Vets say dog flu threat overblown

The dangers of a newly discovered influenza in dogs that is a mutation of an equine flu are being blown out of proportion by pet owners, fueled partly by rumors spread online, veterinarians and researchers say. “It’s all over the Internet. The rumors are rampant,” says Gail Golab of the American Veterinary Medical Association in Schaumburg, Ill.

The disease was identified in racing greyhounds in 2004 and spread to other canine populations. It moved into the national spotlight when a Sept. 29 paper in the journal Science identified it as a mutation of a form of the disease found in horses.

Influenza has been found in species such as horses, pigs, cats and birds for years, but this is the first canine flu. There are no reports of either dog or horse influenza ever being transmitted to humans.

Because the disease is new in dogs, they have not had time to build up immunity, so almost all dogs exposed become infected, although 80 percent actually show symptoms, Golab says.

But even with a high infection rate, mortality is low, Cynda Crawford, the veterinary immunologist from the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine in Gainesville who first identified the virus, said at a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention briefing. “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.”

It appears that 5 percent to 8 percent of infected dogs die. But because few necropsies, the animal form of an autopsy, were performed, it’s impossible to know definitely if they died of the flu, says Ed Dubovi, director of the virology laboratory at the college of veterinary medicine at Cornell University.