Mysterious respiratory disease is spreading among dogs.
A mysterious respiratory disease is spreading among dogs as experts search for answers and warn pet owners about symptoms.
While pet owners across the U.S. were planning holiday trips last fall, several states reported an increase in canine respiratory disease, leaving many of their four-legged friends in a panic.
The illness showed symptoms similar to canine infectious respiratory disease complex (CIRDC), also known as kennel cough, but was resistant to conventional treatments. Oregon called it a mystery and soon cases were being reported in more than 12 states.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Service laboratories have begun to sequence some of the cases, many of which have common causes unrelated to a single infection or new pathogen, the agency said in a recent statement to USA Today.
The lack of a central data-gathering agency makes it difficult to track cases, but experts believe cases are on the decline and that this was another round of outbreaks for common canine diseases, which have been on the rise with the recent emergence of canine respiratory infections. A few years.
“If we find a new pathogen … it’s amazing,” said Dr. Scott Weiss, director of emerging animal diseases and Author of a popular blog among government veterinariansHe pointed out that this disease has not acted as dramatically as the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, “we’ve had this gradual increase in respiratory disease. We find these eclipses, and the earlier you have a higher baseline disease, the more obvious the eclipse becomes.”
More: Her dog died of respiratory disease. Now she is trying to help others.
Regular increases in respiratory diseases from year to year, but it is not accelerating
Since the outbreak, scientists and veterinarians have reported an increase in respiratory illnesses. Trupanion, a pet insurance companyAlthough they cannot say with certainty that there is a causal relationship.
Respiratory disease claims data from TruPayon shows claims were relatively flat between 2018-2020, but started to pick up in 2022.
Last year, TruPayon saw a 57 percent increase in respiratory illnesses in dogs, but that trend didn’t accelerate in the last few months of 2023.
The data shows some pockets of activity, with the largest year-on-year increases in the October to December time frame in the following areas:
- Nevada (+106%)
- Oregon (+67%)
- Colorado (+50%)
- California (+20%)
- Nova Scotia (+189%)
- Ontario (+20%)
- British Columbia (+14%)
Experts don’t know exactly why cases have been on the rise over the past few years, but they believe it’s due to a few factors that make the disease less resistant and more vulnerable. Broken vaccination schedules during the outbreak, the popularity of flat-faced dog breeds and dogs being returned to foster care facilities are all contributing factors, Weiss said.
New Hampshire labs are studying new pathogens in 14% of cases.
Last fall, while experts were investigating the growing number of case reports, an exciting study from the University of New Hampshire revealed a new pathogen that could cause the disease. The leaders in the study said that he had Evidence has been found to confirm that it is a new pathogen Related to canine respiratory disease, Weiss said there is still some more research that needs to be done to be conclusive. (USDA did not respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment on the UNH study).
David Needle, head of the pathology department at the University of New Hampshire’s NH Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, said that of the 259 samples from sick dogs they received, 14% contained the new pathogen. He added that while it was surprising to find a prominent subspecies of the new pathogen, it still did not approach the level of virulence that caused the spread of COVID around the world.
“What we found here is not a virus or one bacterium to rule them all,” he said. “Covid is unusual.”
UNH’s Animal Diagnostics Laboratory, along with the Hubbard Center for Genomic Research, continues to try to identify the new pathogen to help other scientists learn how to diagnose and treat it.
In the meantime, Needle said, “people need to chill.”
More: New data shows an outbreak of canine respiratory disease in Nevada, Canada. Treat it like a human flu, experts say
Expert advice for pet owners: don’t panic, don’t vaccinate, talk to your vet
Trupanion’s data shows that pets are dying from respiratory illnesses while respiratory illnesses are declining.
Certain dog health factors, such as breed, pre-existing health conditions and age, predispose them to severe respiratory disease. (Trupanion found that dogs over 8 years of age were six times more likely to die from acute respiratory disease than younger dogs).
Dr. Steve Weinrach, Trupanion’s chief veterinary and product officer, said talking with their veterinarians allows pet owners to assess the risk to their dog on an individual basis and inform pet owners of potential issues in the area. They should also be pet owners Make sure vaccinations are up to date.
While the “mystery illness” may not be as far-fetched as some people fear, Weinrack said, there are important lessons to be learned about the challenges of keeping track of pets. In collaboration with government agencies, universities and medical providers, Trupaion is launching an animal health early warning and diagnosis system to gather more information on future diseases.
“It’s not that all the answers are here, it’s just that the data is starting to emerge and now we can analyze that data and look for patterns and go from there,” Weinrauch said.