Killer Canine Influenza????

[alexav]

I have NO idea if this is real or an internet hoax. This is what I recieved from a reliable source. What are your thoughts about this?

The New Canine Influenza, Greyhound Disease, Race Flu, Equine
Influenza, Avian Flu

The New Canine Flu, which has killed so many greyhounds is now in
the domestic dog population. There is no treatment and no vaccine.
It has jumped species, (by feeding greyhounds raw horse meat, which
was infected with horse influenza), (horse influenza is avian flu,
which jumped species from birds (avian flu), to horses(horse
influenza). The avian flu has now moved to racing greyhounds and
domestic dogs and the indications are that there may be a potential
problem for humans. It is deadly and it is on the loose. It may just
be a matter of time. The CDC is watching the disease.
There is no central tracking agency with report and stat capability
for dogs that will get the word out to all vets in the US.


The domestic dog population is at present risk.

This week on my net groups I saw many anecdotal accounts of $100,000
show dogs dying while packed in ice and hooked up to IVs, with high
temps. No one knows what is wrong with these dogs and the vets do
not know what they are treating. I think it is Greyhound Influenza
or Race Flu.

Show populations are now infected and the majority of veterinarians
have never heard of the disease. Isolated individuals know this but
the country as a whole does not. A few days after exposure at dog
shows, dogs are traveling back to their home states and infecting
the local populations. Many dogs are dying needlessly. It is not
kennel cough.

The period of incubation is 2-5 days. It is airborne, can be
transmitted by inanimate objects, and clothing. Virtually all
exposed will contract. The morbidity is 80% with 20% being sub
clinically affected and shedding the virus. The course of the
disease is four weeks. There are two forms, milder and very extreme.
Two weeks into the viral disease the dog looks like he is getting
over the cough and then bacterial infections become an acute
problem. Oft times the owner has reported the dog is well, only to
find that a short time later an acute bacterial infection has taken
over the dog, in a matter of hours. The owners think the disease
has run its course only to learn it hasn't gotten started yet, so
dogs are dying needlessly.

My vet thinks earlier rather than later treatment with broad
spectrum antibiotics are the best way to treat the disease. With
proper vet care perhaps there will only be a mortality of 1-5%.

The information needs to go out so that all vets will know this is
not kennel cough, so they will not VAX for kennel cough while ill,
and so they can monitor beyond the two week period.

It has been almost impossible for me to understand how in the last
four days I have contacted state vets who have never heard of the
new influenza, all the while, the people with the info on the
disease, refuse to release it nationally.

The AVMA has info that will go out next month. How many will die
prior to that? I have begged and cajoled them to do this, so perhaps
we are making some headway, however, we need info to go out ASAP.

APHIS says it is not their job.

The people who are handling research on the initial outbreak in
FLA., are contacting local, (FLA) BUT not national sources to
disseminate information.

In my conversations with the researchers at the U. of FLA. I was
told, by the lead researcher, who owns greyhounds, that they have
no responsibility to provide this info to other states or to other
vets. (BTW, Is some of the research funded by the gaming
organizations?) (My state,GA., the state of FLA., and three highly
placed individuals at Pfizer, told me to call the researcher.) The
researcher said to me that cultures do not need to be done on
potential affecteds, and she denied that the illness is from horses,
though she is quoted in articles as applauding the Cornell
researcher who identified it as horse influenza. The FLA state vet
said:"We know it came from horses."

The researcher is working to do a contracted vaccine with " a
company." She is working on a paper. She did not want to discuss the
influenza though her name, email and number appears as the contact
source on the state of FLA Veterinary Alert and Advisory that went
out to all FLA vets. I was told by some at Pfizer that Pfizer is
not the company who is helping her develop the vaccine.

The researcher said the FLA VETERINARY ALERT AND ADVISORY should
not be put on the net. However the FLA state Vet, Dr. Thomas Holt,
told me, on Fri., Sept 16, 2005 to put it on the net..."Feel free to
use it."

