Posted on 04/15/2015 6:54:18 PM PDT by EBH
Have you heard about the brand new H3N2 dog flu sweeping through Chicago and sickening and killing dogs? It may actually be worse than you think: round-the-clock testing has unveiled that this heretofore unknown canine influenza was originally an avian flu that made a “mammalian adaptation” and has been infecting dogs and cats in Asia since 2007. Now it is here in the epicenter of the U.S. Will it sweep across the country and endanger dogs everywhere? Will this deadly flu become like the bird flu in Asia and the swine flu in England, both of which did transform into a flu affecting people? Dr. Donna Spector is based in Chicago and we made a special episode of THE EXPERT VET to answer these questions and more. Please listen.
(Excerpt) Read more at radiopetlady.com ...
The H3N8 strain surfaced in a dog track near Ft. Myers, Florida, and was a mutation from the Equine strain. A classmate of mine discovered it in 2002 and brought in the UF professors from the veterinary college to characterize the virus and disease. This H3N2 strain is new and the H3N8 vaccine may provide cross protection against the H3N2 strain. The Chicago outbreak is both the H3N2 strain and the H3N8 strains of Orthomyxoviradae. Cats and ferrets are also susceptible and have receptors to the flu.
I thought it was gonna be a falling rock from space that would do it.
Ya just never know. Somethin’ will come outta nowheres and smack us all!
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/dog-infects-humans-plague-time-us/story?id=30710741
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