A mysterious respiratory disease that has affected hundreds of dogs in the United States is confusing veterinarians and dog owners. The infection, which is accompanied by chronic cough or pneumonia, does not respond to regular antibiotics.
From August to mid-November, Oregon state authorities received more than 200 reports of a mysterious dog disease. As the Department of Agriculture reported to the US news magazine Time a week ago, similar cases have already been reported across the country – including in the states of New Hampshire, Colorado, Indiana, Illinois, Washington, Idaho, California and Iowa.
The first cases were registered at the end of September
“There is something causing the animals to cough, but we don’t know what yet,” said veterinarian Melissa Beyer of the Veterinary Center in Des Moins, the capital of Iowa. They registered the first cases at the end of September. The disease is accompanied by ‘a considerable inflammation of the lungs’, but the medicines she usually prescribes in such cases do not help.
The disease is reminiscent of so-called kennel cough
Coughing, persistent sneezing and nasal and eye discharge are clear signs of this disease. The complaints remind her of so-called kennel cough in dogs. However, the animals “simply do not respond to antibiotics as they would with normal kennel cough,” the vet said. So far, cases have only been reported in the US.
According to the Oregon Veterinary Medical Association (OVMA), dogs affected by the infection show symptoms such as a mild to moderate cough that lasts for at least six to eight weeks. In many cases, chronic or acute pneumonia also develops, it is said. In some cases this even leads to death, according to the OVMA.
Source: Krone
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