HEALTH - Canine Flu H3N2 Discovered in Florida

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The H3N2 flu virus, which first struck the US in 2015, has spread to Florida with the initial cases discovered in late May.

The dogs testing positive were either at a Perry, Georgia, dog show from May 19 to 21 or the Deland, Florida, dog show the next weekend — or were exposed to dogs that had been at those shows.

University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine officials hope to create “community immunity” and as such are encouraging dog owners to vaccinate their pets to prevent the spread of the virus.

“The more dogs in the community that we can vaccinate and build up community immunity, the better chance we have at keeping this virus out of the community,” Dr. Cynda Crawford, an assistant professor of shelter medicine at the college, said at a press conference.

“It’s all about using vaccines to build a wall, an immune barrier, in the community that will stop the virus from entering. Vaccination is still the primary tool we have.”

The virus was present in about 30 other states before appearing in Florida.

“This is a highly contagious virus to dogs, just like influenza virus is to people,” Crawford said. “There is an eminent threat for dogs to be exposed to this virus in this state now.”

The H3N2 canine influenza virus is an avian flu virus that adapted to infect dogs and is different from human seasonal H3N2 viruses.

Canine influenza H3N2 virus was first detected in dogs in South Korea in 2007.

According to the AVMA, Canine influenza is spread via aerosolized respiratory secretions (via coughing, barking and sneezing) and contaminated objects (kennel surfaces, food and water bowls, collars and leashes) and people moving between infected and uninfected dogs.

The signs of this illness in dogs are cough, runny nose, and fever, but not all dogs will show signs of illness.

The severity of illness associated with canine flu in dogs can range from no signs to severe illness resulting in pneumonia and sometimes death.

While death is not common, it is important for owners with dogs exhibiting symptoms to seek veterinary treatment to prevent issues like pneumonia.

HEALTH - First Rabies Case in Waterloo Region of Ontario

Despite a decrease in rabies cases reported in on Ontario this year, the rabies outbreak has made its way to Waterloo Region.

There were 288 cases of rabies confirmed in the province in 2016, with the majority reported in and around the Hamilton area.

Last week Waterloo Public Health announced the first case discovered in that region since the outbreak began at the end of 2015.

The provincial government has already launched their rabies control operations for this year which included helicopter baiting in Huron and Perth Counties in April.

Going forward, plans include helicopter, twin otter and hand baiting from July through September.

Baits are dropped for foxes, raccoons and skunks to eat in areas where rabies has been detected in wildlife in the current or previous year.

The bait is a small packet filled with the rabies vaccine that is absorbed through the lining of the mouth.

Animals are immunized against rabies about 2 weeks after they either chew or swallow the rabies vaccine bait.

To protect your family and your pets from rabies:

• Keep pets up-to-date with their rabies vaccination. In Ontario, it’s the law that all cats and dogs over three months of age be vaccinated against rabies
• Teach children to stay away from wild animals, dogs and cats they don’t know or animals that are acting strangely. A strange acting animal could be a sign that it is sick
• Talk to your veterinarian about vaccinating your livestock against rabies
• Keep pets away from wildlife. Don’t let your pets run free in the neighborhood and keep them indoors at night
• Don’t feed, transport or relocate wildlife.

To help pet owners Bridletown Warden Animal Hospital has been hosting low cost rabies/microchip clinics which will continue into June.

Visit Urban Animal Corporation’s website for complete clinic details, dates, locations and contact information.

HEALTH - PREDICTing and Preventing the Next Global Pandemic

Preventing the next global pandemic is a priority for many health organizations.

Identifying risks is a critical part of the prevention process, and chances are good that the next major outbreak (like many of the previous) will be the result of a zoonotic disease.

Zoonotic diseases are those that cross species lines, like HIV/AIDS, Ebola, and both Avian and Swine Flu have.

Bubonic plague was another zoonotic disease, and so is malaria, which has been killing humans since 450 AD, and still infects a huge number of people globally.

Because zoonotic diseases are such a significant risk – 75 percent of emerging infectious diseases, and 60% of all human diseases, are zoonotic – responding to the threat is a major concern for global public health.

But how should health organizations, governments, and individuals respond? What methods are most effective at preventing the spread and impact of zoonotic diseases?

The answer is complicated.

One theory is the “dilution effect,” which suggests that biodiversity provides protection.

The underlying hypothesis of this theory is that maintaining a rich diversity of plant and animal species offers a buffer against zoonotic diseases.

It’s a good theory for multiple reasons, including the support it offers to conservation efforts.

If accurate, the dilution effect could be used to support increased focus on conservation and protecting the biodiversity that remains.

