Rare parasite from raw beef? - Page 1

Let me start by saying that all of my personal dogs are fed ToTW and raw and have been for 7 years now. Not only do I not have any health problems but they are the healthiest dogs I have ever owned. I try to educate any puppy buyers about the proper way to feed but I cannot make them do what I do.
A few months ago I sold a female pup to a very nice, young couple. The wife was a vegetarian and she made it very clear she would not have raw meat in her home. So I told her the kinds of kibble I reccomended. I told her of the problems that can arise from feeding corn and wheat but they were very adamant that feeding raw was a bad thing and she said she would not have raw meat in her home. I told her the kinds of good kibble she should feed. I can't make every person believe that a raw diet is good.

 She called me a couple of months after and said their pup had diarrhea and they took her to the vet. The vet told them the dog had a very rare parasite from eating raw beef. The vet treated the dog for this parasite.  It was not a common parasite like gihardia or cocci. It was supposedly a parasite of the brain. I had never heard of it and don't remember what it was. It was like they were saying, "told you so!"

I have since seen her post things on FB of her puppy having a diarrhea day. She feeds a limited ingrediant food that has the first ingredient of sweet potatoe. She said her puppy has a weak stomach. I never saw a weak stomach while the puppy was with me.


Has anyone heard of a rare parasite from raw beef? Also, there were 6 puppies in this litter and not one of the others got this parasite. I had them on the same diet. 
Stephanie

Well I for one can't think of anything.  Pork yes... beef, not a clue sorry.

I am a Medical Technologist who specialty is Microbiology (which among other things includes Parasitology). I am trained in people not in dogs. That being said I haven't heard of a parasite from eating raw beef (and neither has my husband who is a physician). I am sure I would remember this because I love my steak and hamburgers medium rare. If there were such a parasite I am sure people would be coming down with it all the time. There is a pork tape worm that lives in the muscle of a pig called Trichinella (the worm) or Trichinosis (the disease). 

There are lots of other worms that you can get from eating raw meat that has been contaminated during processing of the meat, some of which are more closely associated with beef than others. Taenia Saginata is one commonly called the "beef tapeworm". If it was easy to get any of these I am sure I would have had them a long time ago. Even working in a human clinical lab I have only seen them a handful of times and I worked at a "University" teaching hospital. Most of these parasites are in the tape worms family and I doubt a vet would be calling a tapeworm "rare". It is fairly common for dogs to have tape worms??

I would be very interested in knowing exactly which parasite they were told their dog had and how the diagnosis was made (was it sent off to a lab that did a stain/smear off of a concentrated preserved specimen or was it on a wet prep). There is NO WAY to diagnose a specific parasite off of a wet prep. The closest you can get is to say the dog has a tape worm, round worm, giardia, or coccidia. None of which I would consider rare.

Chances are the dog had some diarrhea due to diet change. The vet did a parasite exam and the dog had a parasite (cause what puppy doesn't). The vegetarian woman probably freaked out and told the vet that the breeder where she got the dog from was feeding raw beef. The vet then probably told her "well there is a possibility this is where the puppy could have gotten the parasite from". The woman with her anti-raw mentality is now convinced that her puppy got a parasite from eating raw beef and called you to let you know that what you are doing is pure evil . The vet probably gave the dog an antibiotic without giving a probiotic or fiber (pumpkin) so now the dog's normal flora is wiped out and the puppy has episodes of diarrhea. It is pretty classic. 

The other puppies may or may not have this mystery parasite. If you still have the puppies I would probably deworm them. If you don't I wouldn't worry about it much. 

I feed my dogs raw hamburger and I don't have any concerns with parasites.

as a side note:
I had someone adopt a dog from me. The dog from the Bahamas. The woman who adopted from me asked me a ton of questions about the dogs from the bahamas being "sick" because they were from a third world country. I assured her these dogs have been dewormed, vaccinated, and are not sick. She adopted the dog and immediately took it to her vet. The dog had a slight temperature (probably stress) and the vet put the dog on antibiotics. Same thing happened... the dog then had runny stools and diarrhea for awhile. I told her to put the dog on a probiotic and some pumpkin. She then called me and told me the dog has warts and she couldn't deal with the health problems of this dog anymore so she returned the dog. We then found the dog another home and the dog and new owner have lived happily ever after. 

I think there are a handful of people out there who will take something (that they believe to be an issue) and make it an issue because they are convinced is should be an issue.

Note to self, don't sell anymore puppies to vegetarians.

Could this be it???
Courtesy of Merck Vet Manual-----

Outbreaks of sporadic bovine encephalomyelitis (SBE) have occurred in various parts of the world. Reports indicate that chlamydiae can also cause infections of the brain in humans, opossums, dogs, and several avian species.

