Chatterbox
09-28-2005, 01:30 PM
To conteract the internet mania that is beginning to circulate, these are the words of one of the veterinarians in the forefront of researching and disseminating the information, Dr. Cynda Crawford from the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine:
"With regard to what veterinarians will be interested in knowing is that this virus can cause a respiratory disease that mimics a syndrome that we call kennel cough.
Now, kennel cough is just a syndrome, and it can be due to a myriad of infectious agents--bacteria as well as viruses. So the most common cause of kennel cough has been a bacterium called bordetella bronchiseptica and with information that we have to date, this still may be the most common cause of respiratory infection in dogs.
So the canine influenza virus is really the new kid on the block for veterinarians to consider in their differential diagnoses for kennel cough. They should consider canine influenza if a dog presents to them with a cough. They may have a nasal discharge and a fever also.
And because kennel cough really is an infectious disease, and it's a contagious disease regardless of the cause, whether it's bordetella bronchiseptica or canine influenza virus or other viruses, these dogs should be handled with some precautions, precautions that veterinarians normally use when they are treating a patient that has a potential infectious disease that is contagious to other dogs. So this type of precaution would involve the isolation of the respiratory disease or at least protection of other dogs in their clinics, while this particular dog with respiratory disease is undergoing diagnosis and treatment and potentially hospitalization.
I'll also stress that despite the rumors that are out on the Internet and other such sources, this disease is not as deadly as people want to make it. Although it's a new pathogen in dogs and nearly all dogs are susceptible to infection based on our knowledge about the virus to date, about 80 percent of them will have a mild form of disease, just characterized by cough and maybe some nasal discharge that will resolve over time with appropriate therapy.
Only a minority of dogs, a small number of dogs, experience complications such as pneumonia, just like the humans infected with influenza, certain populations of humans are more prone to development of pneumonia. And it's a small number of humans compared to everyone else.
So that is the same with canine influenza virus. It's a small population of dogs that will develop complications, most likely bacterial complications and these dogs do need to be--have their treatment supervised by a veterinarian.
In addition, since not all dogs will show a clinical syndrome, showing that they have a respiratory infection, there is a minority that are infected with the virus, but will not show clinical signs to announce to everybody that “I am sick.” And it is very difficult to find these dogs in the dog population. And we're working on a more rapid means of identification.
And lastly, I want to emphasize most of all that this is not the deadly virus that certain sources have played it up to be.
We have a very low mortality rate. And this is a disease that I would characterize as one of high morbidity and low mortality. Thank you.
"With regard to what veterinarians will be interested in knowing is that this virus can cause a respiratory disease that mimics a syndrome that we call kennel cough.
Now, kennel cough is just a syndrome, and it can be due to a myriad of infectious agents--bacteria as well as viruses. So the most common cause of kennel cough has been a bacterium called bordetella bronchiseptica and with information that we have to date, this still may be the most common cause of respiratory infection in dogs.
So the canine influenza virus is really the new kid on the block for veterinarians to consider in their differential diagnoses for kennel cough. They should consider canine influenza if a dog presents to them with a cough. They may have a nasal discharge and a fever also.
And because kennel cough really is an infectious disease, and it's a contagious disease regardless of the cause, whether it's bordetella bronchiseptica or canine influenza virus or other viruses, these dogs should be handled with some precautions, precautions that veterinarians normally use when they are treating a patient that has a potential infectious disease that is contagious to other dogs. So this type of precaution would involve the isolation of the respiratory disease or at least protection of other dogs in their clinics, while this particular dog with respiratory disease is undergoing diagnosis and treatment and potentially hospitalization.
I'll also stress that despite the rumors that are out on the Internet and other such sources, this disease is not as deadly as people want to make it. Although it's a new pathogen in dogs and nearly all dogs are susceptible to infection based on our knowledge about the virus to date, about 80 percent of them will have a mild form of disease, just characterized by cough and maybe some nasal discharge that will resolve over time with appropriate therapy.
Only a minority of dogs, a small number of dogs, experience complications such as pneumonia, just like the humans infected with influenza, certain populations of humans are more prone to development of pneumonia. And it's a small number of humans compared to everyone else.
So that is the same with canine influenza virus. It's a small population of dogs that will develop complications, most likely bacterial complications and these dogs do need to be--have their treatment supervised by a veterinarian.
In addition, since not all dogs will show a clinical syndrome, showing that they have a respiratory infection, there is a minority that are infected with the virus, but will not show clinical signs to announce to everybody that “I am sick.” And it is very difficult to find these dogs in the dog population. And we're working on a more rapid means of identification.
And lastly, I want to emphasize most of all that this is not the deadly virus that certain sources have played it up to be.
We have a very low mortality rate. And this is a disease that I would characterize as one of high morbidity and low mortality. Thank you.