Animal Hospital on Canine Flu: “Never Seen This Kind of Outbreak”

Chicago Tribune Article by Linda Girardi

VCA Aurora Animal Hospital has a sign at its main entrance alerting dog owners of a canine influenza outbreak that has veterinarians taking precautions to prevent the spread of the highly contagious disease.

“We have a Step-Down Ward to keep dogs suspected of having the canine flu. If full-blown symptoms of presumed canine influenza show up, we place the dog in our Isolation Ward,” said veterinarian Terry Medinger, medical director of the VCA Aurora Animal Hospital.

Canine flu H3N8 is a new and highly contagious strain of the influenza virus which can cause respiratory illness in dogs, animal health officials said. The illness only affects dogs and is harmless to humans.

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Short URL: http://caninechronicle.com/?p=74892

Posted by chesliepickett on Apr 7 2015. Filed under Breaking News, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.