Etiology and Epidemiology:

SBE is caused by the species Chlamydophila pecorum . Subclinical intestinal infections in cattle and other animals are probably much more common than reported and may well be the source of infection in SBE. It is not understood why, in sporadic cases, chlamydiae leave a balanced host-parasite relationship in the intestine, penetrate the intestinal barrier, establish a blood-infectious phase, and infect the brain as the target organ. The disease is most often seen in cattle 3 mo to 3 yr old. Morbidity rates are usually low but can reach 50%; many sick calves die if not treated at an early stage.

Clinical Findings:

The incubation period in experimentally infected calves is 6-30 days. The first sign in natural and experimental cases is fever (104-107°F). The temperature remains increased until shortly before death or recovery. Appetite remains good for the first 2-3 days despite the fever. Afterward, depression, excess salivation, diarrhea, anorexia, and weight loss occur. Calves are incoordinated and stagger or fall over objects. Head pressing and blindness are not seen. In the terminal stage, calves are frequently recumbent and may develop opisthotonos. The course of the disease is usually 10-14 days. Lesions: Lesions are not limited to the brain; vascular damage can be seen in many different organs. Serofibrinous peritonitis, pleuritis, and pericarditis are common and are especially pronounced in more chronic cases. Microscopic lesions in the brain consist of perivascular cuffs and inflammatory foci in the parenchyma composed primarily of mononuclear cells.

Diagnosis:

A tentative diagnosis can be based on clinical signs and particularly on the presence of a serofibrinous peritonitis in the absence of other causes of peritonitis such as intestinal volvulus, intussusception, traumatic perforation of the reticulum, perforated abomasal ulcer, or displaced organs. Differential diagnoses also include rabies, infectious bovine rhinotracheitis with encephalitis, listeriosis, thromboembolic encephalomyelitis, polioencephalomalacia, pseudorabies, and malignant catarrhal fever. A diagnosis of SBE is confirmed by isolation of the organism from brain tissue in either developing chicken embryos or cell cultures, by histologic changes in brain sections, by evaluation of tissue impression smears after Giemsa or immunofluorescent staining, or by demonstration of Chlamydophila DNA via PCR testing.

Treatment:

The antibiotics of choice are tetracyclines, oxytetracyclines, and tylosin. For treatment to be effective, it must be given as early as possible in high doses (eg, oxytetracyclines at 20-50 mg/kg/day) and for ≥1 wk. If treatment is effective, the fever should drop significantly within 24 hr. Vaccines are not available.

 

Thanks to all.
Beardog, I am not sure that is it but I will try to get it out of her owner. My gut is telling me that she just made up this story to make her point that raw is bad. But in case her dog really did get something from raw beef, It will not waver me in my belief as I have never had a bad outcome from it. Only good.
I deworm all of my puppies 2 times before they go to new homes. All of the puppies were sold by 9 weeks and I did ask all of the owners if there were any symptoms and there were none.
I am going to message the owner and see if she will tell me what the name of this parasite is.
Thanks
Stephanie

I think chlamydiae are bacteria?

And I think Echo has hit the nail on the head.

Chlamydiae is a bacteria... an intracellular bacteria at that. It would be next to impossible to diagnose without specialized blood cultures. It would take about 1.5 - 2 weeks to diagnose in a human laboratory. 

Von Ward Kennels, please check your pm box.

You may be right but there is the possibility of:
This is a parasite however.
Brucellosis - Trypanosomiasis Brucei - Humans can acquire brucellosis by direct inoculation through cuts and skin abrasions, especially from handling animal tissues or secretions, via the conjunctiva, inhalation of infected aerosols and ingestion of contaminated food such as raw milk, cheeses made from unpasteurized milk, or raw meat.Trypanosomescan be found from Nairobi to New York, from Sydney to San Francisco, and from Birmingham to Buenos Aires. Fortunately, few species of trypanosomes are pathogenic. Trypanosomes, and other parasites, mainly cause disease when they spread to new hosts, like humans and their domestic animals, especially recent imports into endemic areas of species that diverged since continents separated.
 

Brucellosis is a bacterium. I have seen it in the lab. Very rare and takes special care to be able to culture it. 

Trypanosomes in America are even more rare. I haven't ever seen one. If this puppy had Trypanosomes it would be similar to heart worm in that it would take weeks to see symptoms and diagnosis would happen via blood smear. Also transmission of Trypanosomes is typically via the tsetse fly. This is a blood born. The fly bites you, then defecates on you, the rubs it in the bite. Lovely transmission. If the OP lives in Africa this might be a concern. If your in America I wouldn't worry about it.

The most likely diagnosis is usually the correct diagnosis. I wouldn't go looking for needles in haystacks until the OP finds out which "rare" parasite this puppy had. I will be surprised if the owner or the vet can tell him.

The bottom line is American society is completely freaked out by raw meat. We should wear space suits when handling it. A vegetarian is probably 10 times worse about this kind of stuff. When people find out I feed raw meat to my dogs they look at me like I have lost my mind and then look at my dogs and wonder how they are still living. I find it no coincidence that the only report the OP has had of this problem is from a person who was 100% against feeding their dog raw meat.