Posted on January 01, 2010 by: WayCoolDogs

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In the small suburban town of New York called Bedford Hills, a 13-year old mixed-breed neutered male dog gained notoriety by becoming the first dog to be affected by the Influenza A virus in the U.S., more commonly known as Swine Flu. It was also diagnosed with pneumonia.  On the mend now, the dog has become well known in the animal health world.

The family rushed the ill dog to the local emergency vet Hospital last month, the Katonah Bedford Veterinary Center, with a fever of 103.6 degrees, wasn’t eating, appeared lethargic, had a dry cough and breathing problems. He apparently had obtained H1N1 from his owner, who earlier had been diagnosed with Swine Flu. The diagnosis of the 2009 H1N1 virus was confirmed at two labs, including that of the Iowa State University.

The importance of this situation is that there has been no real evidence to date suggesting that the Swine Flu can transfer from humans to dogs — yet has now happened. Michael San Filippo,  a spokesman for the American Veterinary Medical Association, is quoted as saying there is no evidence that the flu strain can be transmitted from a pet to a person. Yet Dr. Anne Schuchat of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said pets can carry and spread flu viruses, though such cases are rare.

Among pets, cats and ferrets have previously been found to catch the swine flu strains from humans, and at least one cat and one ferret have died, according to San Filippo. In China, last November they confirmed several cases of dogs with Swine Flu. But dogs have had no data of it until now in the U.S.

IDEXX Laboratories, now makes an H1N1 influenza virus test for dogs in the US and was one of the labs who diagnosed the dog’s Swine Flu. Unfortunately, there are no Swine Flu vaccinations for dogs. There is a canine influenza vaccine, which protects dogs from the H3N8 strain of canine flu virus, but it will not protect pets against the 2009 H1N1 virus or Swine Flu.

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SOURCES:
Montana’s News Station

KWTX.com

MSNBC

Celebrifi

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