Ontario - Veterinarians puzzled by respiratory illness affecting dogs in Orangeville

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Veterinarians puzzled by respiratory illness affecting dogs in Orangeville

Roger Klein, Reporter/Videographer, Georgian Bay Bureau, CTV News Barrie
Published Saturday, October 24, 2015 6:45PM EDT
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At first veterinarians suspected the illness ?Kennel Cough?, but now they are not so sure because some dogs that have been vaccinated have also gotten sick.

The Ontario Veterinary College has started tracking cases in Orangeville and are conducting tests to try and identify the bacteria or virus that is causing the illness. However, so far there are no conclusive results.

Up to this point, the illness has not been fatal for any of the dogs that have become ill...

In the meantime time, owners are being asked to keep their pets at home if they are sick or have been exposed to a sick dog.

?A dog showing any of these signs, which include discharge from the mouth or nose, coughing, sneezing, kind of making a goose honking cough, just not feeling great, keep them at home,? says Knoll. ?Keep them away from the dog park, keep them away from any boarding facilities away from other dogs.?
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http://barrie.ctvnews.ca/veterinari...lness-affecting-dogs-in-orangeville-1.2626179

 

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5 hours ago |

Spread of unknown dog illness in Orangeville raises new flags in Ottawa, Halifax

Orangeville Banner
By Chris Halliday
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Ever since The Banner broke the story of an unknown illness affecting a large number of dogs in the Orangeville area, Dr. Scott Weese, an infectious disease expert at the Ontario Veterinary College (OVC), has been inundated with emails from pet owners across the country.

?While any information gathering from outside of Orangeville was unintended, some interesting things have turned up,? Weese reported on his blog Sunday (Oct. 25). ?Specifically, a large number of reports of sick dogs have come from Ottawa. Reports from Halifax also seem high.?

Although the informal, unstructured data he has collected from outside Orangeville is somewhat unreliable, Weese believes there is enough reason to gather more data from dog owners in both Ottawa and Halifax.
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In the last two weeks, a significant number of dogs displaying symptoms similar to Canine Infectious Respiratory Disease Complex (CIRDC), more commonly known as kennel cough, have been treated by several veterinarians at various animal clinics located in Orangeville.
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While symptoms tend to resolve within about five to seven days, Weese suspects it is a virus but doesn?t know that for sure.
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http://www.orangeville.com/news-sto...angeville-raises-new-flags-in-ottawa-halifax/

 

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Canine respiratory disease outbreak update

BY SCOTT WEESE ON OCTOBER 28, 2015
POSTED IN DOGS

As I?ve written about a couple times over the past few days, we seem to have increased canine respiratory disease activity in a few areas of Ontario. The first reports came from Orangeville (incidentally, the town where I worked as a veterinarian in general practice when I first graduated), based on information provided by an astute veterinarian. As we started collecting data, it was pretty clear that a large number of affected dogs were present in the community. In some ways that?s not too surprising, since we occasionally see local outbreaks of canine infectious respiratory disease complex (CIRDC, also commonly called ?kennel cough?).

However, reports have since been coming in from veterinarians and dog owners across the province, and my line-listing is getting quite long. The critical question is how many of these cases are simply ?normal? disease activity that just isn?t usually reported. CIRDC is an endemic (ever-present) problem, so we expect to see sporadic cases all over the place. I suspect that many of the cases I?m hearing about from lots of different cities are just that, and we are only hearing about them now because we?ve asked for information. Nonetheless, while it?s hard to say anything definitive based on the loose surveillance we are doing (and which is the only type of surveillance that we can really do in situations like this), it seems like there may be genuine outbreaks going on in a few other areas as well.

In addition to Orangeville, areas that I?m particularly concerned about at the moment include:

Ottawa
Cobourg
Port Elgin

I don?t say this to cause panic, but to raise awareness so that people follow some basic precautions (a good idea no matter where you are, but particularly if there might be a local problem).

The particular cause of the disease in dogs in any of these areas is still unclear, and the clusters that have been detected aren?t all necessarily even being caused by the same thing. There are a lot of different viruses and bacteria that cause CIRDC, and testing has been pretty limited to date. We?re concerned about introduction of canine flu into Ontario, so we?re trying to figure out if it might be involved, but there?s no evidence so far that any of the dogs are infected with influenza virus.

This situation shows the importance of surveillance and communication, both during outbreaks and on a regular basis. That?s one of the reasons we developed WormsAndGermsMap. We don?t have CIRDC on their (at least not yet), but the map will hopefully help us understand the normal occurrence of various diseases, which will help us identify and track abnormal situations.

http://www.wormsandgermsblog.com/20...s/canine-respiratory-disease-outbreak-update/

 

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Ontario canine respiratory disease update

BY SCOTT WEESE ON NOVEMBER 3, 2015
POSTED IN DOGS

Disease status

Things seem to be slowing down. Whether that?s because of a true decrease in disease or ?reporting fatigue? is a good question. However, I?m pretty certain that the outbreak is burning itself out in the areas that were most affected.

Sporadic reports of sick dogs are still coming in from a few areas, but no major clusters are being reported to me, unlike a week ago.

Fortunately, very few severe infections seem to be occurring. Most cases are fairly mild and dogs recover with simply time or basic treatment. Complications such as bacterial pneumonia have occurred, but at a rate that is similar to or lower than what I?d expect for typical canine respiratory disease cases.

Diagnosis status

No definitive cause has been found so far, but that doesn?t mean no progress has been made. Given the number of tests that have been performed, I think we are at the point where we can say that the ?usual suspects? such as canine parainfluenza, canine influenza and Bordetella bronchiseptica are not the cause.

Work is ongoing in a few different places to figure out what the cause might be.

http://www.wormsandgermsblog.com/20.../ontario-canine-respiratory-disease-update-2/

 

[Emily]

http://www.orangeville.com/news-sto...ing-rapidly-among-orangeville-dog-population/

Oct 23, 2015
[h=1]Unknown respiratory illness spreading ?rapidly? among Orangeville dog population[/h]


Orangeville Banner By Chris Halliday

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Initially, McClinchey said there appeared to be a ?consistent link? between her cases and the town?s off-leash dog park on Hansen Boulevard. She is now seeing cases that aren?t linked to the park though. ...

The initial cluster seems to be the only spike from background noise. Too bad nobody is looking into an environmental cause. Sounds like construction and work on grounds was done just before the respiratory illness spike.

http://www.orangeville.com/communit...lle-dog-park-off-limits-to-canines-next-week/

Sep 22, 2013
[h=1]Orangeville dog park off limits to canines next week[/h]



Orangeville Banner By Chris Halliday
The town?s dog park will be closed to residents and their four-legged companions for most of the week.
Starting on Monday (Sept. 23), the off leash dog park located behind the Orangeville Mall on Hansen Boulevard will be closed for fencing and transfer area repairs. Drainage and groundwork will be completed as well.

Ground work might have stirred up fungi in the soil and maybe weed or pesticide treatments were used that were more persistent in areas than expected.

Acute eosinophilic pneumonia (in 31-yr-old woman) associated with glyphosate-surfactant exposure