AGAIN< I have spoken to state vets who do not know anything at all
about this illness even though the state of FLA. put out memos on
the influenza in August 05 in the state of FLA., without notifying
other states.

If the researchers are correct there will be a national epidemic.
When a disease is in a mobile population an epidemic is possible.
Large groupings of dogs, such as shows, kennels, rescues, etc., are
at risk.

Most vets across the country have never heard of the disease. A
treatment protocol has not been developed. They are treating it as
if it is kennel cough. All vets need to be informed about it ASAP!
Many of us concerned dog people would like to see state statistics
compiled on the illness and the eventual treatment outcomes.

We need you to get the word out.

[targonrotts]

i did not hear about it in this severe description, but yes, there is a canine influenza, not kennel cough,going around and vets are being asked to submit samples of dogs suspected of having it.it is not kennel cough, there is no vaccine for it, it started with the racing dogs kennels,(i don't know about the meat fed origin),and vets have been receiving the fax or/and email regarding this, at least in my area.
there is a 1-5%mortality rate and is due to secondary pneumonia when left untreated.broad spectrum antibiotics help avoid or contain this,.it is highly contagious.
no, you shouldn't vaccinate sick dogs.
i have been seeing these outbreaks at almost every show i have gone to, and during our peak boarding days of the year.we end up breaking out the neubalizers and handing out clavamox or doxyciline.
another virus that we are having a problem with again is leptosporosis.with everyone cutting down on vaccs,we are seeing more cases.here we get alot of standing water this time of the year and rats love florida.but in the 15 years i've worked at the vets, these past 2 years is when we have been seeing lepto cases.

[targonrotts]

by the way, this problem is huge in our animal control and often seen in pet shop puppies.

[alexav]

Oh MY!!!

Thanks for the info! I was hoping it was a hoax.... Forewarned is forearmed...
I will make sure our vet knows about this.

[fbkeays]

A couple of months ago Fizbin had a very high fever and a huff. I posted on this list and others asking what it could be. Some forward a warning about the canine flu, but it wasn't as "scary" as the one you posted.
The symptoms didn't quite match and Fizbin recovered quickly with doxy.

[MonteRiehl]

I'm not sure, But IMHO, I'd guess this was a hoax.

If you check the websites of the agency's refferenced, you will find a whole lot of nothing about this.
www.avma.org
http://www.doacs.state.fl.us/index.html

[alexav]

I wonder if this is the same virus that almost killed Petra's litter mate. High fever, pneumonia, and ended up having to have a portion of one of her lungs surgically removed.
She's doing great now, but it was touch and go for a long while...Petra and her other sister were seperated from Paschar at the first sign of illness and never exhibited any symptoms.

This happened in Florida too and there are some Greyhound kennels on adjacent properties to where her breeder was located....hmmmmm.

[AMoJoLover]

Thank you so much for posting this. This is a very scary thing that needs to get addressed. I will be sending this to my vet as well.
Thanks again for posting!!!!!
You are probably going to save some puppy lives. :)

[targonrotts]

i received the notice from our pfizer rep and from avma at the clinic where i work.it's not a hoax, but i think this version was a little juiced up.

[Amelie]

An article on this was on the NY Times web site this morning, too. To find it I just put in "canine flu" into the search box on that site. They mention some kennels in upstate New York and New Jersey where they have seen cases as well.

Worrisome.

Amelie

[casual observer]

Here is a New York Times article regarding this:

A New Deadly, Contagious Dog Flu Virus Is Detected in 7 States

By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr. and CARIN RUBENSTEIN
Published: September 22, 2005
A new, highly contagious and sometimes deadly canine flu is spreading in kennels and at dog tracks around the country, veterinarians said yesterday.

The virus, which scientists say mutated from an influenza strain that affects horses, has killed racing greyhounds in seven states and has been found in shelters and pet shops in many places, including the New York suburbs, though the extent of its spread is unknown.

