NJ: Veterinarians Seeing An Increase In A Flu-Like Virus Affecting Vaccinated Dogs in the Swedesboro area

[Shiloh]

Source: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/20...n-a-flu-like-virus-effecting-vaccinated-dogs/

Veterinarians Seeing An Increase In A Flu-Like Virus Affecting Vaccinated Dogs
September 9, 2013 6:26 PM
By: Cleve Bryan

Swedesboro, N.J. (CBS) ? Veterinarian Karyn Collier, who works at the Saint Francis Veterinary Center, is trying to get to the bottom of a disturbing trend; dogs vaccinated against the flu are suffering from a flu-like virus.

After seeing numerous cases, she wonders, ?Why are these vaccinated, well-cared for dogs still coming down with this illness??

Dr. Collier says the first case she saw was back in May, and since then Saint Francis Veterinary Center has seen about 75 dogs with the same problem...

 

[Emily]

Re: NJ: Veterinarians Seeing An Increase In A Flu-Like Virus Affecting Vaccinated Dogs in the Swedesboro area

That suggests 3 possibilities to me:

1. Random coincidental infection - not likely with 75 dogs affected.

2. Canine flu vaccination stimulated clinical expression of a chronic infection. This has been observed in pigs with circovirus infections. Specifically they have looked at adjuvants and the picture they saw is quite complicated:
http://www.gene-alliance.ca/secure128/Documents/Update%20porcine%20circovirus.pdf

This work suggests that at the early stages of infection (21 DPI) all adjuvants tested (oil-in-water, aqueous,
aluminum hydroxide) increased the severity of lymphoid depletion associated with PCV2. In the later stages
of infection (35 DPI) the oil-in-water adjuvants (group 1 and 3) increased the length of PCV2 viremia,
increased the amount of PCV2 in serum and tissue, and increased the severity of lymphoid depletion compared
to the aqueous and aluminum hydroxide products.12 Practitioners need to weigh the risk of not using
vaccines and thereby potentially allowing coinfections (i.e., M. hyopneumoniae) to enhance PCV2-associated
diseases, versus the risk of using certain vaccines (i.e., M. hyopneumoniae) on PCV2-infected pigs and thereby
potentially increasing the severity of PCV2-associated diseases.

(I think the canine influenza vaccine has an aluminum adjuvant.)

3. An adventitious virus may have been contaminating the vaccines. (Not so likely with a killed virus vaccine as with a MLV type.)