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by hexe on 08 September 2013 - 18:09
UNDIAGNOSED VIRUS, CANINE - USA: (OHIO), DEATHS, REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
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Date: Thu 5 Sep 2013
Source: Ohio.com, Akron Beacon Journal Online [edited] <http://www.ohio.com/news/still-no-definitive-answers-for-dog-killing-illness-theory-points-to-new-virus-1.426574>
Clinical signs associated with a new virus are similar to those exhibited in dogs that died in Cincinnati and others sickened in the Akron-Canton area over the past several weeks.
The Ohio Department of Agriculture said it has received calls from veterinarians and anxious dog owners throughout the state who are concerned their animals might have contracted the same illness, which can kill in as little as 48 hours from the onset of signs, said Erica Pitchford Hawkins, communications director for the department.
"We have had numerous calls from all across the state. We haven't been tracking them on a map, but they have been from more areas than the 2," she said, referring to Cincinnati and Akron-Canton.
The Veterinarian Information Network (VIN), a private membership website for veterinarians, announced Thursday [5 Sep 2013] that the state hopes to issue a national news release about the ailment Monday
[9 Sep 2013].
Pathologists are looking at a virus diagnosed in several dogs that died in California in the spring that showed signs similar to the animals from Cincinnati, Hawkins said Thursday [5 Sep 2013].
"The theory they are working on is the 'circovirus' that they are trying to test for. We haven't gotten anything positive back yet," she said.
"Until we get that, we still don't know for sure," she said, and cautioned pet owners to wait until test results are final.
Circovirus is a novel virus (meaning one not seen before) from "a family of viruses that has not been known to cause disease in dogs prior to this year [2013]," said Melanie Butera, a Canal Fulton veterinarian and owner of Elm Ridge Animal Hospital.
Butera was the 1st area veterinarian to report to the state that she saw possibly as many as 4 canine patients with the ailment 2 weeks ago.
Circovirus was so recently discovered, "there is not much at all information about how it is getting around," Hawkins said.
The Beacon Journal has heard from dozens of people who suspect their pets might have contracted the illness, or recovered or died from it, before or since an article appeared Saturday [31 Aug 2013].
Calls and emails have come in from worried pet owners living in a dozen states from the East Coast to the Great Plains who say their animals are displaying similar symptoms to the Ohio dogs.
A total of 3 dogs in the Cincinnati area died and a dozen more were sickened last month [August 2013] with the illness. Clinical signs include bloody diarrhea and vomiting, extreme lethargy, neurological problems, a lack of appetite and other maladies.
"There are countless causes of vomiting and diarrhea in dogs, even bloody diarrhea," Butera said.
But the illness she has seen in the past few weeks is markedly different, she said.
"What made these cases unique is what the pathologist terms 'acute necrotizing vasculitis.' This is when the blood vessels become suddenly damaged and fluid begins leaking out of the vessels," Butera said. "Because of this, the cases I know of did not just have vomiting and bloody diarrhea, they also developed fluid around their lungs and in the abdomen."
As the damage to the vessels continued, she saw hemorrhages, physiological shock and blood clots being thrown into tissues, once with fatal results, she said.
Butera's patients shared some or all of the signs as the Cincinnati dogs; 3 of her canine patients survived after treatment, and one died, she said.
The Ohio Department of Agriculture connected the cases when Butera contacted state officials after seeing 2 dogs with the same signs come into her clinic at the same time 2 weeks ago.
The department requested she send blood samples along with necropsy samples from the dog that died.
Butera said the necropsy samples were sent to the University of California for comparison to samples of animals diagnosed with circovirus.
"They isolated this unusual virus from this dog's tissues. The signs the Ohio Department of Agriculture says they are seeing are consistent with the unique signs and post-mortem findings this dog had," Butera said of the California cases.
It will be several weeks before scientists can determine if the Canal Fulton, Cincinnati and California dogs all died from the same illness, Hawkins said.
Scientists have ruled out a common pathogenic bacterial cause, such as salmonella, _E. coli_ or distemper, based on blood samples, Hawkins said.
Ticks have also been suggested as the cause and method of transmission of the disease.
"I have not had any of my vets talk about ticks with me. Ticks can carry a lot of different kinds of disease, but I've not had my vets say that there is a suspicion that this particular illness is related to ticks," Hawkins said.
Butera is cautioning her patients to wait until a definitive cause has been established before they panic.
"Until the investigation by the pathologists is complete, we will not know whether or not what we saw is from a virus, bacteria, or toxin, etc., or even if these cases are related to each other," she said.
"The only advice I can give people right now is just common sense: If your dog is showing signs of illness, no matter what the cause, do not hesitate to seek veterinary care."
[Byline: Kathy Antoniotti]
--
Communicated by:
Dee Hadorn <bluemohair@gmail.com>,
American Veterinary Medical Association <http://www.avma.org>, and ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
[This has been an intense conversation and a widely shared report on various veterinary websites and mailing lists. The article does a reasonable job of describing the situation. Animals in Ohio and California have been most notably affected, but likely there are others across the regions and nations. This does appear to be a new virus, and veterinarians are anxious to know what the virus is and how to deal with it.
Ohio may be found on the HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map at <http://healthmap.org/r/2uyX>. - Mod.TG]
.................................................tg/je/mpp
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by Hundmutter on 09 September 2013 - 07:09
Seasonal Illness' the UK has experienced in the past 4 years
or so ?
Chief symptoms are vomiting & diarrhea, abdominal pain, high
temperature, lethargy, shaking ...
No one has as yet recorded the vascular necritis, but that may
be there and contributing to the deaths that have occurred to
some dogs here. Some have recovered, but not all. Cause is
a mystery here too, some posit tick-bites, some speculate on
foods, some on pond algae. It seems to be fairly 'locational'
to particular areas at any one time, usually wooded walks with
lakes accessible - but it has proved difficult to find one or more
factors connecting all victims. I don't know how our outbreaks
mainly in autumn (Fall) around August to November sits with
this American bug ? Animal Health Trust is investigating:
www.aht.org.uk/cms_display/sci_clinsigns.html
by Sherman-RanchGSD on 10 September 2013 - 17:09
Debi
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