But the dilution effect is not a simple one, and some studies have found that increased biodiversity increases some risks while decreasing others.

A recent study found that protecting biodiversity did not have a consistent positive impact on human health, and this is not the ideal result for researchers who had hoped to find something that would clearly benefit both humans and the ecosystem within which we live.

Chelsea Wood, a lead researcher in the study, told Smithsonian Magazine, “I know that conservation provides so many benefits to human society beyond infectious disease transmission, but [with dilution theory] we consistently find a mixed bag, which is not a good outcome for people interested in selling conservation as disease control.”

Despite this “mixed bag” when it comes to the dilution effect, other efforts to address zoonotic disease risk are proving more consistently effective.

USAID PREDICT is a collaboration between University of California at Davis’s One Health Institute and School of Veterinary Medicine, the Wildlife Conservation Society, Metabiota, EcoHealth Alliance and the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Health Program.

The program is now eight years old, and has collected samples from over 56,000 wild animals, trained more than 2,500 government and medical professionals in over 20 countries, and has provided support during 23 outbreaks and 4 wildlife epidemics.

The goal of the program is to monitor ecosystem health in order to recognize and respond to threats before they reach epidemic levels among wildlife, and before the disease can hop across species to infect humans.

And although the dilution effect is a mixed bag, the positive outcomes of the PREDICT program interventions are clear.

The 2014 Ebola outbreak, that ravaged many West African countries, killed more than 11,000 people between 2014 and 2016.

In contrast, that same year, an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo was significantly smaller and more contained, killing only 49 and lasting only three months.

The positive outcome was due to quick government response, enabled by the work that PREDICT had already done in training both medical staff and government officials.

The hope is that the PREDICT program can continue to work with governments and medical professionals globally, offering training and support to respond quickly and effectively to whatever new threats arise.

About Tiffany Sostar

Tiffany is a published academic, an editor with the Editors Association of Canada, an independent scholar and researcher, and a self-care and narrative coach. She is particularly interested in the intersection of technology and identity - how our tools shape our selves and change our stories, and in how the nature of work is changing as we incorporate more technology into our daily lives. 

HEALTH - Two New Canine Flu Vaccines Developed

It’s flu season and not just for humans - dogs get the flu too.

To combat canine influenza, scientists at University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry have developed the two new vaccines.

Currently veterinarians use vaccines that include inactivated or killed flu virus, but experts say they provide short-term, limited protection.

The new vaccines are “live-attenuated”  and work against H3N8 canine influenza virus, which is currently circulating in dogs in the US, along with the H3N2 virus.

Past research shows that live-attenuated vaccines, made from live flu virus that is dampened down so that it doesn’t cause the flu, provide better immune responses and longer periods of protection.

Scientists, led by Luis Martinez-Sobrido, Ph.D., used a genetic engineering technique called reserve genetics to create a live vaccine that replicates in the nose, but not in the lungs.

The nose is where the virus first enters a dog’s body, so generating an immune response there could stop the virus in its tracks.

The study found the vaccine was safe and able to induce better immune protection against H3N8 canine influenza virus in mice and dog tracheal cells than a commercially available inactivated vaccine.

To develop the second vaccine the team used reserve genetics to remove a protein called NS1 from H3N8 canine influenza virus.

Previous studies have shown that deleting the NS1 viral protein significantly weakens flu viruses so that they elicit an immune response but don’t cause illness, and this process has been successfully used for humans, horses and more.

The next step is clinical trials with dogs.

The team’s goal is to come up with new options to stem the spread of canine influenza in shelters and kennels, and to avoid the transmission of a dog flu virus to people.

According to the CDC there has been no evidence of transmission of canine influenza viruses from dogs to people and there has not been a single reported case of human infection with a canine influenza virus.

“However, influenza viruses are constantly changing and it is possible for a virus to change so that it could infect humans and spread easily between humans.”

This potential was recently illustrated when a veterinarian contracted avian flu (H7N2) through contact with a cat - the first time cats had gotten avian flu and first time it was passed to a human via a feline.  

By preventing dogs from getting the flu in the first place, the risk to humans in negated.

Canine influenza H3N8 virus originated in horses and has been known to exist in horses for more than 40 years.

The first canine infections were discovered in 2004 in greyhounds.

Symptoms include cough, runny nose and fever, but not all dogs will show signs of illness.

The severity of illness associated with canine flu in dogs can range from no signs to severe illness resulting in pneumonia and sometimes death.

HEALTH - Year Ends With 269 Rabies Cases in Ontario

The province of Ontario has tested over 4,700 animals for rabies since the first case in December of 2015.

