West Nile

[lukasmom]

SOmeone asked me this question and since I have no idea I thought I would ask all of you: if a dog eats a bird that has the West Nile disease will the dog get it? Can dogs be affected by West Nile?

[Guest LynnM]

There have been recorded cases of dogs with West Nile, but it's not common and not usually debilitating. In the grand scheme of things these guys can come down with, WNV is pretty far down on the list.

 

Lynn

[ahicks51]

Looks like consumption from animal material is poorly studied. From the CDC:

 

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/q...v_dogs_cats.htm

 

Q. How do cats and dogs become infected with West Nile virus?

A. Dogs and cats become infected when bitten by an infected mosquito. There is also evidence that cats can become infected with the virus after eating experimentally infected mice. *

 

That "*" references the following article:

 

Austgen LE, Bowen RA, Bunning ML, Davis BS, Mitchell CJ, Chang G-JJ. Experimental infection of cats and dogs with West Nile virus. Emerg Infect Dis [serial online] 2004 Jan [date cited]. Available from: URL: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol10no1/02-0616.htm

 

From the abstract:

 

"An additional group of four cats were exposed to WNV orally, through ingestion of infected mice. Two cats consumed an infected mouse on three consecutive days, and two cats ate a single infected mouse. Viremia developed in all of these cats with a magnitude and duration similar to that seen in cats infected by mosquito bite, but none of the four showed clinical signs. These results suggest that dogs and cats are readily infected by WNV. The high efficiency of oral transmission observed with cats suggests that infected prey animals may serve as an important source of infection to carnivores. Neither species is likely to function as an epidemiologically important amplifying host, although the peak viremia observed in cats may be high enough to infect mosquitoes at low efficiency."

[Guest FordRacingRon]

So what can we put on our dogs? I just now got back from walking in our park which has two lakes. We walk there twice a day,,am and afternoonn. Between the morning walk and now signs have been posted the WNV has been identified in this area. Aside from the fact I don't walk at dusk or dawn, what can I do. The park is about 3/4 of a mile from my house. Do I worry about Leia going outside here now too?

[Guest Cris_M]

So what can we put on our dogs? I just now got back from walking in our park which has two lakes. We walk there twice a day,,am and afternoonn. Between the morning walk and now signs have been posted the WNV has been identified in this area. Aside from the fact I don't walk at dusk or dawn, what can I do. The park is about 3/4 of a mile from my house. Do I worry about Leia going outside here now too?

 

If you're not walking at dusk or dawn, you and Lola are pretty safe. In a conference on WNV that my husband attended, he was told that WNV infests a particular strain of mosquito that is only out at those times. From past employment at the Health Department, I can tell you that WNV tends to be more of a "Get people stirred up" issue than a real one.

[Guest LynnM]

What she said... even among the animals (dogs, people, horses, etc) that get infected, which isn't that many, those that sustain debilitating effects are quite small.

 

Lynn