Downloaded from http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/ on December 23, 2014 - Published by group.bmj.com
Letters
Letters CANINE HEALTH
Canine distemper imported into the UK CANINE distemper is a contagious disease that infects a wide range of carnivores (Deem and others 2000), but it is now rare in dogs in the UK due to widespread uptake of vaccines. Considerable concern has been expressed about the disease risks of importing dogs into the UK. Two cases of canine distemper in puppies after rehoming were reported recently by Adamantos and Warman (2014) in the south west of the UK, but the source of infection was not determined. Here, we report canine distemper in a puppy from a litter born to a crossbred, gravid bitch imported into the UK from Bulgaria on August 25, 2013. The bitch was presented to a veterinary practice in north-east England. It had exhibited upper respiratory tract signs during travel and, over the next two months, had intermittent inappetence, pyrexia, lethargy and serous nasal discharge. The bitch had given birth to a litter of four puppies on August 30, 2013. From two weeks after whelping, the puppies all developed inappetence/anorexia, serous nasal discharge, diarrhoea, tachypnoea/dyspnoea and anaemia. Three puppies died or were euthanased from three to six weeks of age. The last puppy exhibited convulsions and frothing at the mouth shortly before being euthanased at six weeks of age. This puppy was presented for postmortem examination at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies on October 7, 2013. Gross lesions included pallor, conjunctivitis, splenomegaly, pleural effusion and interstitial pneumonia. Histopathology confirmed interstitial pneumonia, with syncytial cells and eosinophilic inclusion bodies in pneumocytes (Fig 1), consistent with canine distemper. Intranuclear and intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies were also observed in the
spleen, lymph nodes and liver. Canine distemper virus nucleocapsid (N) protein gene sequences were detected by reverse transcriptase-PCR in RNA extracted from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded lung tissue from the puppy and this was confirmed by sequencing. We conclude that the bitch was infected with canine distemper virus when imported from Bulgaria while pregnant, that infection may have caused intermittent clinical signs in the bitch, and that the virus was transmitted postnatally to the puppies, which succumbed to the disease, while the bitch recovered. No other cases of canine distemper have been reported in the region for many years. The source of canine distemper in this case was importation of an infected gravid bitch into the UK from Bulgaria, emphasising the risk of introducing infection through pet immigration. While the risk of introducing rabies by this mechanism is clearly of major concern, the authors wish to highlight the possibility that importation of dogs, whether controlled or illicit, has the potential to reintroduce other infectious diseases that are currently considered to be rare in the UK, unless suitable controls and checks are implemented. In view of the possible reemergence of infectious diseases in the UK through pet travel, canine distemper should be considered more frequently in differential diagnoses when suspicions are raised by the history and clinical signs. David Walker, Pip M. Beard, Colin P. Sharp, Adrian W. Philbey, Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies and the Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush, Edinburgh EH25 9RG e-mail: [email protected]
References
ADAMANTOS, S. & WARMAN, S. (2014) Diagnoses of canine distemper virus in puppies. Veterinary Record 174, 483 DEEM, S. L., SPELMAN, L. H., YATES, R. A., & MONTALI, R. J. (2000) Canine distemper in terrestrial carnivores: a review. Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine 31, 441-451
doi: 10.1136/vr.g6493
FIG 1: Histopathology of the lung of a puppy with canine distemper, showing inclusion bodies in nuclei (solid arrows), the cytoplasm (open arrows), and multinucleate cells (asterisks)
November 1, 2014 | Veterinary Record | 433
Downloaded from http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/ on December 23, 2014 - Published by group.bmj.com
Canine distemper imported into the UK David Walker, Pip M. Beard, Colin P. Sharp and Adrian W. Philbey Veterinary Record 2014 175: 433
doi: 10.1136/vr.g6493 Updated information and services can be found at: http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/175/17/433.2
These include:
References Email alerting service
This article cites 2 articles, 1 of which you can access for free at: http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/175/17/433.2#BIBL Receive free email alerts when new articles cite this article. Sign up in the box at the top right corner of the online article.
