H1N1 virus and Canine infection - Page 3

 Thank you Jackal,

If I get to Canada, I will certainly take your suggestions. I know that part of Canada is stunning and I am envious of you. I lived in Austria for a year when I was younger and also was able to spend some time in Germany and Spain. I am fluent in German, but my Spanish is lacking. I hope to someday be able to go back to those places in Europe, and I have many friends in Germany who keep asking me to come. As it is now, I can only teach and study the wonderful art, music and history of those countries.

Hodie- OOPS, my bad, the vaccine is for H3N8, Canine Influenza. The one I was thinking of is strictly for swine and is produced by Pfizer. I don't know what the heck I was thinking of, sorry, super long days at work this week. We are down 3 people to the flu. We are down to 2 techs, and no receptionist for 2 vets, really sucks. and of course this is the week everyones dog has had diarrhea or vomiting for a week and they need to be seen today. LOL I was checking back through the AVMA newsletter and apparently there was a flock of turkeys affected with H1N1 in Virginia, now that is scary!

Hodie- Sorry, no we have not seen H3N8 yet. We have seen a really bizzare increase in pneumonia and even more bizarre is that it has been Pseudomonas bacteria we have cultured from lung fluid. We had a client with 4 Rhodesians all come down with it. We treated it very aggresively with Baytril, which as you know is horribly expensive. I believe she spent over $3,000 just in medication alone. Three have recovered, but the 1 is still showing bacteria. I can say in all honesty that Pseudomonas is one that scares the crap out of me, such a horrible bacteria and extremely resistant, the damage it can do is incredible.  I would be interested to see the Rabies list you have, we have had quite a few potential infections, fotunately for us and them after quarantine, no symptoms. I was bitten severely by a stray cat someone rescued, unfortunately the cat was acting positively, and  unfortunately the owner did have to turn it over to the health dept. luckily it was negative. That was a horribly long 3 days waiting for results!

 Hi mking,

Glad I had not missed something on the vaccine. Yes, there is a new canine influenza virus available. And yes, I agree with you about pseudomonas infections. It is bad news in humans too. That is bad news to have four dogs belonging to one breeder all come down with a pseudomonas lung infection.  My vet recently told me she was also seeing many pneumonia infections......interesting. I wonder if she ever tested for organism....

I get stuff like Baytril at cost, but it is terribly expensive even so. And it is the "big gun" of antibiotics, although I know Amikacin can also be used. I have never used the later and wonder whether it is so expensive as Baytril. I think it only comes as an injectable....???? Has your practice ever used it?

The rabies article states these counties in these states:

Greenbriar Country in WV 2 cases 

Elkrun Township, Ohio - many cases this year in Ohio

Davidson County in NC, another case with 8 this year

We also had a rabies outbreak this November, about 10 miles from me, something not seen for many, many years. In the first three cases above the link to the ProMed report is at the link here. It is too long to post here without posting in pieces.

http://www.promedmail.org

Just search on rabies in those counties and the article will come up, or email me privately and I can send you the complete posting. As for your scare, geez, yes, that would scare the heck out of me as well. Glad it was negative. Have you ever considered rabies vaccination for yourself? I might elect to do it if I worked with strays all the time.

Going to hit the sack. Snowing like heck here and that will mean a miserable day tomorrow taking care of the dogs.

Hi Hodie,  I am vaccinated for pre-exposure, it was last done in 2001 I think.? I have a titer done yearly by the health department. I am shocked everytime I get the results, after all of that time I still have enough antibodies to not need a booster. The initial first shot of the series made me so ill that I could not even move for 2 days! It felt like I had the flu and been run over by a truck at the same time! LOL  We usually don't use Amikacin, it is not cost prohibitive for the small amounts we would use, so Baytril it is. I belive it does only come injectable. We have even seen an increase in price for some of the basic antibiotics such as Cephalexin, we have had alot of difficulty in ordering it, apparently it is shortage. Not a good thing since we treat most of the skin infections we see with it. The pneumonia increase is interesting to say the least, not sure what is causing the increase of it. Thanks for the rabies link, interesting to read. The last case we had of a positive was 2 years ago and believe it or not a fisherman at a local resevoir who was attacked by a beaver! He killed it after he was bitten, luckily. Stay warm, and take care in the snow!

Mystere,

Are you going to go to any of the Olympic events? Boy, what I would give to go!!! Jackal, I did not know that Canadian beer is high-octane, but it sounds like I would enjoy one as well!! Too bad we don't all live closer to each other.

Interesting reading.

After reading this post it has me wondering, At the veterinary clinic where I work  we have been seeing quite a few dogs diagnosed with pneumonia. I had thought it to be strange as it is something that we normally  only see on a rare occasion but reading this it could be that some of them at least, may have come into contact with H1N1.

As we are now into summer we are not hearing about many cases but the public are being told to remain vigilant and to take up the offer of the free vaccinations. **********  I have yet to take up that offer.

We had a client loose a 10 month old dog to the H1N1 flu vaccination. The vaccination reacted with it's immune system and they couldn't save it. Our vet will not perscribe the shot as it's too new to the market.

 Dog1,

I think you mean canine influenza vaccine and not H1N1. There is no canine "swine flu" vaccine produced. I have not given any canine influenza vaccine, but I will say that it is produced just as are other vaccines, with the same technology, and again, cause and effect was likely not established. So to say the vaccine caused the death may not be correct. None the less, I am sorry for someone loosing their dog. In all situations where vaccination is given, there is always a possibility of a reaction, however small.