New parvovirus in USA

[Heart_Song]

No need to panic though. This is an extremely rare disease in the USA and no widespread outbreaks or endemics have been associated with it. If in a facility with a large number of dogs, it may spread rapidly but so far has not been seen to spread rapidly beyond it's source. It is not a disease of concern currently and the vast majority of dogs are not at risk of being infected by it. It is widespread in that it can occur it at least any of the 48 consecutive state but not in that it affects a lot of animals in these states.

It has been present in other countries (except Australia) for a while so worldwide it is not a new strain, only new to the USA. So it's not newly discovered, just newly discovered in the USA because it hasn't been in the USA as long as it has been in other state. Here's an article describing the discovery.

http://www.cvhs.okstate.edu/index.ph...d=437&Itemid=1

[fairlight]

Now that IS scary Heart. Did you notice in the site that it said that one breeder lost 600 pups?....what kind of breeder is that?

[EllyMay]

Originally Posted by fairlight

Now that IS scary Heart. Did you notice in the site that it said that one breeder lost 600 pups?....what kind of breeder is that?

Indeed.

[Heart_Song]

I didn't even notice that. Wow, that's crazy. "It is not known ... if other factors were involved." Hmm, with that many puppies yeah, I'd say there were likely other factors involved. I probably shouldn't mention this, but with the vet school looking at it, a breeder could mean someone who breeds dogs for research not for pets. Most people don't know that there are dogs and horses as well as probably other animals bred specifically to be used as practice patients for vet students. It's very controversial and something that many students are starting to protest. Some schools have done away with live animal operations, Okstate is considering it.

[fairlight]

But still Heart.....where would a person keep 600 dogs for research?

[Heart_Song]

They wouldn't keep them all for themselves, it wouldn't be the research company itself that is breeding the animals. The "breeder" would sell them to dog food companies, vet schools, drug companies and other places. The breeding stock would be housed in much the same way as livestock. There's probably a large building with various sized cages stacked in long rows. A "good" one might have seperate area for those in various reproductive stages and a system to collect excreta at the front or back of the cages for easier cleaning.

The conditions don't have to be ideal, just "humane" by law. The dogs would probably not make great pets or be considered psychologically healthy, but those aren't of a concern for those who are going to use them. Only that they are not predisposed to any medical condition that would compromise the research that they are doing. That's why they get animals from places like that, there's more control over specifics that they are interested in.

[Dauxside]

Okay this part killed me:

“We were quite fortunate to discover this variant,” explains Kapil. “It has been known for six years in Italy but nobody paid attention to it here until we found it last year.”

Fortunate....okay yeah that makes sense (NOT) ... and they *discovered* it knowing it had been in Italy for six bl**dy years? Come on now, if it's been known why weren't the vets at the university working on a serum? They've had nearly a decade...makes me just boil!

So they now do a hurry up, meanwhile dogs are going to start dropping like flys in a few months, warm weather, more interstate transport. Oh boy is it going to be fun.

I am just so *angry* - as an aside, has anyone seen the Hunte corp breeding facility? It's huge, the 600 down could be from them or any other USDA facility of like type.

I'd like to see them out of business...but *not* like this

[Reyven]

Originally Posted by Dauxside

Okay this part killed me:

“We were quite fortunate to discover this variant,” explains Kapil. “It has been known for six years in Italy but nobody paid attention to it here until we found it last year.”

Fortunate....okay yeah that makes sense (NOT) ... and they *discovered* it knowing it had been in Italy for six bl**dy years? Come on now, if it's been known why weren't the vets at the university working on a serum? They've had nearly a decade...makes me just boil!

So they now do a hurry up, meanwhile dogs are going to start dropping like flys in a few months, warm weather, more interstate transport. Oh boy is it going to be fun.

I am just so *angry* - as an aside, has anyone seen the Hunte corp breeding facility? It's huge, the 600 down could be from them or any other USDA facility of like type.

I'd like to see them out of business...but *not* like this

How do you know that somebody hasn't been trying to find a serum? More than likely somebody (whether in the US or another Country) has tried and/or still is trying. If it was known in other countries, I doubt all other countries have just left this disease to run rampant.

As far as being Fortunate....I believe they meant it is fortunate that they have found it NOW rather than later. Now they can begin working on a serum, or perfecting a serum they were working on using other tests from other countries. We have our own test results now and can better understand the virus to help canines..

I know one thing though....I don't want to take my dogs anywhere now!

[Dauxside]

I read the different sites, so far *none* have mentioned a serum - which gives me reason to believe that as of right now we don't have access to one to start vaccinating. However, my complaint is and STILL is that by their own admission they KNEW about the virus - and yet did nothing. Don't you think, really, that were there serum available that they would have mentioned it? They'd have wanted to assure the general public that there were not going to be any problems.

Fortunate was a very poor term IMHO for the person to use - bit callous in view of the short term prospects of containing or halting the disease.

[Dauxside]

Oh gawd I love it when I am wrong...to a degree, please note the years of the actual discovery of this varient:

The original strain of CPV (CPV-2), first identified in 1978, was almost completely replaced between 1979 and 1982 by an antigenic and genetic variant, CPV-2a. A later antigenic variant, CPV-2b, emerged around 1984 and became the predominant virus type by 1988. It has largely replaced the previous strains in the United States, such that over 90% of infected dogs now carry this strain. DNA sequence analysis shows that sequence variation in the VP1/VP2 genes gave rise to successive antigenic virus types, such that the CPV-2a strain differed in only 5 or 6 amino acids from CPV-2, while CPV-2b differs in only 2 amino acids from CPV-2a (Parrish et al. J. Virol 65:6544-6552, 1991).

A patent was applied for Attenuated canine parvovirus vaccine
US Patent Issued on March 23, 1999

Inventor(s)
Colin R. Parrish
Leland E. Carmichael
Allen Gruenberg

Assignee
Cornell Research Foundation, Inc.

See patent information

Made this one a little harder to find - but it's there, now whether it's *available* is another issue. Just because the patent has been made does not mean it's being manufactored, or when it will go into production.

I've been steadily searching using the patent # and other descriptives. So far no luck....anyone else?