Can people catch kennel cough from their dog?......

[Vicki]

I ask because first....one of my little Poms apparently caught it while at the vet for a checkup visit....I wasn't sure at first if it was collapsing trachea or allergies or kennel cough. Took him back to the vet....lungs and heart were good....temp was normal. Because of the timing (about a week or so after the first vet visit) the vet was leaing in the directio of kenncl cough. Apparently he was right because my little Pom improved some each day and is now over it. But....while he was still sick I then started with a cold...a typical head cold with sore throat...all the usual stuff. My dad read somewhere that people can indeed catch a germ from their pet if it has kennel cough. I can't find any info on the internet to support either theory. Called my vet and they said no, people cannot catch anything from a kennel cough infected dog. But it was sure odd that I got a cold when I did.....I wasn't around anyone who was sick. Any thoughts on this? Thanks!

[Traci]

No, it is a species-specific viral (or combination of viral and bacterial).

[k9Karen]

Traci, sorry to contradict you, but Bordetella brochiseptica is a bacterial infection that can be passed dog to human. Although this is rare and usually occurs only in people with debilitated immune systems, it can be passed. I've cultured it in humans - from both wounds and sputums. Some Steptococcus species can also cause what can be diagnosed as kennel cough, and it is also transmissible dog to human. The canine viral lung infections can not be passed to humans. It depends on the cause of the infection as to whether or not it is potentially infectious to humans.

[Traci]

I agree that strep strains might be passed, but in terms of bordetella, it would indeed be a rareity to be passed to humans. In this case, if the owner was not immunosuppressed, it would more than likely be coincidental.

[k9Karen]

I agree. It is very unlikely that someone with cold-like symptoms would have the same bacterial infection that causes kennel cough. A person with B.bronchiseptica infection in the lungs would be very ill with pneumonia, not a cold. I wanted to say that passing the infections is definitely possible, but I should have been more specific in my reply related to this specific question. Infection in humans is possible even in someone with a normal immune system, but it is very rare. This infection isn't tracked in humans, so the exact number of infections isn't really known. Only those cases that have been published are known about. I suspect there are acturally more that never made it to print. If someone had a cold or other respiratory infection. asthma, or allergy that in some way compromised only the respiratory system (possibly temporarily), they could be immunocompetent and still become infected, but it's definitley unlikely.

Some info for anyone interested:

http://www.vetmed.wisc.edu/pbs/zoonoses ... index.html