A New Deadly, Contagious Dog Flu Virus Is Detected in 7 States

NY Times ^ | September 22, 2005 | DONALD G. McNEIL Jr. and CARIN RUBENSTEIN

[Tribune7]

ping

[ZOTnot]

Not good news for my dog here in WV then. Is there an inoculation?

(He's family!)

[neverdem]

Horses have been routinely vaccinated for West Nile for a couple of years now --- when did this one start?

Maybe doug knows.

[MarMema]

FYI ping...for later for you, Sink.

[Squantos]

Dog Gone Flu BTTT !

[conservative cat]

I am not a fan of Greyhound racing (and find what they do to most retired racers is criminal), but I am a fan of the racing Greyhound breed (slightly different than the standard AKC Greyhound.) My parents have a retired racer and he is the sweetest guy around. They really have great personalities- and are very well mannered considering they aren't raised as "house pets." It will be sad when their kind die out!

[NRA2BFree]

The flu has killed greyhounds at tracks in Florida, Massachusetts, Arizona, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Texas and Iowa. Tracks and kennels have been forced to shut down for weeks for disinfection.

Counting NY and NJ, that's 9 states.

Ah hah! Proof that the US has given AZ and TX back to Mexico. Obviously they weren't included in the total. LOL

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[Perdogg]

Who let the dogs out?

[not_apathetic_anymore]

Is there an inoculation?

I'll be interested to hear any vets check in on this subject.

I first read about this on a blog quoting a vet in FL 2 days ago, then last night our TV station ran a segement on it saying it starts out looking like kennel cough but then gets ugly and many dogs need to be hospitalized and need iv fluids and antibiotics to survive ...now the NYT carries a story.

So are there lots of cases of this out there - is it some doggie epidemic in the making? Or is it scaremongering for those of us who consider the critters family?

IIRC the info off of the FL vets site said no vaccination for this:(

[HairOfTheDog]

A new virus is important news... but I think the headline is overly alarmist:

...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...

It is an illness, but not a commonly deadly one. Parvovirus is much more common, and WAY more deadly.

I wish it said which strain of equine flu it is... If it is one where an equine vaccine already exists, I'd think a canine vaccine wouldn't be too long in the making.

Ping!

Other articles with keyword "DOGGIEPING" since 12/29/04

Ping!

[norraad]

..is there an inoculation?

Garlic, no virus can live in blood with enough.

[Arizona Carolyn]

Keep your dogs away from other dogs and if you have to take a puppy to the vet carry it and put it on a towel from your own home...

Just as a side note, there is something else, too, that is being called Parvo and isn't Parvo... several people have found out that the best thing anyone has found for this is to administer Tamiflu right away -- in each reported case where Tamiflu was given the dog recovered... my question on this would be to wonder if anyone has tried Tamiflu for this influenza?

[vetvetdoug]

Equine Influenza has been around as long as I have been in practice. It is an Orthomyxo virus much like the one that infects humans and this particular strain has jumped species from horses into dogs. The veterinary community has been aware of it since early 2004. The West Nile Virus is a Togavirus, alphavirus type, that is a different virus altogether morphologically and structurally. Horses are routinely vaccinated to four different strains of the influenza virus, West Nile, Eastern Encephalitis, Western Encephalitis, Venezuelan Encephalitis, four strains of Rhinovirus ( a virus from the family that contains Hoof and Mouth), Tetanus, and Strepcoccus equi (Strangles). There are other vaccinations for horses but they are used only in the areas where a disease is encountered.

I have heard anecdotal reports of dogs vaccinated with the Equine Vaccine for Influenza but there are no studies to prove efficacy.

[solitas]

...I have a 4 yr old choc. Lab who is really cute, but dumber than a box' rocks!

Your Lab's not dumb - YOU just haven't gotten-up-to-speed yet! :)

(with a 12yr 8mo Yellow here)

[neverdem]

Thanks for the info!

Hombre, check comment# 34.

[vetvetdoug]

Influenza is a respiratory virus and a RNA virus. Parvo is a single stranded enteric DNA virus. Tamiflu is only effective on the replication of a RNA virus. I would be very hesitant to use Tamiflu during an enteric episode in a dog unless a very close to definitive diagnosis is made. I would venture that the use of Tamiflu in dogs with an enteric episode in the cases you mentioned are coincidence.

Just from what I have read, this influenza virus may be more pathogenic in the presence of another bacterial pathogen, Bordetella bronchiseptica or Kennel cough.

[Dustbunny]

Tracks and kennels have been forced to shut down for weeks for disinfection.

I would like to hear they were shut down for good.

[Dustbunny]

She added that the symptoms were often mistaken for "kennel cough,"...

How odd ! I have always thought that the first thing any kennel etc. did was to inoculate against 'kennel cough'.

[ZOTnot]

Not good news for my dog here in WV then. Is there an inoculation?

(He's family!)