Clostridium Perfringens Enterotoxin A

[Guest eaglflyt]

We recently have had SEVERAL very sick dogs. We foster for our group and recently it seemed to be "take your greyhound and leave them at a shelter week". So, our group, in about 10 days, took in several shelter greys. Two came to our home from the Tulsa shelter. Shortly after, one became very ill with vomiting and diarrhea. She was taken immediately to our group vet. Within the next couple of weeks, every dog that had come in contact with her also became very ill. Three required hospitalization, including our own Ady Bea at the E vet over the weekend. Our Oscar was the last to become ill and we had full testing done on him to know exactly what we were battling and how to most effectively treat it. Symptoms of the dogs ranged in severity, but generally included fever (one dog had fever up to 106 F), loss of all appetite, vomiting, projectile watery diarrhea and lethargy. Also, 2 of the dogs had blood either in vomit or diarrhea. All total, this went through *11* dogs, including our own 2 greys, 3 mini dachsies and elderly Aussie.

 

Oscar's stool testing (he had bloody diarrhea) came back positive for Clostridium Perfringens Enterotoxin A by PCR. Apparently this was a very virulent strain and went through every dog that came in contact with any affected hound! The only hound it did not affect was one of our fosters that had erlichia and was on antibiotics at the time. She is the ONLY dog that had been through our home that missed becoming infected. This was very contagious ... I'm guessing through using common water bowls, no matter how much we tried to keep everyone separated.

 

We had never had so many sick dogs at once and seemed to be constantly cleaning, running to the vets, giving meds and hoping for them to get better. It took about 3 weeks for this to occur and conclude. I have no idea how many paper towels we went through or how many loads of laundry I have done. Bless their hearts, I have seldom seen dogs so sick.

 

Here's more info. on this particular bacterial infection:

 

HERE

 

We're unsure why each dog, even those that were not under any stress, became so violently ill and so quickly. All we can think is that it was a very virulent strain that none of the dogs had been exposed to before. So, if you happen to be dealing with any dog with severe GI symptoms, you might consider this as a possibility.

 

I hope we never encounter this one again!

 

As a side note, I have NEVER been more THANKFUL for pet insurance!

Edited April 22, 2011 by eaglflyt

[Batmom]

Holy petunias. Hope everybody is OK now.

[greyhead]

First, you have my most sincere sympathies! Having a C. perfringens infection (though not as severe as what you describe) is what led to our Spencer's intestinal malabsorption and IBD, both permanent conditions. It took weeks to get my vet to do a culture and sensitivity on his poop, which smelled so vile that I knew it had a story to tell. The problem was, as your link mentions, it's a germ that is expected to be present normally at a non-pathological level.

 

However, I disagree that expensive testing is required to determine if it's a problem, which the article you linked to and other articles all suggest. There is an expected range within which the number of those bacteria should fall. In Spencer's case the number was, as the tech who gave me the news after talking to the lab put it, "way, way, way, way beyond" what was expected. At that level, and given the extent of his illness, it is obvious that toxin is being produced, and you don't need a PCR to tell you so!

 

I say this just to encourage people whose dogs are having persistent diarrhea, weight loss, inappetance, etc., to *order* that a C&S be done on the poop, and sooner rather than later. While not entirely cheap (over $100), it's a lot less expensive than the other tests and can probably tell you everything you need to know. But Clostridium is not routinely part of the standard C&S test panel, and we had to request that they specifically include it for our test. Further, it is usually assumed that Clostridium difficile will be the culprit, so they're not looking for perfringens.

 

Thanks for bringing this up. It's something people need to be aware of. Vets have traditionally only expected C. perfringens problems in German Shepherds, which is one reason our vet was so resistant to considering it. But this is now the fourth time I've heard of greyhounds having it.

Edited April 22, 2011 by greyhead

[MaryJane]

Are you sure this was not the canine influenza. Some vets may not be very aware of this influenza as I believe it was only identified around 2005 in Florida greyhounds. Since then many states have reported outbreaks including Mass where I live. There is currently a new vaccine for this but adverse reaction history is just not adequate yet which is why I did not vaccinate my dogs.

 

http://www.avma.org/public_health/influenza/canine_guidelines.asp

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/canine/

 

The reason that I mention this is from what I remember, Clostridia is just not that easy to pass from one to another. I suppose it would be possible if the area was very unsanitary but, from what you are stating, it sounds more like a viral respiratory infection that ran rampart through your dogs and maybe they got secondary bacterial infections. But, I haven't worked with Clostidia in decades so maybe different transmission methods have been identified since then.

 

I feel for you - it sounds like you had a really bad time while this was going on.

[Guest eaglflyt]

The PCR testing that our vet did through an outside lab cost $106.00. I didn't think that was bad at all for PCR testing.

 

It is odd how it went to EVERY single dog that went through our place or that lived here, except for a foster that was already on antibiotic therapy for erlichia. There were no respiratory symptoms and we definitely keep everything clean and the pups all have muzzles and stool cups when we take them to the turnout.

 

At first I suspicioned viral, too, However, I concluded it was most likely bacterial since the ONLY dog that didn't get it was the foster hound with erlichia that was on antibiotics. I felt the antibiotics were what kept her from succombing to the bacterial infection. If the infection was viral the antibiotics would have had no protective effect and since she too came from a shelter (the shelter in Altus, OK) she was stressed and very weak. She had *hundreds* of ticks when we picked her up and took her straight to our group's vet. She had a low grade temp, panted constantly and was very tired and dealing with erlichia and I feared that if she caught whatever it was (not identified at that time) that we might lose her. She never caught the infection, which helped me to believe that it was indeed bacterial.

 

Most of the literature says that clostridium perfrinigens is spread fecal to oral route. Now, I don't think that is the only method of transmission. However, since dogs do tend to lick themselves in all kinds of places and then lick each other or drink from a water bowl ... and get to other dog's water bowls, no matter how much I tried to prevent it, I think it spread from dog to dog by either licking, sharing chew toys, or from water bowls.

 

Evidently Clostridium Perfrinigens is not uncommon, but only causes problems when it is in it's spore form in the gut of the infected dog. The spore produces a toxin that then causes the problems. The dogs would first just skip a meal, then develop fever, then vomiting and watery diarrhea in varying degrees of severity from dog to dog. The hospitalized dogs required IV fluids, antibiotics, nausea medication (Cerenia), stomach meds and close monitoring along with further testing. Ady Bea had one of the worst cases with vomiting blood and high fever and projectile diarrhea. She was about the 3rd or 4th case and required hospitalization at the E vet, where they also did abdominal x-rays and blood work. By the time Oscar (our other personal grey) got sick, we just wanted to know what it was we were battling. That is why we decided to do extensive testing since he was passing blood in his diarrhea stools. The smell was horrible and something entirely different than normal dog poo!

 

I could possibly scan and post the lab report of the PCR testing if there are folks interested. All organisms were negative except the enterotoxin A that comes from Clostridium Perfrinigens.

Edited April 23, 2011 by eaglflyt

[Batmom]

You really do want the PCR to confirm a diagnosis. C. perfringens can occur in all kinds of numbers, with and without spores, etc. By itself, even in large numbers it might not make the dog ill. It's the toxin-producing C. p. that makes the dog so ill.

[Guest LindsaySF]

I hope the dogs will all be ok. Thank you for sharing.

Edited April 24, 2011 by LindsaySF