A1A South

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus (H5N1) has spread across Asia, Europe, and Africa. Transmission of the virus to felids has been repeatedly reported (1–4). Investigations also indicate virus transmission to dogs. A fatal infection was documented in Thailand (5,6). In central Thailand, seroprevalence of ≈25% among 629 village dogs was reported (7). The virus was also detected in 2 dogs on Bali (8). The often close contact between dogs and humans raises questions about the zoonotic potential and the role of dogs in transmission and adaptation of influenza virus (H5N1) to mammals.

The Study

Experiments were performed on 2 groups of animals housed in different rooms in the high-containment animal facility (Biosafety Level 3+) at the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut using the highly pathogenic influenza virus (H5N1) strain A/cat/Germany/R606/2006 (2,9). All experiments were approved by the ethics committee. The first group comprised 5 dogs and 3 cats; 3 cats and 3 dogs were in the second group. The dogs (beagles, 10–12 weeks of age) were obtained from Harlan Laboratories (Borchen, Germany). The cats (8–10 months of age) were obtained from Charles River Laboratories (Dublin, Ireland). All animals were seronegative to influenza by ELISA (Pourquier Blocking AI type A (Rhone Mtrieux, France) and negative to influenza H5 antigen in hemagglutination-inhibition assays (HI).

In the first group of animals, 4 dogs were inoculated oculo-nasopharyngeally with 10⁶ 50% egg infectious dose (EID₅₀). From day 1 postinfection (p.i.) onwards, 1 uninfected dog and 3 uninfected cats were housed in the same containment room. The cats had the possibility of withdrawing and hiding, but they could also have direct contact with the dogs through 1 part of the cage fence. During the study the cats frequently had direct nose-to-nose contact with the dogs. For a realistic contact exposure setting, the cats were fed by using the dogs’ food and water bowls without prior cleaning. In the second group, 3 cats were inoculated oculo-nasopharyngeally with 10⁶ EID₅₀. Three uninfected dogs were housed in the same containment room. Direct contact between the animals was similarly enabled as for group 1, and contact again occurred frequently. Two cats and 2 dogs housed in a separate room served as negative controls. Animals were monitored by physical examination and for viral excretion for 21 days by using pharyngeal and rectal swabs.

Conjunctivitis and elevated body temperatures (39.2°C to 39.7°C) developed within 2 days p.i. in all inoculated dogs (group 1). On day 4 p.i., the conjunctivitis had resolved and only 2 dogs had body temperatures >39°C. By day 6 p.i., body temperatures of all animals had declined to <39°C. No additional clinical signs were observed.

Viral RNA was detected in pharyngeal and rectal swabs by real-time reverse transcriptase–PCR (RT-PCR), according to the method of Spackman et al. (10). Infectious virus was detected by titration of swab fluid in MDCK cells. Among the pharyngeal and rectal swabs taken at days 0, 2, 4, 6, and 18 p.i., only the pharyngeal swabs taken on day 2 p.i. from 3 of the inoculated dogs were positive by RT-PCR. No infectious virus was isolated. Plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) samples taken on day 4 p.i. were negative for viral RNA.

One negative control dog and 2 inoculated dogs were euthanized on day 10 p.i. Sera derived from these animals were negative in the ELISA and HI tests. The serum of 1 dog euthanized on day 21 p.i., however, was positive in ELISA and in HI testing with a titer of 16. Pharyngeal swabs from this dog were also positive by RT-PCR (Table). At necropsy, no gross lesions were present that could be attributed to the influenza infection. Histopathologic examination of the liver showed a scant lymphocytic periportal infiltration in dog no. 3. Influenza virus nucleoprotein could not be detected by immunohistochemical tests in trachea, lungs, liver, kidney, adrenals, thyroid, spleen, lymph nodes, or thymus. Antibodies did not develop in the second dog, euthanized on day 21 p.i. This animal also never tested positive for viral RNA in swab samples by RT-PCR.

Sera of the inoculated dogs were investigated biochemically for all enzymes that could be analyzed with a FUJI DRI-CHEM 3500 i (Sysmex, Leipzig, Germany). Elevated liver enzymes have been reported in cats that were naturally infected with influenza virus (H5N1) (2). Two dogs showed increased aspartate aminotransferase (AST) values up to 110 U/L (reference values 33–52 U/L) on day 4 p.i. These dogs also showed elevated body temperature on days 2 and 4 p.i., and viral RNA was detected in pharyngeal swabs on day 2 p.i. Dog no. 2 (Table) also showed elevated creatine phosphokinase (CPK) values up to 441 U/L (reference values 54–361 U/L) on day 4 p.i. The cause of the elevated AST and CPK levels noted on day 4 p.i. could have been nonspecific muscle injury. This dog was euthanized on day 10; no muscle injury was observed at necropsy.

The uninoculated dog housed with the infected dogs, as well as the 3 uninfected contact cats in group 1, never showed clinical symptoms. None of the pharyngeal and rectal swab samples, PBMC, or sera derived from these contact animals was positive by RT-PCR. No specific antibodies were detected. Clearly, the virus was not transmitted to the contact dog and cats.

In the second group of animals, severe symptoms—including high body temperatures (>40°C), decreased activity, conjunctivitis, and labored breathing within 2 days p.i. similar to recent reports about influenza virus (H5N1) infections of cats (11,12)—developed in all infected cats. The cats excreted virus through the respiratory and digestive tract. Viral titers quantified in the pharyngeal swabs reached 50% tissue culture infectious dose 10⁵ between days 2 and 4 p.i. Two animals were euthanized because of their symptoms within 5 days p.i. The third infected cat recovered and had HI titers of 64 within 2 weeks p.i. No clinical symptoms developed in the 3 contact dogs, and pharyngeal swabs, PBMC, and sera were negative by RT-PCR. Specific antibodies did not develop in the dogs (Table).

