My Pet World: A cure remains elusive for cats with FIP
A: Yes! The new dog flu (called H3N2), which arrived here from Asia, is now considered an epidemic. The virus has been positively identified in at least 17 states -- some with only a few confirmed cases and others with many more.
In the Chicago area a few months ago, many clinics saw 15 to 20 coughing dogs daily, adding up to thousands of sick dogs. That number had dropped to near zero for most clinics, but now several veterinary hospitals are seeing a slight increase in coughing dogs.
No one knows for sure how many dogs nationwide have been sickened or died, since many owners decline testing for their pets (there is a specific test available for the H3N2 strain), and other dogs just don't get sick enough to see a veterinarian.
"The good news is that most dogs recover on their own or with supportive veterinary care," says Dr. Melissa Bourgeois, a specialist in microbiology and Senior Specialist for Drug Safety at Merck Animal Health.
It seems the mortality rate of the H3N2 flu strain is about one to three percent.
"That's very low, but not if it's your dog," Chicago veterinarian Dr. Natalie Marks adds.
Any dog exposed will get sick (except perhaps dogs who have recovered from this flu strain and have some immunity).
Veterinary medicine is all about risk/benefit. If you live in an area where flu doesn't exist, or just one or two dogs have been diagnosed, the risk of your pet getting the flu is minimal, while there are many benefits to allowing social dogs to hang with their own kind.
"However, if the dog flu is occurring where you live, keep your dog(s) away from other dogs," says Marks. "Talk with your veterinarian about appropriate precautions." Likely that means no dog parks, no visits to pet stores, avoiding doggy day care, boarding, etc.
There's increasing evidence that the vaccine for the dog flu strain previously seen in the U.S. (H3N8) might indeed offer some protection against this strain from Asia (H3N2). However, no one knows for sure, at least not yet, as researchers continue to figure all this out.
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