Can North American animal poison control center call data provide early warning of outbreaks associated with contaminated pet food? Using the 2007 melamine pet food contamination incident as a case study.

The 2007 melamine pet food contamination incident highlighted the need for enhanced reporting of toxicological exposures and development of a national quantitative disease surveillance system for companion animals. Data from poison control centers, such as the Animal Poison Control Center (APCC), may be useful for conducting real-time surveillance in this population. In this study, we explored the suitability of APCC call data for early warning of toxicological incidents in companion animal populations by using a-priori knowledge of the melamine-related nephrotoxicosis outbreak. Patient and household-level information regarding possible toxicological exposures in dogs and cats reported to the APCC from 2005 to 2007, inclusive, were extracted from the APCC's AnTox database. These data were used to examine the impact of surveillance outcome, statistical methodology, analysis level, and call source on the ability to detect the outbreak prior to the voluntary recall issued by the pet food manufacturer. Retrospective Poisson temporal scan tests were applied for each combination of outcome, method, level, and call source. The results showed that month-adjusted scans using syndromic data may have been able to help detect the outbreak up to two months prior to the voluntary recall although the success of these methods varied across call sources. We also demonstrated covariate month-adjustment can lead to vastly different results based on the surveillance outcome and call source to which it is applied. This illustrates care should be taken prior to arbitrarily selecting a surveillance outcome and statistical model for surveillance efforts and warns against ignoring the impacts of call source or key covariates when applying quantitative surveillance methods to APCC call data since these factors can lead to very different results. This study provides further evidence that APCC call data may be useful for conducting surveillance in the US companion animal population and further exploratory analyses and validation studies are warranted.

Companion animal exposures to potentially poisonous substances reported to a national poison control center in the United States in 2005 through 2014.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate data concerning suspected companion animal exposures to possibly hazardous substances reported during telephone calls to the US Animal Poison Control Center (APCC) for characterization of dog and cat exposures to potentially toxic substances in the United States. SAMPLE: Household-level poisonings events involving dogs and cats in the United States that were reported to the APCC in 2005 through 2014. PROCEDURES: Substances involved in reported poisonings of dogs and cats were classified into 20 general categories, and descriptive statistical analysis was used to examine the most common categories. Case fatality ratios were estimated for all exposure categories for which a final outcome status of the affected animal was documented. RESULTS: Over the 10-year study period, 241,261 household-level poisoning events were reported to the APCC from across the United States, of which 86.0% and 14.0% involved dogs and cats, respectively. The most common agent categories reported for dogs included human medicines, foods, and pesticides. The most common agent categories reported for cats included human medicines, plants, and veterinary medicines. Chocolate and Lilium plants were the most commonly reported exposures of dogs and cats, respectively. Fluorouracil (65.2%) and bifenthrin (66.7%) were found to have the highest case fatality ratio for dogs and cats, respectively. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The APCC call data can be used to identify the most common toxicological exposures of dogs and cats, understand the epidemiological aspects of these poisonings, and inform education programs for owners and veterinarians. Data from the APCC may be suitable for surveillance of toxicological exposures of companion animals in the United States.