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.
http://www.recombinomics.com/News/05130505/H3N8_Domestic_Dogs_United_States.html
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.
Below is a link to a photo album in which i placed the FLA Veterinary Alert and Advisory, which was put out by the FLA VET MED ASSOC., at the request of the State Vet. It is not on the state website.
http://photobucket.com/albums/y249/citycolumbus/
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."
Many 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.
Folks, this is one of the many new problems we are seeing from feeding raw meat to dogs. Please do not do it.
