog to a local small-dog playgroup as often as she can afford it. She attested to how more relaxed and happy her dog seemed.

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. The volume of mail received prohibits personal replies, but questions and comments of general interest will be discussed in future columns.

Visit Dr. Fox’s website at DrFoxOneHealth.com.)

DEAR DR.FOX: I liked your response to the woman who thought hunting coyotes was the solution. I too had problems with coyotes eating my chickens and my barn cat (my other two cats are kept indoors).

The eradication of the wolf has caused more environmental and evolutionary problems in this country than people realize. One that the average person would not even think of is the degradation of streams caused by too many deer eating all the vegetation, which causes sediment to flow into the stream, which kills the fish.

Years ago, National Geographic had an excellent article on the damage to the lands out west caused by over-hunting wolves.

I always tell people to imagine nature as a chain-link necklace. If you break one of the links, the necklace is going to fall off. That’s what happens when we destroy anything in nature. Every living animal, bug and plant is a link in the chain. When we break the chain, nature tries to repair it -- sometimes in ways we don’t like. More coyotes, for instance. -- L.De.R., Naples, Florida

Dear L.De.R.: I like your analogy of the chain-link necklace, or maybe even a chain-link fence, of wildlife’s interdependence. We cause serious problems for ecosystems and ourselves when we break any of the links, which are normally self-healing when there is optimal natural biodiversity. Cattle ranchers have broken that natural fence and put up barbed wire fences here in the U.S., like the thousands of miles of cordon fences funded in part by the World Bank in Botswana. As a consequence, hundreds of thousands of African buffalo, wildebeest, gazelles, zebras, giraffes and other wildlife could not migrate to seasonal feeding and watering areas and died -- all documented on film by my friend, the late Ricky Lomba.

The metaphorical fence was broken by wildlife poachers and illegal wildlife traffickers, and opened up by the new coronavirus pandemic passed on from bats being sold for human consumption in China. Experts say humans should not go where they do not belong, and should keep out of the last, relatively pristine wildlife habitats left on Earth.

President Donald Trump’s political fence along the U.S.-Mexican border, part of which was recently blown down by high winds, is not only a ludicrous waste of public funds but, like the cordon fences in Africa, contributes to the demise of wildlife -- in this case, the endangered ocelot, coati mundi, Mexican gray wolf and other wildlife unable to use their original ranges and reach water and food. For details, see the Center for Biological Diversity’s report, “Trump’s Border Wall Threatens 93 Endangered Species.” (Full story: https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/publications/earthonline/endangered-earth-online-no880.html)

DISINFORMATION MAY LEAD TO MORE ABANDONED PETS IN CHINA

Rumors that pets can spread the virus that causes COVID-19 could lead to a second wave of abandoned and abused pets in China, and government-sponsored culling of street dogs has exacerbated fear. While a small number of animals have tested positive for the virus, the World Health Organization says there is no scientific evidence that pets can transmit it to humans. (The Independent, London, 3/15)

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. The volume of mail received prohibits personal replies, but questions and comments of general interest will be discussed in future columns.

Visit Dr. Fox’s website at DrFoxOneHealth.com.)

DEAR READERS: The novel coronavirus now causing a global pandemic named COVID-19 should be renamed in honor of young Chinese doctor Li Wenliang. He was the first to raise concerns about this new virus, warning colleagues on WeChat about an outbreak of an illness that resembled severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), later acknowledged as COVID-19. On Jan. 3, Wuhan police summoned and admonished him for “making false comments on the internet.” Li, a family man, returned to work, later contracted the virus from an infected patient and died from the disease on Feb. 7, at age 33. His death was no doubt due, in part, to the stress of being apprehended by the police and silenced by the government for spreading “false rumors.”

An ancient aphorism says that in crisis, there is opportunity. That’s certainly true for the hucksters hoarding and reselling disinfectants and “cures” at inflated prices, and the private-sector profits to be made from test kits, sanitizers, remedial drugs and vaccinations down the line. But there is also the opportunity for humankind to change and live more mindfully, since so many diseases that infect us come from animals -- those we should leave alone, respect and protect in the wild, and domestic ones like pigs and chickens raised under crowded, unhealthy and inhumane conditions. COVID-19 most probably came from bats caught for human consumption and held in an open market in Wuhan.

Hopefully, this global health crisis is catalyzing greater international collaboration in disease prevention and treatment. We may yet see the emergence of a United Environmental Nations that unshackles public health from politics, nationalism and isolationism, prioritizes the health and security of the people, and links public health with environmental and animal health.

Already, with fewer people traveling by air and road, global air quality is improving, and particulate air pollution is a significant factor in human susceptibility to respiratory infections. And there is another golden opportunity: With schools closing and more people spending more time at home, it’s an ideal opportunity to go to the animal shelter and adopt or foster an animal. This will occupy, entertain and educate children in the home and provide companionship for those living alone over the many weeks ahead. It is well documented that having one or more animal companions in our homes improves our physical and mental health, notably our immune systems, with children’s susceptibility to allergies being significantly reduced.

Animal shelters must practice due diligence -- health-screening staff, distance-spacing visitors and prohibiting any physical contact with animals. Adoptions must be done “on-sight only,” since this virus could be transmitted to a cat or dog after being touched by an infected visitor.

CONCERN MOUNTS FOR CHINA’S ABANDONED ANIMALS

Many residents who evacuated from Wuhan, China, as the coronavirus outbreak took hold left pets behind with enough food and water for a few days. Weeks later, many of them have still been unable to return home. Estimates suggest tens of thousands of pets were left in the cities of Hubei province alone, and those that remain alive are at risk of dying soon. To read more, go to cnn.com/2020/3/15/asia/coronavirus-animals-pets-trnd/index.html.

COMPANY HAS VETERINARY SARS-COV-2 TEST READY IF NEEDED

Idexx Laboratories tested thousands of samples from dogs and cats while validating a veterinary test for the novel coronavirus spreading among humans, and the company found no positive results in samples from either species. Company leaders said Idexx would make the tests available if it becomes clear that it is clinically relevant to test pets. (Portland (Maine) Press Herald, March 13)

DEAR DR. FOX: In the next few days, I plan to adopt a 4-year-old female beagle from a local animal shelter. She is currently living in a foster home, and the foster mom has told me that within five minutes of starting a car trip, the dog gets carsick. We live about 45 minutes from the animal shelter. Is there anything I can do to help her until I can get her home to my local vet? Even once I get her home, the trip to our vet will take at least five or 10 minutes.

I can clean up the mess in the car, I just hate to see her upset. I don’t know if the shelter vet will prescribe anything for this, since she will no longer be in their care. Is there anything homeopathic that I can give her? -- L.W., High Point, North Carolina

DEAR L.W.: Good for you for adopting a dog in need of a loving home.

One form of carsickness is more due to anxiety than motion-invoked nausea. Spray your car with an emulsion of oil of lavender, and have a few drops of essential oil of lavender on a bandanna around the dog’s neck before putting her in the car. One-half of a human Dramamine pill may help, given a half-hour beforehand.

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. The volume of mail received prohibits personal replies, but questions and comments of general interest will be discussed in future columns.

Visit Dr. Fox’s website at DrFoxOneHealth.com.)