Conclusions

Dogs are susceptible to HPAI virus (H5N1) infection. In our study, they reacted with a transient rise in body temperature and in some instances with specific antibodies. Viral RNA was detected in pharyngeal swabs. Infectious virus could not be reisolated, and transmission of virus to a contact dog and cats did not occur. Contact exposure experiments of influenza virus (H5N1)–infected cats with uninfected dogs did not result in interspecies transmission. The different outcome of infection with the same dose of influenza virus (H5N1) suggests that cats are more susceptible than dogs to disease. However, the experiments were performed with healthy animals; concurrent infections, impaired immune functions, and changing viral characteristics might lead to aggravated infections. Also, since some dog breeds are genetically predisposed for certain viral and bacterial diseases, other breeds might be more susceptible to influenza virus (H5N1) infection (e.g., equine influenza virus [H3N8] caused disease predominantly in small groups of dogs of particular breeds, including greyhounds [13]). Therefore, dogs may have a role in adaptation of HPAI virus (H5N1) to mammals and its subsequent transmission to humans.

Source:  Emerging Infectious Diseases

What does it all mean?  Although it appears that cats are more susceptible to infection with H5N1 (which has also been observed in the field), the study is really too limited to be certain about this.  The cats do secrete the virus which is something to consider if you are in an area with an H5N1 outbreak and the cat becomes ill.

It was a cold morning and when I fed, I could hear weak peeping noises coming from a duck’s nest. The duck was nowhere to be found (perhaps motherhood didn’t live up to her expectations), and some little duckling bodies were lying huddled over the eggs in the cold. One of the eggs was peeping weakly. It, too, felt cold. I picked it up, and could hear more weak peeping from the nest. Another egg with a tiny hole chipped in it. I put them both in my pocket, and checked the other cold eggs. A tiny little duck bill protruded from one, not moving.

I brought the peeping eggs inside and tried warming them with a hair dryer which was not exactly temperature controlled. I didn’t want to take the chance of cooking them in the shell, so I peeled the shell and dried them. I briefly abandoned them to locate and unpack a Hova-Bator incubator that had been bought for the daughter’s poultry @ 10 years previously, but the box had never been opened. I brought it in from where it had been stored and assembled it, periodically warming the little ducklings with a hair dryer.

The incubator temperature controls works great after all that time!  Now the ducklings are in the incubator with the controls set @ 100 degrees. I’ll probably leave them in there the rest of the day before moving them to a box with a heat lamp so they can get their first meal.

Will they survive after being chilled nearly to death?  I don’t know, but they seem to be gaining strength.

Like I suspect many people did, I waited for the final debates in Florida before voting for a candidate.  I did not vote based on whether or not the candidate shared my religious views, something which seems to be of much greater importance to the press than it is to the ordinary voter.   I did not vote based on what they promised for the future.  I voted based on past performance. 

You see, there are several things important to me in a candidate.  We lost our family business after 9/11, and I never want to see terrorists hitting our country like that again.  A person that I believe can be trusted to take care of national security is very important to me.

As a person who has been self-employed for 30 years and just took a salaried job last September, I know just how important it is to reform the tax laws in order to keep our  economy strong.  Sarbanes-Oxley needs to go.  Corporate tax rates need to be cut.  As the ol’ saying goes, I never  got a job (or a great deal of business) from a poor person. <rant>Why is the government even talking about giving tax rebates to people that do not pay taxes?  That’s crazy.  How about (wild idea here) giving tax rebates back to the people that actually pay taxes? </rant>

Control of illegal immigration is another thing that I’m ticked off at Washington about.  Those people are insulated from the effects of illegal immigrants displacing American citizens from jobs.  The young men without educations that used to go into construction or maintenance jobs and still earn a pretty decent living can no longer do so because the jobs have been filled at a lower rate of pay by unskilled workers from Mexico and places south.  Narcotrafficers can travel in and out of the country unchecked.  I’m more tired than I can say of illegal aliens killing citizens and then fleeing back across the border where they are protected.  I’m also very worried that if these people can travel back and forth, then who else may be coming through our borders? 

<rant>I would like to see an actual sane energy policy coming out of Washington instead of some starry-eyed environmentalist on crack bullsh**.   No, I don’t believe that turning corn into fuel is going to be the energy future and anybody with any common sense doesn’t, either.  Right now, we have an oil-based economy so I suggest that we exploit it instead of worrying about polar bears which, if they cannot tolerate a tiny little portion of the ANWR being drilled in, deserve to go extinct.  (And if you look at that wasteland, you do not see polar bears lounging about.)  Cuba and China are drilling off of Florida’s coast, so why the hell isn’t America? </rant>

Well, as I have said, I’m less interested in what a politician tells me he/she is going to do for me than I am in looking at what he (or she) has done in the past.  While looking at a candidate’s job performance in the past is no guarantee of future good behavior, hiring a candidate that has lied to and stolen from his/her past employers is only asking for trouble.

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla will be invadin’ and defeatin’ Tampa today in search of booty, just like they been doin’ since 1904. There will be a whole lotta ways for pirates and wenches to separate tourists from their treasure, so bring plenty. Here’s the schedule of events.