Notes
To request permissions go to: http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions To order reprints go to: http://journals.bmj.com/cgi/reprintform To subscribe to BMJ go to: http://group.bmj.com/subscribe/
Letters
Letters CANINE HEALTH
Canine distemper imported into the UK CANINE distemper is a contagious disease that infects a wide range of carnivores (Deem and others 2000), but it is now rare in dogs in the UK due to widespread uptake of vaccines. Considerable concern has been expressed about the disease risks of importing dogs into the UK. Two cases of canine distemper in puppies after rehoming were reported recently by Adamantos and Warman (2014) in the south west of the UK, but the source of infection was not determined. Here, we report canine distemper in a puppy from a litter born to a crossbred, gravid bitch imported into the UK from Bulgaria on August 25, 2013. The bitch was presented to a veterinary practice in north-east England. It had exhibited upper respiratory tract signs during travel and, over the next two months, had intermittent inappetence, pyrexia, lethargy and serous nasal discharge. The bitch had given birth to a litter of four puppies on August 30, 2013. From two weeks after whelping, the puppies all developed inappetence/anorexia, serous nasal discharge, diarrhoea, tachypnoea/dyspnoea and anaemia. Three puppies died or were euthanased from three to six weeks of age. The last puppy exhibited convulsions and frothing at the mouth shortly before being euthanased at six weeks of age. This puppy was presented for postmortem examination at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies on October 7, 2013. Gross lesions included pallor, conjunctivitis, splenomegaly, pleural effusion and interstitial pneumonia. Histopathology confirmed interstitial pneumonia, with syncytial cells and eosinophilic inclusion bodies in pneumocytes (Fig 1), consistent with canine distemper. Intranuclear and intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies were also observed in the
spleen, lymph nodes and liver. Canine distemper virus nucleocapsid (N) protein gene sequences were detected by reverse transcriptase-PCR in RNA extracted from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded lung tissue from the puppy and this was confirmed by sequencing. We conclude that the bitch was infected with canine distemper virus when imported from Bulgaria while pregnant, that infection may have caused intermittent clinical signs in the bitch, and that the virus was transmitted postnatally to the puppies, which succumbed to the disease, while the bitch recovered. No other cases of canine distemper have been reported in the region for many years. The source of canine distemper in this case was importation of an infected gravid bitch into the UK from Bulgaria, emphasising the risk of introducing infection through pet immigration. While the risk of introducing rabies by this mechanism is clearly of major concern, the authors wish to highlight the possibility that importation of dogs, whether controlled or illicit, has the potential to reintroduce other infectious diseases that are currently considered to be rare in the UK, unless suitable controls and checks are implemented. In view of the possible reemergence of infectious diseases in the UK through pet travel, canine distemper should be considered more frequently in differential diagnoses when suspicions are raised by the history and clinical signs. David Walker, Pip M. Beard, Colin P. Sharp, Adrian W. Philbey, Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies and the Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush, Edinburgh EH25 9RG e-mail: [email protected]
References
ADAMANTOS, S. & WARMAN, S. (2014) Diagnoses of canine distemper virus in puppies. Veterinary Record 174, 483 DEEM, S. L., SPELMAN, L. H., YATES, R. A., & MONTALI, R. J. (2000) Canine distemper in terrestrial carnivores: a review. Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine 31, 441-451
doi: 10.1136/vr.g6493
FIG 1: Histopathology of the lung of a puppy with canine distemper, showing inclusion bodies in nuclei (solid arrows), the cytoplasm (open arrows), and multinucleate cells (asterisks)
November 1, 2014 | Veterinary Record | 433
Downloaded from http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/ on December 23, 2014 - Published by group.bmj.com
Canine distemper imported into the UK David Walker, Pip M. Beard, Colin P. Sharp and Adrian W. Philbey Veterinary Record 2014 175: 433
doi: 10.1136/vr.g6493 Updated information and services can be found at: http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/175/17/433.2
These include:
References Email alerting service
This article cites 2 articles, 1 of which you can access for free at: http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/175/17/433.2#BIBL Receive free email alerts when new articles cite this article. Sign up in the box at the top right corner of the online article.
Notes
To request permissions go to: http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions To order reprints go to: http://journals.bmj.com/cgi/reprintform To subscribe to BMJ go to: http://group.bmj.com/subscribe/
