Posted on 09/23/2005 8:06:40 PM PDT by neverdem
A new, highly contagious and sometimes deadly canine flu is spreading in kennels and at dog tracks around the country, veterinarians said yesterday.
The virus, which scientists say mutated from an influenza strain that affects horses, has killed racing greyhounds in seven states and has been found in shelters and pet shops in many places, including the New York suburbs, though the extent of its spread is unknown.
Dr. Cynda Crawford, an immunologist at the University of Florida's College of Veterinary Medicine who is studying the virus, said that it spread most easily where dogs were housed together but that it could also be passed on the street, in dog runs or even by a human transferring it from one dog to another. Kennel workers have carried the virus home with them, she said.
How many dogs die from the virus is unclear, but scientists said the fatality rate is more than 1 percent and could be as high as 10 percent among puppies and older dogs.
Dr. Crawford first began investigating greyhound deaths in January 2004 at a racetrack in Jacksonville, Fla., where 8 of the 24 greyhounds who contracted the virus died.
"This is a newly emerging pathogen," she said, "and we have very little information to make predictions about it. But I think the fatality rate is between 1 and 10 percent."
She added that because dogs had no natural immunity to the virus, virtually every animal exposed would be infected. About 80 percent of dogs that are infected with the virus will develop symptoms, Dr. Crawford said. She added that the symptoms were often mistaken for "kennel cough,"...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Counting NY and NJ, that's 9 states.
Goodbye cruel world!
BTT
Man's best friend - but the reverse may not be true...
Prediction: Someone will introduce a bill in congress to have the CDC make this a top priority.
I guess it's just the doggonest thing they ever saw!
ping
woof!
doug, I was just going to ping you all.
ping?
aside from having fun pinging the pack, let me thank you for posting this.
I'll forward it to my local vets.
it has literally "killed" Greyhound Racing in CT., MA., And R.I. Thank God!! What a cruel and unusual punishment
Maybe cock fighting will come next.. how better to "spread" Avian flu!!
ping
racing isn't all that cruel, but what they do with "surplus animals" should earn the practitioners public execution by scourging.
I don't know that for sure, all I know is that I have 2 retired greyhounds being walked by a very nice gal who is minus a quart.. they poop on my lawn (which is okay)
But between the three of them, they are so "buzzed out" I wonder if they know collectively where home is..
She always waves when I drive by, and I have a 4 yr old choc. Lab who is really cute, but dumber than a box' rocks!
I have a 4 yr old choc. Lab who is really cute, but dumber than a box' rocks!
Man, that's the first Lab I've ever heard of that wasn't intelligent.
Ping. I haven't read this yet.
Of high interest since many human anti-virus vaccines are made from horses. This flu began with horses and moved to canines - sounds suspiciously like a variant of West-Nile virus.
Horses have been routinely vaccinated for West Nile for a couple of years now --- when did this one start?
WOOF
fyi
Senate Clears NASA to Buy Russian Spaceships
Human influenza viruses becoming resistant to class of flu drugs: CDC study
Fossils Offer Support for Meteor's Role in Dinosaur Extinction
FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list. Anyone can post any unrelated link as they see fit.
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