11/16/2023
We are aware that there have been several new reports just over the last week about a new virus variant causing respiratory disease in dogs. We actually just got notice this weekend and hadn't really had any official emails before that. It looks like at this point they haven't isolated the virus and there is no vaccine available.
There are many causes of respiratory signs in dogs, some bacterial (like Bordatella which we recommend vaccinating for twice a year in very social dogs) and some viral (Like parainfluenza which is in the annual DHPP vaccine we give to our dog patients)
Since it is a virus, antibiotics do not work against it, but we would still likely be putting any dogs with a respiratory disease on antibiotics, because we can't always tell the cause (there isn't an easy swab test available for a lot of these, like there is for people with strep)-and often dogs with viral infections can get a secondary bacterial infection as well, so we use the antibiotics to try to head that off.
Otherwise, treatment would depend on the severity of the signs. Luckily the majority of dogs we see do fine with home care, humidifiers, rest, extra fluids, etc. just like us--more severe cases might need hospitalization at a facility with an overnight ICU that has oxygen, like Fort Collins Vet Emergency, Four Seasons, VCA, etc.
So far, luckily, we have not seen any dogs at our practice that have presented with a severe respiratory infection -just the normal milder cases of kennel cough but we are certainly on the alert for this.
We always disinfect all our instruments/scales/rooms after each appt, especially with respiratory diseases of any kind..
At this stage, I think it is wise to avoid contact with other dogs as much as possible, avoiding daycare, dog parks, boarding if possible, and making sure dogs are updated on all their other vaccines, but there is no vaccine against this new virus, and I wouldn't really anticipate one coming quickly-it generally takes months to isolate, grow and develop vaccines (I don't think they will likely be funding a rushed vaccine output like covid, unfortunately, since it is not a human condition, there is not enough funding for the veterinary pharmaceutical companies to pursue those sorts of campaigns. Several years ago, we had a vaccine against 2 strains of dog influenza but they are not widely used, as the influenza has probably mutated beyond the protection of those vaccines, and in Colorado we hadn't had any outbreaks of those strains anyway, so we have not purchased that particular vaccine...and this is apparently not the virus that is causing the current outbreak, as far as anyone can tell)
