Canine Flu In The Us

[Working Dog Lover]

One of the viruses involved in kennel cough is a parainfluenza virus. There's a news report from part of the US about canine flu, but as yet I've not been able to check out whether it's PI or some other virus. Will keep googling. Interesting though, given the issues with horses at the moment..

http://dognewsoftheworld.blogspot.com/2007...01_archive.html

Audrey

[InspectorRex]

Be interested in the outcome of your searches Audrey

Colleen

[Ozstar]

I have added a reply in general under horse flu but have been looking into the dog flu on google.

There has been a lot of cases of the dog flu in the US and it has come from the horse flu. It is also killing dogs.

A new canine flu virus, said to have mutated from a horse flu virus, is spreading across the USA and affecting many dogs in kennels, shelters, race tracks and even some pet shops. Some racing greyhounds have died.

You can read about this in more detail in the web pages of the University of Florida's College of Veterinary Medicine.

Scientists say infected dogs have also been found in larger numbers where many animals are housed together. How widespread the new virus is, is not clear yet.

A dog can become easily infected. Those most at risk are the ones that live with many other dogs (shelters and kennels). However, an animal can pick it up while out on a walk. Humans can pick it up from one dog and pass it on to another (the human does not get ill).

Researchers from Florida's College of Veterinary Medicine say the death rate is over 1%, it could be much higher for older dogs and puppies.

Symptoms

- Fever

- Cough (often mistaken for 'kennel cough')

Kennel cough does not usually come with a fever

- Runny nose

- Pneumonia (an uncommon complication with untreated dogs)

Antibiotics and fluid reduce the number of deaths from pneumonia

This is scary has there is no vaccine for this.

Leanne

[Ozstar]

If you google "horse flu affecting dogs" there are a lot of articles on it.

Leanne