Sick Puppies: What is the mystery illness spreading among dogs in US?

The United States is witnessing a mysterious respiratory disease in dogs. Over four states have reported cases of this illness that the Oregon Department of Agriculture has dubbed as an “atypical canine infectious respiratory disease”. According to veterinarians, the illness has resulted in hospitalisations and even death in older dogs or those with health issues, reported New York Times (NYT). What is known about this unusual respiratory illness? How can dog owners in the US protect their pets? Let’s find out. Dogs become sick in US While not much is known about the illness yet, veterinarians say dogs usually get a cough that may last a few weeks. It then leads to pneumonia and further respiratory issues, as per The Washington Post report. Some pneumonia cases advance rapidly, making dogs sick within 24 to 36 hours. The symptoms of this unidentified respiratory illness in dogs include coughing, sneezing, eye or nose discharge, lethargy, blue or purple gums due to lack of oxygen, and troubled breathing, reported Fox News. These symptoms are similar to kennel cough but usually last longer. The cause of the disease remains an enigma. [caption id=“attachment_13418202” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] The cause of the mysterious respiratory disease afflicting dogs in the US remains unknown. AP (Representational Image)[/caption] The respiratory illness afflicting man’s best friend seems to be resistant to conventional antibiotic treatments. The Oregon Veterinary Medical Association said that over 200 cases of this mysterious disease have been reported in the state since mid-August. Although the total number of cases is not known, the illness has infected canines in New Hampshire and several northeastern states, such as Colorado, Indiana, Illinois, Washington, Idaho and California. The director of Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory has confirmed to CNN of reporting a mysterious canine illness. “Unfortunately, right now, nobody knows what it is,” veterinarian Dr Mike Hutchinson told CBS News Pittsburgh. Dogs with this illness are also testing negative for other common respiratory diseases. “Based on the epidemiology of the cases reported at this point, the cases appear to share a viral etiology, but common respiratory diagnostic testing has been largely negative,” Oregon State Veterinarian Dr Ryan Scholz told the American Veterinary Medical Association, as per CNN. ALSO READ: What is Brucella canis, an incurable dog disease jumping to humans in the UK? How serious is it? Dogs usually recover from a respiratory disease on their own or through antibiotics but this is not always true with the latest illness, Dr Kurt Williams, director of the Oregon Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at the Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine at Oregon State University, told NYT. “In these dogs, either it lingered for longer or it took a downward spiral and led to very serious outcomes, including death,” he added. Speaking to AP, Williams said canines have died but it is “hard to put a number on how many died from a severe form of the infection.” Dr Lindsey Ganzer, a veterinarian in Colorado, told The Washington Post that at least 35 cases have come to light at her hospital, of which four turned fatal “due to severe pneumonia”. According to Ganzer, there was one common factor among the infected dogs: They spent time in places full of other canines, such as doggy day care, dog parks, and so on, reported NYT. [caption id=“attachment_13418212” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Dogs with this unidentified illness are testing negative for other common respiratory diseases. Reuters (Representational Image)[/caption] Dogs might be transmitting the pathogen to each other in close settings, such as during play, or by air, noted The Washington Post. Researchers in the US are scrambling to figure out the reason behind this mysterious illness. Dr David B Needle, a pathologist at the New Hampshire Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, told CNN: “Fatalities do not seem to be a large part of the syndrome we are investigating, with rare animals developing acute and sometimes fatal pneumonia after the longer chronic disease. We think these may represent secondary infections.” Needle’s coworkers at the University of New Hampshire’s Hubbard Center for Genome Research have been probing the disease for nearly a year, reported AP. What can dog owners do? Experts suggest pet owners should not worry but exercise caution. The website of Oregon Veterinary Medical Association says that this unidentified disease is unusual but “periodic outbreaks of Canine Infectious Respiratory Disease Complex (CIRDC) can occur in a dog population.” It asks pet owners to contact their veterinarian if their furry friend shows symptoms such as coughing, sneezing, nasal and/or eye discharge, and lethargy. “When that happens (dogs show these symptoms), you should see your veterinarian because we’re going to treat those symptoms. And for viruses, there’s really no good anti-viral on the market. However, we can support the symptoms sometimes by nebulising them or giving them some support, fluids, things that they need,” veterinarian Hutchinson said, as per CBS News. Veterinarian Williams told AP that dog owners must ensure their pet has got all the necessary vaccines. New Hampshire’s Needle urged pet owners to “decrease contact with other dogs”, as per CBS News. “Just like with other respiratory pathogens, the more contacts your dog has, the greater the risk of encountering a dog that’s infectious,” Time magazine quoted the Oregon Veterinary Medical Association as saying. As per the CNN report, pet owners should avoid letting out their sick dogs and contact their vets. Dogs should be kept away from communal water bowls shared by canines. With inputs from agencies