Over 1.6M vaccine baits have been distributed to help contain the disease and in the latest report, nine more cases of raccoon strain rabies have been discovered.

Testing from the week before Christmas confirmed five infected raccoons and four infected skunks in the Hamilton, Halton and Brandt regions.

This brings the total to 265 cases of raccoon strain and 4 cases of fox strain rabies in Ontario.

Summary:

Raccoon strain rabies - 265 cases

Hamilton - 213 cases

Haldimand - 19 cases

Brant - 12 cases

Niagara - 12 cases

Halton - 9 cases

Raccoon Strain Species Breakdown:

Raccoons - 181 cases

Skunks - 81 cases

Fox - 1 case

Cat - 1 case

Llama - 1 case

No testing was done through the holidays but will resume next week.

Rabies (Lyssavirus) is an infectious disease that affects the central nervous system in mammals.

It’s transmitted through the saliva when the animal “sheds” the virus.

Rabies is not transmitted through the blood, urine, or feces of an infected animal, nor is it spread airborne through the open environment. Because it affects the nervous system, most rabid animals behave abnormally.

Historically, bats, foxes and skunks are the most common carriers of rabies in Canada, with coyotes and raccoons added to this list in the United States.

It is believed this rabies outbreak in Ontario was caused by a raccoon that rode into Canada on a semi-truck from the US.

HEALTH - Over 250 Rabies Cases in Ontario

The Ontario Ministry of Forestry and Natural Resources reported a new case of fox strain rabies this week - found in a cow in Perth County.

This brings the total incidence of fox strain to three.

The outbreak of rabies in the province has largely been the raccoon strain rabies.

There were six new raccoon strain cases this week in two raccoons and four skunks, bringing the total to 250 since the first case in December of last year.

It’s believed the infected animal rode into the province on the back of a tractor trailer and the province has been fighting to manage the disease ever since.

Rabies is a vaccine-preventable viral disease which occurs in more than 150 countries and territories

The vast majority of rabies cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) each year occur in wild animals like raccoons, skunks, bats, and foxes.

The government of Ontario is keeping citizens apprised of reported rabies cases and general rabies information on their website.

HEALTH - Rabies a Continuing Concern in Ontario

Despite great efforts, including the distribution of more than 1,600,000 vaccine baits, Ontario continues to see animals infected with rabies.

The latest reported numbers, from last week, bring the total of raccoon strain rabies to 244 along with two cases of fox strain rabies since the first infected animal was discovered in December 2015.

The raccoon strain cases were found in the following areas:

• Hamilton - 198
• Haldimand - 18
• Niagara - 12
• Brant - 11
• Halton - 5

The majority of ill animals were raccoons (170), followed by 72 skunks, one fox and one cat.

The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry have tested more than 4,300 animals for the disease and are continuing their efforts to control the outbreak.

HEALTH - Database Connects Researchers, Vets and Pet Owners

An online database is being touted as a new tool to help connect researchers, vets and pet owners better than ever.

Launched in June, the AVMA Animal Health Studies Database is designed to direct vets and pet owners to treatment options and assist researchers in recruiting animals to take part in clinical studies.

The first-of-its-kind, go-to database will be an alternative to the cumbersome search veterinarians typically endure when looking for clinical trials which may be relevant to patients.

“So having one site where it’s easy for veterinarians and for pet owners to go in and see what clinical trials are available is just a huge move forward,” says Dr. Therese “Terry” Fossum, chair of the AVMA working group and surgery professor at Midwestern’s College of Veterinary Medicine in Arizona.

And the database will include the good and the bad, so to speak.

“Part of the idea is to provide information about whether results are negative or positive and therefore, whether an intervention is worth pursuing,” Fossum says.

“Very few people publish negative results on the whole, but sometimes those negative results are as informative as positive ones.”

While the Veterinary Cancer Trials website is a national database for studies done on cats and dogs, the AVMA site will go further and encompass all fields of veterinary medicine and all species of animals, even including studies on wildlife.

The network will also extend beyond the U.S to Canada and the United Kingdom.

It means linking up researchers, study candidates, vets looking for promising studies and/or trials and pets needing treatment options will be that much easier to do.

Dr. Ed Murphey, an assistant director in the AVMA Education and Research Division, said a prime example of how the database could work is where investigators might want to study a drug, surgical technique or treatment for a certain condition in animals and turn to the online resource to collect samples from animals with a certain condition for DNA analysis.

“There are a lot of AVMA members involved in the conduct of clinical studies, and so, having the database helps them enrol animals into their studies,” Murphey says.

