New canine flu detected in several more states
Lisa Schnirring
CIDRAP News
May 22, 2015
The new canine H3N2 flu virus has now been detected in as many as 13 states, though most cases have been reported near Chicago, where the virus first turned up in the middle of April, according to veterinary groups and lab reports.
The virus is related to an H3N2 strain that has infected dogs in southern China and South Korea since 2006.The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in late April that a genetic analysis of the new strain found no sign that it can infect or cause severe disease in humans.
The more common H3N8 canine flu, which has been circulating in the United States since 2004, also poses a low threat to humans.
Virus expands reach
Cornell University Animal Health Diagnostic Center (AHDC) has been monitoring detections nationwide, and its most recent map as of May 6 shows that positive tests for the virus have come from 11 states: California, Texas, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Alabama, and Michigan.
Since then, tests in Georgia and possibly in Ohio have detected H3N2 in dogs, which would raise the number of affected states to 13. The University of Georgia Veterinary Diagnostics Laboratories (UGVDL) announced on May 19 that the strain was detected in a dog from the metropolitan Atlanta area that had recently been in contact with other dogs at an Atlanta boarding facility.
Meanwhile, a possible case was detected in the Ohio city of Newark this week, but a second round of tests are needed to confirm the diagnosis, according to a May 20 statement from the Ohio State University (OSU) College of Veterinary Medicine.
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