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| Puppybop |
WHAT IS IT?
The virus has a tendency to attack rapidly reproducing cells, such as those lining the gastrointestinal tract.
'Parvo' is a highly contagious disease characterized by diarrhea that is often bloody.
Parvovirus is a very common problem that is a huge killer of puppies. Due to its ability to be transmitted through hands, clothes, and most likely rodents and insects, it is virtually impossible to have a kennel that will not eventually be exposed to the disease
HOW IT SPREADS...
The virus is shed in large amounts in the stools of acutely infected dogs for up to several weeks following infection. The disease is transmitted by oral contact with infected feces. Parvo can be carried on the dog’s hair and feet, as well as on contaminated crates, shoes, and other objects
SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS...
Dogs that develop the disease show symptoms of the illness within 3 to 7 days.
The first sign of CPV is lethargy. Usually the second symptoms would be loss of appetite or diarrhea (sometimes bloody) followed by vomiting.
The symptoms include
- lethargy,
- vomiting,
- fever,
- diarrhea (usually bloody).
Diarrhea and vomiting result in dehydration and secondary infections can set in.
Due to dehydration, the dog's electrolyte balance can become critically affected.
Because the normal intestinal lining is also compromised, blood and protein leak into the intestines leading to anemia and loss of protein, and endotoxins escaping into the bloodstream, causing endotoxemia.
Dogs have a distinctive odor in the later stages of the infection.
The white blood cell level falls, further weakening the dog.
Any or all of these factors can lead to shock and death.
TREATMENT...
Survival rate depends on how quickly CPV is diagnosed, the age of the dog and how aggressive the treatment is. Treatment usually involves extensive hospitalization, due to the severe dehydration and damage to the intestines and bone marrow. A CPV test should be given as early as possible if CPV is suspected in order to begin early treatment and increase survival rate if the disease is found.
The primary cause of failure of canine parvovirus vaccines is an interfering level of maternal antibody against the canine parvovirus. (Maternal antibodies are the antibodies present in the mother's milk during the first 24 hours after the puppy's birth.)
The complicating factor is that there is a period of time from several days to several weeks in which the maternal antibodies are too low to provide protection against the disease, but too high to allow the vaccine to work. This period is called the window of susceptibility. This is the time when despite being vaccinated, a puppy can still contract parvovirus. The length and timing of the window of susceptibility is different in every puppy in every litter.
This issue can be limited by ensuring that the mother has been immunized prior to pregnancy, and the puppies are kept away from other dogs or cats (and all mammals, to be safe..), and their environment is kept clean at all times. The mother/dam will regularly keep the kennel clean by eating the wastes produced by the pups, and she will ensure that she relieves herself far from the kennel, and feeds also relatively away from where the puppies are.
It is therefore very important not to confine the mother/dam in an enclosed area, or if you have to, there should be enough space for her to go a bit far to eat and relieve herself.
- Dogs become infected through oral contact with CPV2 in feces, infected soil, or fomites that carry the virus.
- Following ingestion, the virus replicates in the lymphoid tissue in the throat, and then spreads to the bloodstream.
- From there, the virus attacks rapidly dividing cells, notably those in the lymph nodes, intestinal crypts, and the bone marrow. There is depletion of lymphocytes in lymph nodes and necrosis (cell death) and destruction of the intestinal crypts.
- Anaerobic bacteria that normally reside in the intestines can then cross into the bloodstream, a process known as translocation, with bacteremia leading to sepsis. The most common bacteria involved in severe cases are Clostridia, Campylobacter andsalmonella species. This can lead to a syndrome known as Systemic inflammatory response syndrome(SIRS). SIRS leads to a range of complications such as hypercoagulability of the blood, endotoxaemia and acute respiratory distress syndrome(ARDS).
- Bacterial Myocarditis has also been reported secondarily to sepsis.Dogs with CPV are at risk ofintussusception, a condition where part of the intestine prolapses into another part.Three to four days following infection, the virus is shed in the feces for up to three weeks, and the dog may remain an asymptomatic carrier and shed the virus periodically.
- The virus is usually more deadly if the host is concurrently infested with worms or other intestinal parasites.
- This form is less common and affects puppies infected in the uterus or shortly after birth until about 8 weeks of age.
- The virus attacks the heart muscle and the puppy often dies suddenly or after a brief period of breathing difficulty due to pulmonary edema.
- On the microscopic level, there are many points of necrosis (cell death) of the heart muscle that are associated with mononuclear cellular infiltration. The formation of excess fibrous tissue (fibrosis) is often evident in surviving dogs. Myofibers are the site of viral replication within cells.The disease may or may not be accompanied with the signs and symptoms of the intestinal form. However, this form is now rarely seen due to widespread vaccination of breeding dogs.
- Even less frequently, the disease may also lead to a generalized infection in neonates and cause lesions and viral replication and attack in other tissues other than thegastrointestinal tissues and heart, but also brain, liver, lungs, kidneys, and adrenal cortex. The lining of the blood vessels are also severely affected, which lead the lesions in this region to hemorrhage.
- This type of infection can occur when a pregnant female dog is infected with CPV2.
- The adult may develop immunity with little or no clinical signs of disease. The virus may have already crossed the placenta to infect the fetus.
- This can lead to several abnormalities. In mild to moderate cases the pups can be born with neurological abnormalities such ascerebellar hypoplasia.(..view source...)
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