CDC Meda Briefing on Canine Influenza

Note: This material has been excerpted from a verbatim transcript. There may be errors.

Monday, September 26, 2005
2:00 p.m.

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OPERATOR: I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Tom Skinner, Public Affairs Specialist with the CDC. Please go ahead, sir.

MR. SKINNER: Thank you, Laura, and thank you all for joining us today for this call where we're going to discuss the publication of a Science Journal article, "Transmission of Equine Influenza Virus to Dogs."

With us today are four participants; all have played a very important role in the publication of this paper: Dr. Ruben Donis from, the Centers for Disease Control; Dr. Nina Marano from the Centers for Disease Control; Dr. Cynda Crawford from the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine; and Dr. Ed Dubovi from Cornell University Animal Health Diagnostics Center....

MR. SKINNER: Thanks, Dr. Donis. Now, I'll turn the call over to Dr. Cynda Crawford from the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine, who will spend three or four minutes sort of giving us the big picture in regards to canine influenza in the veterinary community.

DR. CRAWFORD: Thank you. ...with regard to what veterinarians will be interested in knowing is that this virus can cause a respiratory disease that mimics a syndrome that we call kennel cough.

Now, kennel cough is just a syndrome, and it can be due to a myriad of infectious agents--bacteria as well as viruses. So the most common cause of kennel cough has been a bacterium called bordetella bronchiseptica and with information that we have to date, this still may be the most common cause of respiratory infection in dogs.

So the canine influenza virus is really the new kid on the block for veterinarians to consider in their differential diagnoses for kennel cough. They should consider canine influenza if a dog presents to them with a cough. They may have a nasal discharge and a fever also.

And because kennel cough really is an infectious disease, and it's a contagious disease regardless of the cause, whether it's bordetella bronchiseptica or canine influenza virus or other viruses, these dogs should be handled with some precautions, precautions that veterinarians normally use when they are treating a patient that has a potential infectious disease that is contagious to other dogs. So this type of precaution would involve the isolation of the respiratory disease or at least protection of other dogs in their clinics, while this particular dog with respiratory disease is undergoing diagnosis and treatment and potentially hospitalization.

I'll also stress that despite the rumors that are out on the Internet and other such sources, this disease is not as deadly as people want to make it. Although it's a new pathogen in dogs and nearly all dogs are susceptible to infection based on our knowledge about the virus to date, about 80 percent of them will have a mild form of disease, just characterized by cough and maybe some nasal discharge that will resolve over time with appropriate therapy.

Only a minority of dogs, a small number of dogs, experience complications such as pneumonia, just like the humans infected with influenza, certain populations of humans are more prone to development of pneumonia. And it's a small number of humans compared to everyone else.

So that is the same with canine influenza virus. It's a small population of dogs that will develop complications, most likely bacterial complications and these dogs do need to be--have their treatment supervised by a veterinarian.

In addition, since not all dogs will show a clinical syndrome, showing that they have a respiratory infection, there is a minority that are infected with the virus, but will not show clinical signs to announce to everybody that “I am sick.” And it is very difficult to find these dogs in the dog population. And we're working on a more rapid means of identification.

And lastly, I want to emphasize most of all that this is not the deadly virus that certain sources have played it up to be.

We have a very low mortality rate. And this is a disease that I would characterize as one of high morbidity and low mortality. Thank you....

OPERATOR: Thank you. Lisa Krieger with The San Jose Mercury News, your line is now open.

MS. KRIEGER: Thank you. Just to follow-up on the previous question, could you address the issue of how rapid transmission is likely to happen? Given the behavior of other viruses of this type, should it be of national concern?

MR. SKINNER: Dr. Crawford has been involved in this for well over a year now looking at this. I'll ask her to answer that question.

MR. CRAWFORD: Maybe I can address it in this way. In terms of the rapidity of spread from one state where infection has been documented in dogs to other states, it would need to travel with the dog. So to spread from state to state would just depend on a dog's movements.

