The 411 On Canine Influenza

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122 – October, 2024

By William Given

It seemingly began as an isolated outbreak of an unidentified respiratory disease among Greyhounds in January 2004. Ground zero was a racetrack in Florida. In the twenty years since, the virus has spread to at least 36 other states (and very likely more) and shows no signs of abating.

Canine influenza has come to be called the “dog flu,” and it is an extremely contagious disease caused by a very unique virus, a subtype of the H3N8 virus. Sadly, because the virus was so new, the dogs had no immunity against it.

How did CIV suddenly appear at a greyhound racing park in Florida? Did it exist prior to 2004? These are just two of the many questions that veterinary researchers began asking as they started to look for ways to protect our dogs from this rapidly emerging disease.

Canine influenza did not exist as a canine-specific disease prior to 2004. Fairly quickly, researchers discovered the virus only infected horses and was considered an equine influenza virus. However, something happened that rarely occurs in nature. The genome of the H3N8 equine influenza virus that had only infected horses was transmitted to dogs. The virus found a way to adapt to the internal environment of the dog and became a canine-specific virus and wreaked havoc on the immune system of dogs.

Unlike the influenza virus we humans are subject to, canine flu does not have a seasonal pattern. Fortunately, there is no evidence that the virus can be transmitted from dogs to humans.

Transmission of CIV

Click here to read the complete article
122 – October, 2024

Short URL: https://caninechronicle.com/?p=305260

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