A recent map of the dog flu outbreak in the country paints a picture that Virginia can feel both good and bad about.
There have been no reported cases of canine influenza, also known as H3N2, in the state. But Virginia is surrounded by states where dog flu is present.
At the Norfolk Dog and Cat Hospital, they’re neither in panic mode about the flu arriving in the area — nor are they ignoring the possibility that it might hit.
“We vaccinate anyone that wants it, or anyone we think is in danger,” said Dr. Turkan Ertugrul, a veterinarian at the Norfolk Dog and Cat Hospital.
Dogs in danger might be dogs who are going to be traveling to other states this summer — or even those who will camp out at Virginia state parks, where they might encounter dogs from all over the country, she added.
Ertugrul said they’ve only vaccinated about 15 dogs since the flu outbreak.
“People call in and say their groomer requires it,” she said. “If it’s a little fluffy dog who goes to the groomer regularly, I will ask the owner if the groomer requires it, but I don’t push it on anybody.”
She added that some people resist the vaccine because of concerns about over-vaccination. Ertugrul attended a recent seminar on dog flu and one of the take-away messages was the need to look at a dog’s lifestyle and then decide if the dog should be vaccinated or not because not all dogs in the country need to be.
“Are we going to vaccinate ten million dogs for 2,000 cases of flu?” she said.
Ertugrul herself has four dogs, who come to the clinic with her, and none of them are vaccinated.
Dog flu: the backstory
The latest outbreak of dog flu occurred in May, at two dog shows — in Perry, Ga. and Deland, Fla. — where infected show dogs then subsequently led to the infection of some 2,000 dogs in 30 states in the U.S., including many in the South, explained Melissa Bourgeois, the senior specialist of drug safety at Merck Animal Health, during an informational teleconference last Thursday.
But dog flu in the U.S. started over a decade ago, she continued. In 2004, several greyhounds at a Florida racetrack became infected with what was known as the equine flu virus, or H3N8. That flu spread to 42 states, including Virginia, and a vaccine was subsequently developed for that flu.
Eleven years later, in 2015, another dog flu emerged — this time in Chicago. The source was a pack of rescue dogs from South Korea, who had originally contracted the virus from birds, Bourgeois continued.
“We know it was introduced that way, but we don’t know how exactly that occurred,” she said.
That virus strain, called H3N2, is what has also recently emerged. It is believed to have started with South Korean shelter dogs in Los Angeles in March.
“South Korea uses dogs as a food source,” said Dr. Pamela Dumont, a veterinarian at Godspeed Animal Care in Williamsburg. “Unfortunately, when the people over there rescue dogs, they rescue one hundred at a time. There is no one shelter that will rescue them all, so they get spread out.”
Dumont added that certain shelters are instituting their own quarantines, but there is no federal regulation to quarantine dogs arriving from South Korea.
Better safe than sorry
At St. Francis Pet Resort in Williamsburg, which is adjacent to Godspeed, they are taking a proactive approaching to vaccination. It was the first facility in the area to mandate that all dogs get the flu vaccine, and they strongly recommend it for all dogs coming into the hospital as well.
“Our main priority is to be advocates for pets,” said Kelly O’Connor, the Hospital Administrator. “We want the community to know it’s our responsibility to educate them on diseases.”
“Animals are so much more socialized than they used to be,” Dumont added. “They go to the Farmers Market, to doggy daycare. Here in Colonial Williamsburg, people bring dogs from all over the country.”
That leaves a lot of room for virus transmission, especially since the virus is highly contagious. It is transmitted through coughing, sneezing, through shared bowls, blankets or toys, any kind of organic debris, and mostly, human contact. Although people can’t get the dog flu, “We are the most common spreaders,” Bourgeois said.
Dumont said that active dogs are actually most at risk because they tend to breathe harder, allowing the virus to settle into their lungs faster, creating mucus that then morphs into a cough.
Many people will mistake the flu for kennel cough, or Bordetella, since the two conditions share other symptoms, including lethargy and fever. “The way to determine the difference is through a culture,” Dumont said.
If dogs have the flu, they just have to wait it out, generally for a few weeks. They shed the virus for 24 days.
The vaccine that both Dumont and Ertugrul administer is Merck’s bivalent vaccine — meaning it covers both the H3N8 strain, as well as the H3N2.
It’s given in two doses, two weeks apart. Dogs are fully immunized after the second vaccine, Bourgeois said. They also recommend that dogs repeat the vaccine annually when they receive their booster shots.
“At this point, we don’t have any contra-indications for older dogs being vaccinated,” she added. “After the first dose of core vaccines for puppies, it’s safe to give the vaccine.”
“I haven’t seen any [dog] have a reaction to the flu vaccine,” Dumont added.
