Following many questions from clients who had read Dr Chris Brown’s post about a new strain of parvovirus from the 5th of May 2017, we thought it best to try and alleviate some of the fears his article elicited.
The Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) recently alerted veterinarians that a new strain of parvovirus had been discovered in Australia. This strain has been in many other parts of the world since its discovery in 2000. One of the trickiest things about this new strain is that it does not show up on many in-clinic tests, meaning we cannot always easily confirm that parvo is involved.
Parvovirus is one of the diseases covered in the C5 vaccine that all dogs should receive. Parvo is a viral illness that can have a high mortality rate, especially in puppies. Signs include: a reduced appetite, lethargy, vomiting, diarrhoea (that can be bloody).
The biggest fear is that the available vaccinations do not sufficiently cover this new strain of parvovirus. It appears however, that even though vaccinated dogs may occasionally still become infected, symptoms are milder than in unvaccinated dogs.
It should also be noted that no recent outbreak of this new parvovirus strain has occured. It was only picked up as being in Australia during a study into the genetics of parvovirus. Why is this important? Because we don’t know how long this strain has therefore been here (and it may have been a long time) and this was not picked up as a result of an outbreak due to current vaccines ‘failing’.
Indeed vaccine drug companies offer ‘Vaccine Guarantee Programs’. They are so confident that their vaccine covers against all strains of parvovirus (as the same vaccines have been used for years overseas where this strain has been found for a long time) that they will cover the cost of treatment should your pet become sick with parvo, if your pet has been vaccinated appropriately with one of their vaccines.
So the key here is – make sure your dogs are up to date with their vaccinations to offer them the best protection you can!
HEALTH ALERT: A new strain of one of the most deadly dog diseases has just been discovered in Australia. Here’s all you…
Posted by Dr Chris Brown on Thursday, May 4, 2017
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