Oreo's mom Posted December 18, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2003 Margaret, I hope your dogs are feeling better! I appreciate the additional info from both you and AK dog doc, even tho' biology and similar sciences were never my best subjects (eons ago). This may sound naive or have already been discussed, but do these kind of "bugs" travel through dog populations like the flu and similar things travel thru humans? Would this indicate a need to keep Oreo out of the dog park? There's been a lot of flu reported here in Colorado as well as a stomach virus hitting the local schools pretty hard. I either asked this here or asked the husband whether these things cross species - someone said it was highly unlikely... Anyway, Oreo is much better and I appreciate all the info. Happy holidays and blessings to all the BC's out there and to their familys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK dog doc Posted December 18, 2003 Report Share Posted December 18, 2003 You can have viruses travel around through a dog population. We see it from time to time, some tummy bug or respiratory bug that shows up for a week or two and then fades out. (We aren't doing viral isolations, more presuming that "something's going around" based on number of cases and similarity of onset and signs). As far as transmission cross-species, I think it was mentioned here on the boards before, but I can't recall where, so I'll recap. Viruses act by binding to some receptor site on the surface of the cell and then injecting their genetic material (DNA or RNA) into the cell, which then makes and assembles copies of the virus. There are lots of different markers on the cell surface that the virus might use to recognise an appropriate cell to infect. If the cell marker says "I'm a dog" then it will only infect dogs. If it ways "I'm from the group Carnivora" then it might infect many species within that group. If it says "I'm a mammal" then all mammals would be vulnerable (rabies being probably the best-known example). Without doing viral isolation and testing, there's probaby no good way to know if you caught your dog's germs (or vice versa), but occasionally I hear that "everyone in the house has been sneezing and now so is the dog". Not frequently, but sometimes. And who knows, maybe sometimes it DOES cross species, but probably not very frequently for that type of diesase. Bear in mind that bacterial infections tend to be more opportunisitic and less species-specific (like, you can get cow brucellosis, and a cow can get people brucellosis. Bummer for everyone.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK dog doc Posted December 18, 2003 Report Share Posted December 18, 2003 Oh, yeah, and if an animal has recently kicked a virus, it's going to have high titers against the virus so it should be protected if there's a re-exposure to THAT VIRUS for a while... duration of immunity varies. But that doesn't mean you can't meet something else infectious in the dog park. However, you can't defend them from every bug in the universe, nor can you sterilise the world, so use your best judgement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oreo's mom Posted December 19, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2003 That's the clearest explanation I have ever read about infectious diseases transmittal. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK dog doc Posted December 19, 2003 Report Share Posted December 19, 2003 You bet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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