Canine Influenza, The Next Pandemic?

With all of the talk around the swine influenza (H1N1) we could be overlooking what might be the next big pandemic, canine influenza or the puppy flu. Canine influenza was first discovered in 2004 and is caused by a subtype of the Influenza Type A virus, H3N8. What is especially amazing about H3N8 is that the entire virus made a jump from horses to dogs where it adapted to be a canine-specific virus.

The first recognied outbreak of the influenza virus occurred in January 2004 at a greyhound racepark in Florida. Since that time over 1,100 cases of canine influenza have been confirmed by Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. Outbreaks, similar to the original one in Florida, have now been documented in at least 30 states and Washington, D.C.

Like the majority of influenza viruses, canine influenza is transmitted via respiratory secretions and the resulting contaminated surfaces. Approximately 80% of infected dogs will show clinical symptoms similar to that of kennel cough such as low-grade fever, cough and nasal discharge. A limited number amount of dogs are more severely affected with clinical signs of pneumonia such as high-grade fever and increased respiratory rate. The mortality rate is around 1-5%.

Treatment consists mainly of supportive measures for milder cases to help your dog mount an immune response and in more severe cases with secondary infections antibiotics may be necessary. This past May, the first canine influenza vaccine was approved. While it is not a miracle cure or 100% effective trials showed it to be effective at reducing the amount of virus shed as well as the duration and severity of of the illness.

Currently the virus is only being transmitted from dog to dog and there is no real evidence to support that it can be transmitted from dogs to humans. However, viruses tend to have a mind of their own and have proven time and time again that they can make the jump from animals to humans. With more than 75 millon owned-dogs in the US alone its not hard to imagine if the H3N8 virus made the jump from dogs to people it could cause a epidemic of well, epic proportions. So is puppy flu the next swine flu? I don’t now and I am not one to fear monger but next year, who knows?

Source of Scientific Data:
American Veterinary Medical Association