The cool air of fall is here, and with the return of warm sweaters and pumpkin spice lattes come illnesses such as the common cold.
But just as humans should stay away from a sick person, dogs should avoid other dogs if they are showing signs of circovirus, a disease that appeared about a month and a half ago and has killed four dogs in Ohio since — three in Cincinnati and one in Akron-Canton.
The main symptoms of the disease include vomiting and bloody diarrhea, and it has not affected any specific breed or age of dog more than others, said Ashley McDonald, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Agriculture.
The department is currently studying 12 dogs with symptoms to learn about the disease. The department issued a statewide warning to dog owners last month after veterinarians reported the fatalities.
But it’s disputed how much a warning can do when a virus is already killing dogs.
“Most viruses you really can’t stop,” said Erik Aanestad, a veterinarian at the Athens Veterinary Clinic. “We don’t know how to stop (circovirus); there’s no vaccine for this yet.”
He said a vaccination could take years to develop, but for now, all veterinary clinics can do is wait and see what research finds as far as where circovirus comes from and how it is transferred.
Lindsay Ruland, a veterinarian at the Emergency Veterinary Hospital in Ann Arbor, Mich., has conducted research based on dogs she has examined with flu-like symptoms, which, oddly enough, were seen in the owner shortly before the pet.
“(It) seemed a little too coincidental that every patient would have that correlation for the most part, so we started taking notice and trying to keep track of which owners were sick,” Ruland said in an email.
Ruland said that after noting the dog’s illnesses in relation to human illness, she and her staff members developed flu-like symptoms after they came in contact with the animals.
She hypothesizes that dogs — as well as other pets such as cats, birds and rodents — get the disease from people and vice versa, but that’s not scientifically proven yet.
McDonald added that the Ohio Department of Agriculture has no leads on the cause of illness or how it spreads.
Seeing as the first reported case of canine circovirus was in California this spring, the department sent samples to specialists at University of California, Davis to uncover some information on the disease.
Patty Pesavento, associate professor of pathology, microbiology and immunology at UC Davis, said in an email that the lab has examined many dogs in California and by multiple criteria, they do carry circovirus; however, they are still moving forward in their research on the disease.
“Dogs we’ve seen survive have been brought to vets right away,” McDonald said. “We’re advising people if they do have concerns... contact their vets (immediately).”
kf398711@ohiou.edu
@KellyPFisher
