Expert says don ' t panic about new strain of parvo

I'm posting this from the Western Veterinary Conference in Las Vegas. My column on the Web site of the San Francisco Chronicle is up, and I'm writing about the "new" strain of parvo we've seen so much furor over in the last week or so:

I contacted Melissa Kennedy, D.V.M., Ph.D., a specialist in microbiology at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine and an infectious disease and immunology consultant for the Veterinary Information Network. I asked her what the story was. Is CPV-2c a huge new risk to America's dogs, against which there's no vaccine? Is the sky falling, as everyone at my local dog park assured me?



"Relax, don't panic, don't stay home from work with your dog," she responded. "This is completely different from the emergence of CPV-2 in 1978. Then, we were seeing a truly new virus in dogs, and the population had no immunity. Thus, we saw tremendous amounts of disease and high mortality in both adults and pups. This new strain of CPV does bear monitoring, and eventual inclusion in vaccines will likely occur, but a repeat of the scenes from the late '70s and early '80s is not what we are facing. Concern and monitoring, but not fear and hysteria."

Read the whole article, including an in-depth discussion of the vaccine issue as well as some important information on how this new strain can be missed on common parvo tests in the vet's office, here.



And for those who just can't get enough, the transcript of my complete interview with Dr. Kennedy is here -- I just wish you could hear her wonderful Southern drawl!



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Unrelated [from Gina]: The AP reports that FDA inspectors looked at the wrong plant in China for a recent recall:

U.S. health officials evaluated the wrong factory when assessing the safety of a Chinese-made drug ingredient that may be a source of problems with a blood thinner, the Food and Drug Administration said Monday.



Baxter International's heparin has been linked to four deaths and hundreds of reports of allergic reactions. An investigation will take FDA inspectors to China this week.



The Chinese manufacturer was not inspected because it was confused with another company in the agency's database with a similar name, said Joseph Famulare, deputy director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research's compliance department. The FDA evaluated that firm, which had a history of positive inspections and was not re-inspected.



The agency discovered within the past month that the wrong factory was evaluated, Famulare said, adding that as far as the FDA knows, it is an isolated incident.

"As far as the FDA knows" ... so encouraging. Get these folks an agency makeover and enough money and additional talent to do their jobs, please. (And thanks, Pat, for the link.)

Comments

[Colorado Transplant]

The link to the pet food criminal charges by the FDA is

[Colorado Transplant]

Last blog for me this morning: The Wall Street Journal Health Blog quotes Congressman Stupak who lost his teen age son when he committed suicide after taking the drug Acutane as saying something like:



"If the people knew how little the FDA is doing to police the food and drugs, they would be marching in the streets." (Not an accurate but pretty close quote".

[slt]

I guess by "isolated" the FDA means "one of many".

[Colorado Transplant]

Pressed wrong key.



fda.gov/consumer/updates/pet_food021908.html should be the link.



So much suffering by the animals and so many deaths!

Finally, after a little over a year, the FDA is moving toward finding some justice.

[Amy Anderson]

My puppy just died two hours ago of parvo. He was positively tested by our vet("quick and strong results"). He had been treated with IV fluids and antibiotics for two days. Four hours ago he was drinking water on his own. His body temp was very cold...he was warming in front of a heater, resting, and drinking water. He was sleeping, we woke him to give him another round of IV fluids, and his final dose of antibiotics for the night. He vomited, had a seizure and quickly died. Is is possible that this new strain is neurological, causing the brain to shut the body down?

[Jane]

I just bought a new puppy on June 28th, On July 4th morning I noticed he wouldn't eat, and he wasn't active at all. Around noon he pooped a mucusy brownish yellowish colored poop with about 10 tapeworms in it. So I gave him a wormer. two hours later he pooped same color poop, with hundreds of worms coming out. Then he played and was acting normal. I planed to take him to my vet in the morning, but with in a couple of hours he was down again, so I took him to an emergency vet. They did the parvo snap test, it came up positive. I told them he just got vaccinated a few days ago, could that have gave us a false reading or could he be reacting from the vaccine. They said no. Two days later he wants to play, he drinks, but still wont eat but maybe a few bites of rice. But he hasn't pooped since 5:00 July 4th. And he never has vomited. So I called the vet that I took him to yesterday, and asked if he could have been misdiagnosed, cause I don't smell a foul odor coming from him, & he's not having bowel movements, and his temp has been normal the whole time. From the 4th to now. They said that the snap test is never wrong. I would just like to have your opinion on it.



Thank you for your time.