Dog Flu

[momPaws]

Davet, Traci, Karen..you medical people...what do you think of this?? Do you think it is something for individual dog owner to be concerned about?
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Report: Mysterious Disease Is Flu Strain 54 minutes ago

The mysterious respiratory disease that has swept greyhound racetracks across the country and also afflicted pet dogs is a type of flu — an influenza strain that jumped from horses to dogs, researchers reported Monday.

Such a rapid jump into a new species is rare; the flu usually evolves into new strains more gradually.

But genetic tests of sick dogs found their disease almost identical to the H3N8 influenza strain that afflicts horses, scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and University of Florida discovered.

Moreover, they found evidence of widespread infection in racedogs around the country and in pets of various breeds in Florida and New York.

Since this is a new virus for dogs, they are unlikely to harbor a natural immunity to it.

There are no reports of people sickened by the new canine flu, which is genetically different from human flu strains — and from the bird flu that has killed more than 60 people in Asia.

The results were published online Monday by the journal Science.

This new dog illness made headlines earlier this year as greyhound racetracks closed to control outbreaks. Veterinarians struggled to tell if the illness was a new variant of kennel cough or an entirely new disease.

The CDC researchers counted outbreaks at 14 greyhound tracks in six states from June to August 2004, and at 20 tracks in 11 states between January and May 2005.

It's not clear how dangerous the new canine flu is to dogs. Some die, others experience only a fever and cough, but a large number show no symptoms at all, the researchers report.

While most attention has focused on racing dogs, the researchers tested 70 dogs of various breeds with respiratory disease in Florida and New York pet shelters and veterinary clinics. Some 97 percent showed antibodies to the new canine flu strain.

Tests of blood stored by racetracks suggests the new flu strain began infecting dogs sometime between 1999 and 2003, well before the first outbreaks were recognized, the researchers conclude.

[davet]

this is potent..they are reccomending that people wait out side waiting rooms is possible (stopped by a vetw this AM and there was a lady waiting outside),kennels etc ie areas where dogs are..so far is limited in its spread but it is getting there....

[davet]

lots more


Highly contagious dog flu spreads at kennels, racetracks Unrelated to human or bird strains, virus may have mutated from horse pathogen http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... ype=health

Canine flu spreads to NJ
http://www.thnt.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic ... 30479/1001

A new strain of influenza that began infecting dogs in Florida early last year has recently struck hard in the Westchester area.
http://select.nytimes.com/mem/tnt.html? ... ntemail0=y

Canine flu likely to spread, vet warns
http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/sep05/358155.asp

Dogs cough, and owners worry
http://select.nytimes.com/mem/tnt.html? ... .html&tnte

[Traci]

In July, this was reported as a new strain of canine bordetella, although I don't think they have isolated it completely in order to call it a new "flu" just yet. Both conditions cause respiratory distress, coughing, with or without fever activity...treatment may include IV fluids, antibiotics, and penicillins depending on signs and severity.

Owners should, however, act prudent when taking their dogs out to walks and parks, kenneling, etc...and if at all possible, no kenneling (no contact with other dogs, no nose-to-nose contact, etc) until the disease is isolated and classified, and/or they can design a test to confirm the disease (which is in progress I believe). Owners should be more alert to respiratory signs, coughing, fever, lethargy, etc and vets should be made aware of the disease when diagnosing...also keeping infected dogs isolated.

[momPaws]

In those articles it says that a human can pass the virus from one dog to another...so would good hand washing prevent this...or do they mean the person has the virus in their system and passes it to the second dog?

[davet]

havn,t read all the articles but human passage must be from hand contact...no matter what, hand washing or using one of the alcohol solutions is always a good id4ea...

[k9Karen]

In those articles it says that a human can pass the virus from one dog to another...so would good hand washing prevent this...or do they mean the person has the virus in their system and passes it to the second dog?

I would suspect it's through contact with the infected dog (or it's secretions, which could be on any object) and then passing it to an uninfected one.

[Traci]

In those articles it says that a human can pass the virus from one dog to another...so would good hand washing prevent this...or do they mean the person has the virus in their system and passes it to the second dog?

I would suspect it's through contact with the infected dog (or it's secretions, which could be on any object) and then passing it to an uninfected one.

And by carrying it on clothes, shoes, etc, and the virus then transmits to another dog...