A mysterious illness that has killed one local dog and sickened several others has been linked to a virus that killed several dogs in California in the spring.
The Ohio Department of Agriculture is expected to release additional information Monday confirming that early test results indicate the virus found in the tissue of the dead dog is consistent with circovirus, a disease more commonly seen in pigs.
Dr. Craig Sarver, a veterinary diagnostician at the Ohio Department of Agriculture’s Animal Disease Division, confirmed late Thursday that circovirus, responsible for the deaths of several dogs in California, was found in fecal samples submitted from sick dogs in the Canal Fulton area last month.
“[Dr. Sarver] told me that the circovirus is not shed in the stool of sick dogs for more than a few days; that is the current understanding,” said Dr. Melanie Butera, who was the first local veterinarian to report the illness to the state agriculture department. “This makes it less likely to be transmitted dog to dog unless the dog is in contact with a sick one at that time. Sick dogs are unlikely to be at the dog park.”
Furthermore, the virus has been found in stool samples from healthy dogs, indicating there are dogs naturally immune and perhaps genetically protected from the severe disease aspect, she said.
“This also makes it less likely that we would see an epidemic like they saw with parvo in the 1970s,” Butera said.
Butera said there has been no confirmation on what killed the dogs in Cincinnati last month or whether it can also be attributed to the virus.
Erica Hakins, communications director of the Ohio Department of Agriculture, reportedly told a Cincinnati television station last week that research shows that a circovirus affecting pigs and the canine variation might be closely related.
“If positive, [canine circovirus] would be the first confirmation in the state,” Hawkins told WPCO.
Ohio State University is conducting tests on tissue samples from the Cincinnati dogs.
Butera is still cautioning dog owners to wait until all the test results are reported.
“Please understand, though, in microbiology in order for them to say it is definitely the cause of the disease, they have to introduce the agent into a healthy dog and cause the disease… ... But isolating a new agent in suspicious cases is the first step, and then the research will follow from there,” she said Friday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in the online Emerging Disease Journal that pathologists at the University of California-Davis discovered the virus, normally associated with pigs (porcine circovirus), in dogs in April.
“The detection of a circovirus in tissues of dogs expands the known tropism of these viruses to a second mammalian host. Our results indicate that circovirus, alone or in co-infection with other pathogens, might contribute to illness and death in dogs,” the report stated.
Before 2012, the only circocviruses reported that had infected mammals were two closely related porcine circoviruses that have been reported worldwide in pigs.
The report, titled “Circovirus in Tissues of Dogs with Vasculitis and Hemorrhage,” which details the study, can be found at http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/19/4/12-1390_article.htm.
There is no vaccine to prevent an animal from contracting the illness, but authorities are advising early treatment has proven successful is most cases.
Kathy Antoniotti can be reached at 330-996-3565 or kantoniotti@thebeaconjournal.com.