Dr. Cynda Crawford, an immunologist at the University of Florida's College of Veterinary Medicine who is studying the virus, said that it spread most easily where dogs were housed together but that it could also be passed on the street, in dog runs or even by a human transferring it from one dog to another. Kennel workers have carried the virus home with them, she said.

How many dogs die from the virus is unclear, but scientists said the fatality rate is more than 1 percent and could be as high as 10 percent among puppies and older dogs.

Dr. Crawford first began investigating greyhound deaths in January 2004 at a racetrack in Jacksonville, Fla., where 8 of the 24 greyhounds who contracted the virus died.

"This is a newly emerging pathogen," she said, "and we have very little information to make predictions about it. But I think the fatality rate is between 1 and 10 percent."

She added that because dogs had no natural immunity to the virus, virtually every animal exposed would be infected. About 80 percent of dogs that are infected with the virus will develop symptoms, Dr. Crawford said. She added that the symptoms were often mistaken for "kennel cough," a common canine illness that is caused by the bordetella bronchiseptica bacteria.

Both diseases can cause coughing and gagging for up to three weeks, but dogs with canine flu may spike fevers as high as 106 degrees and have runny noses. A few will develop pneumonia, and some of those cases will be fatal. Antibiotics and fluid cut the pneumonia fatality rate, Dr. Crawford said.

The virus is an H3N8 flu closely related to an equine flu strain. It is not related to typical human flus or to the H5N1 avian flu that has killed about 100 people in Asia.

Experts said there were no known cases of the canine flu infecting humans. "The risk of that is low, but we are keeping an eye on it," said Dr. Ruben Donis, chief of molecular genetics for the influenza branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is tracking the illness.

But with the approach of the human flu season and fears about bird flu in Asia, there is much confusion among some dog owners who have heard about the disease.

Dr. Crawford said she was fielding calls from kennels and veterinarians across the country worried that they were having outbreaks.

"The hysteria out there is unbelievable, and the misinformation is incredible," said Dr. Ann E. Hohenhaus, chief of medicine at the Animal Medical Center in New York.

Dr. Hohenhaus said she had heard of an alert from a Virginia dog club reporting rumors that 10,000 show dogs had died.

"We don't believe that's true," she said, adding that no dogs in her Manhattan hospital even had coughs.

Dr. Donis of the disease control centers said that there was currently no vaccine for the canine flu. But he said one would be relatively easy to develop. The canine flu is less lethal than parvovirus, which typically kills puppies but can be prevented by routine vaccination.

Laboratory tests, Dr. Donis said, have shown that the new flu is susceptible to the two most common antiviral drugs, amantidine and Tamiflu, but those drugs are not licensed for use in dogs.

The flu has killed greyhounds at tracks in Florida, Massachusetts, Arizona, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Texas and Iowa. Tracks and kennels have been forced to shut down for weeks for disinfection.

In Chestnut Ridge, north of New York City, about 88 dogs became sick by early September, and 15 percent of those required hospitalization, said Debra Bennetts, a spokeswoman for Best Friends Pet Care, a chain of boarding kennels. The kennel was vacated for decontamination by Sept. 17.

About 17 of the infected dogs were treated at the Oradell Animal Hospital in Paramus, N.J., where one died and two more were still hospitalized, a staff veterinarian said.

The Best Friends chain owns 41 other kennels in 18 states, and no others have had an outbreak, Dr. Larry J. Nieman, the company's veterinarian, said.

In late July, at Gracelane Kennels in Ossining, N.Y., about 35 dogs showed symptoms, said the owner, Bob Gatti, and he closed the kennel for three weeks to disinfect.

About 25 of the dogs were treated by an Ossining veterinarian, Glenn M. Zeitz, who said two of them had died.

"The dogs came in very sick, with high fevers and very high white blood cell counts," Dr. Zeitz said, making him suspicious that they had something worse than kennel cough.

A spokesman for the New York City Health Department said that there were "a few confirmed cases" in New York but that the city was not yet tracking the disease.