However, we don't know about states other than Florida, New York and possibly Massachusetts. We can't tell you at this time if this virus has actually been infecting dogs in the Midwest or western sectors of the country even before we documented it in Florida or New York. So I have received several phone calls from veterinarians from all over the country who think they have seen this type of clinical disease in their dogs that they are dealing with.

So at this time we cannot say with any accuracy whether this virus is restricted to New York, Florida and potentially Massachusetts or if it's in other sectors of the country and maybe in North America that we just don't know about because we haven't completed testing on samples that have been graciously submitted by veterinarians all over....

OPERATOR: Thank you. Barbara Tunick from The Bark Magazine, your line is now open.

MS. TUNICK: Thank you very much. My question is regarding dog owners. Since many of the exposed dogs may not show symptoms, what precaution should dog owners take when they bring their dogs to the vet or groomers, the dog parks? Are there any kind of medical treatments or precautions available?

Secondly, the exposed dogs who do not show symptoms, will they eventually get sick and are they contagious to other dogs?

MR. SKINNER: Dr. Crawford, do you want to address that one?

DR. CRAWFORD: I can address that last part. I don't know if Dr. Marano would like to address the first part with regard to precautions taken on the part of the dog owners in terms of where do they take their dogs.

The ones that do not have clinical signs despite being infected by the virus really do not show clinical signs at any point. For some reason that we do not know, these dogs simply just do not get overtly sick. Are they contagious to other dogs? Yes, we believe they are.

Dr. Marano, do you want to address taking your dog to various places where other dogs congregate or would you like for me to?

DR. MARANO: I think it's important to take a common-sense approach from what Dr. Crawford told us earlier on the call, that there's evidence that there have been some occurrences in Florida and New York, possibly Massachusetts. So I don't think that there's any cause for panic. I think that owners should take reasonable precautions in terms of if it's possible, for instance, to--you know, if your dog is exhibiting any signs of a respiratory illness, you certainly want to get some advice from your veterinarian, and if you do present your dog to a veterinarian, you want to make sure your veterinarian knows whether your dog had been at a boarding kennel recently.

I would certainly make sure that you are using a boarding kennel, that you use one that is well-known to you, that you are familiar with, and I would continue to be alert to pronouncements that are coming out in terms of any outbreaks that are occurring in your area.

But I certainly would not be panicking at this point as far as we have to take the dog. In the absence of further communications about where this might be going next, I think it's just a time to be very watchful and alert and take a reasonable approach but certainly not to panic...

OPERATOR: Thank you. Donald McNeil from the New York Times, your line is now open.

MR. McNEIL: Thank you. Could the speakers be more specific about any recommendations or precautions they might recommend. Should people avoid walking their dogs with other dogs? Should they avoid walking their dogs with dogs that are coughing? Should they avoid taking their dogs to kennels or to grooming salons or anything like that? Should kennels refuse dogs that are coughing? Are there any recommendations now?

MODERATOR: You know, Donald, this is very much a work in progress, and no formal guidance has been developed, but there are some common sense approaches that people can take, and I think Dr. Crawford may be able to elaborate a little bit more on those. Dr. Crawford?

DR. CRAWFORD: I will take the first stab at it and I encourage my colleagues to contribute their perspectives also.

I guess maybe one way to answer this question is I am taking my two Pekinese to be groomed next week to a groomer that sees many dogs during the day. I will continue to board my pet greyhound at boarding kennels when I need to.

I will continue to show dogs at the American Kennel Club sanctioned shows.

So I, myself, will continue on with my routine activities with my own dogs. They will go to dog parks. They will participate in other community activities with other dogs.

However, I think common sense is a good term to use in that dog owners who have a dog with a respiratory infection or that has just recovered from a respiratory infection should probably keep the dog at home until a couple of weeks have elapsed, number one, for that dog to recover fully, and number two, in case that dog has an infectious disease, whether it's flu or not, that could be communicable to other dogs that it is around.

I think veterinarians have become aware of canine influenza virus and have continued their practices of taking precautions with communicable diseases, and most likely upgraded their precautions in addition.

But as far as your average dog owner, I think they should continue to walk their dog on the street, do all the other dog-related activities, but just use common sense about taking your dog out in public, if it has had, or has recently recovered from a respiratory infection.