“And there’s a direct benefit to practitioners who are looking for all avenues to help some of their owners and patients ... (the database) will be a centralized collection where it will be one-stop shopping for people with animals with certain conditions who may be interested in trying to find out if there are any studies that may either help their animal or may at least help direct the advancement of knowledge for the condition.”

Animal owners, veterinarians, and anyone else can search the database.

The Veterinary Cancer Society transferred its estimated 100 studies from its Veterinary Cancer Trials website into the AVMA database and there is a call-out to solicit studies from vet colleges.

Dr. Kim A. Selting, creator of the Veterinary Cancer Trials website and AVMA working group member, says good-quality trials rely on recruiting good candidates, an endeavour simplified by the database.

“Sometimes it’s hard to find those cases,” she says.

“We know they’re out there. We know that dogs get a particular kind of tumor or cats get a particular kind of tumor. But either the owners aren’t aware of the opportunity to participate in a clinical trial or they have some trepidation or uncertainty about participating in a trial or don’t understand what all is involved in that with regards to money and time.”

​The database is at www.avma.org/findvetstudies.

By Nadia Moharib

Nadia Moharib is an animal lover who has adopted everything from birds to hamsters, salamanders, rabbits, fish and felines. She has written about all-things-pets for years and was a long-time editor of a pet magazine in a daily newspaper which featured a Q & A column, Ask Whit, penned by her pooch (ghost written, of course.) The serial dog owner lives in Calgary, Alberta and most days can be found at a dog park picking up after her rescue pooch, Scoots.

HEALTH - Rodney Habib is on Cancer Fighting Mission

Rodney Habib begins his 2016 TEDx talk by saying “Dogs are awesome.”

In his “#DOGS” shirt, with images of dogs on the screen behind him, he is clearly sincere when he says it.

Habib calls himself “a pet nutrition blogger on a mission: to better the way people feed their pets” but it’s clear that he’s doing more than just that.

He won the 2013 Retailer of the Year Summit, the 2014 Summit Awards Communicator of the Year and Retail & Commercial Services Emerging Leader Scholarship, and was a finalist for the Digital Journalist of 2015.

He has a blog, a twitter stream, an active FaceBook page, a thriving brick-and-mortar pet food store, writes for Dogs Naturally magazine, and now his 2016 TEDx talk is making waves on the internet. 

In November 2014, Habib told Petlynx “my passion still lies in getting the message out to the world. My goal is to personally inspire every pet owner on the planet. I want to change the world, and I will.”

As evidenced in his talk, the change he wants to make is to help pet owners use diet to increase their dogs’ lifespan and reduce the incidence of cancer.  His TEDx talk, and much of his current activism, focuses on improving the diets of pets for this specific purpose, and is the result of years of research following his own dog’s cancer diagnosis.

He states that 1 in 2 dogs will get cancer, and that the Broad Institute has found that while 10% of cancers are caused by genetics, 90% are lifestyle or environmental.

The claim that cancer is so significantly impacted by environment and lifestyle (including diet) is a controversial claim, and contradicts the widely accepted “bad luck hypothesis” of cancer development, but this claim is supported by research.

Habib has a proposal for pet owners, informed by this research and the belief that cancer incidence in dogs can be significantly reduced.

He suggests feeding dogs a diet of unprocessed fresh foods.

Sounds simple, right?

And in many ways, it is.

Habib spoke with both Brian McLaren and Jake Perry, two men who have a track record when it comes to keeping animals alive. McLaren’s dog Maggie died in April of this year at 30 years old, and Perry has held the Guinness World Record for oldest cat alive twice, with two separate cats.

Both men told Habib that they believe their pets’ longevity was due to the fresh unprocessed food they were fed.

This is another claim that may seem controversial but is supported by current and ongoing research. The field of nutrigenomics, which Habib references, is an emerging area of study into how diet and nutrition impacts genes.

Purdue University studied the effect of adding vegetables to a dog’s diet and found a significant reduction in bladder cancer risk, particularly with the addition of green leafy and yellow-orange vegetables.

Habib’s passion and his drive to increase the health and lifespan of companion dogs has pulled him into the spotlight many times over the last few years, and it doesn’t look like he’ll be slowing down anytime soon.

By Tiffany Sostar

Tiffany is a writer, editor, academic, and animal lover who came late to her appreciation of pets. At 18, a rescue pup named Tasha saved her from a depression and she hasn't looked back. She has worked as the canine behaviour program coordinator for the Calgary Humane Society, and was a dog trainer specializing in working with fearful and reactive dogs for many years. She doesn't have any pets right now, but makes up for it by giving her petsitting clients (and any dogs she comes across on her frequent coffee shop adventures) extra snuggles.