Veterinarians voluntarily sent samples to the Animal Health Diagnostic Center at the Cornell School of Veterinary Medicine, which was the only laboratory doing blood tests.

[targonrotts]

ok, today we got a news bulletin from AAHA.
it sounded a little more serious than the first.basically,not kennel cough.no vaccine for it.treat with broad spectrum antibiotics,can lead to pneumonia,originated from greyhound kennels.dr.crawford is collecting samples to study.widespread outbreak, and getting plenty of coverage now.

[pazzo]

This is pretty scary.... it sounds as if there is nothing we can do to protect our dogs, especially people who work with and show thier dogs, if it can be transmitted from even our clothing, I'm worried!

[Brutus's Mom]

We have a Rescue Dog with this flu in New York, and I spoke with my Vet about this, he has said to use Tamiflu 1 to 2 mg/lb. twice daily and to any Dog that has been exposed to this, he said this will work. Our Rottie is now much better after a VERY long period of taking antibiotics! My Vet also said it is now an 8% death rate in Dogs. I posted that information on one of my lists and was given this information;

This is not advice, but merely some information to give to your Vet if you feel your Dog may have been exposed.
-------------------------------------------------------------

Here is the Tamiflu protocol:


give 0.1cc/lb every 12 hrs for 10 treatments.


a 3 lb patient would be given 0.3cc...
a 4 lb patient would be given 0.4cc...
a 5 lb patient would be given 0.5cc....
a 6 lb patient would be given 0.6cc
a 7 lb patient would be given 0.7cc.....
an 8 lb patient would be given 0.8cc...
a 9 lb patient would be given 0.9cc
a 10 lb patient would be given 1cc.
a 100 lb patient would be given 10 cc


the doubling of the dosage (.1 to .2) occurs only at the very lowest dosage levels for the youngest (ie lightest weight) patients- f'rinstance since it is hard to give 0.1cc, the smallest dose could be 0.2cc every 12 hrs for 10 treatments. Or you could do what I do, buy insulin syringes, and still stick with the 0.1/lb dosage.


Tamiflu is indeed the most miraculous drug on the market today - it was first used to treat a new strain of canine parvovirus that was wiping out dogs in an Oklahoma town last summer - we were all told there was a new wonder drug but the name was being withheld until the tests had been finalized - encouraged by the overwhelming cure rate for parvo it was then tried on feline URI's - same incredible results - then canine URI's - same incredible results - then CDV (canine distemper virus) - the anecdotal reports coming out of the field were nothing short of unbelievable - how could one drug be so efficacious against so many different lethal viruses? its not that I didn't believe the reports because many of my close friends were using this drug but this summer I had the opportunity to use it myself - I had a case of neurological CDV - for the first 3 days I noticed little if any improvement - I reasoned that no drug could be effective against the disease once it had progressed to CNS involvement - WRONG - by day 4 there was marked improvement and by day 5 there was no signs of the disease whatsoever. If any of you have ever dealt with hard-pad/neuralgic distemper you can appreciate how amazing this drug is! I'm to the point now where I refuse to live in a house without it - with this one drug you won't need anything else, well besides a winning lotto ticket - its terribly expensive and now that governments have begun stockpiling it in the event of an international epidemic of bird flu the price can go nowhere but up....


I'd like to also address an earlier comment that this drug is not approved for canine use - many of the human drugs we use on our animals are extra label - does that mean they won't work? or that they are dangerous? nope, it only means that the pharmaceutical house has not wanted to expend the obscene amounts of money needed to get federal approval - and with Roche struggling to keep up the supply to meet the heretofore unheard of demand for this drug - there is certainly no economic incentives for them to embark on obtaining any additional approvals.


This drug WORKS!!! It is SAFE!!! You WILL save lives if you use it!!!

[LunaBell]

We haven't seen it yet in our emergency clinic yet, hopefully never. We use Tamiflu with Parvo puppies, but I haven't seen as remarkable results as you have mentioned.