Alert : New Dog Disease That Passes To Pet Owners Emerging Worldwide (Canine Brucellosis).
Exclusive: Thailand Medical News May 19, 2019 5 years, 6 months, 2 days, 14 hours, 12 minutes ago
A little known canine disease that has been around for eons and has the ability to pass to humans, is suddenly emerging in various countries with the latest outbreak in Marion County , Iowa. Cases are emerging in Canada, Australia, Britain and its believed that in Asia, the scenario could be more frightening as most medical and also veterinary professionals are total oblivious and ignorant about the disease let alone know how to diagnose it in either animals or humans.
Test Kits For Canine Brucellosis
In Thailand, just ask any Doctor or
veterinarian about Canine Bruscellosis, and you will get a confused stare! Furthermore most facilities in Asia do not even have the facility to test for the presence of the bacteria
Brucella canis, in the bloodstream or other body fluids. Speculations are adrift that the disease could already be mutating and could have already infected lots of individuals. The Canine brucellosis bacteria is a zoonotic disease, meaning it can spread across species from dogs to humans.
The bacteria generally affects the reproductive organs of dogs and female dogs will suffer from infertility, spontaneous abortion and stillbirth, while male dogs suffer from low sperm counts and orchitis which is a painful infection of the testicles.The disease spreads through bodily fluids of dogs particularly reproductive fluids such as semen and vaginal discharge and can spread to puppies during pregnancy and birthing. Studies also show that the disease could be spread by the saliva and urine discharges of dogs.
The transmission to humans arises from any contact with bodily fluids from an infected pet and also objects that the dogs have contaminated.
“If infectious material is on a blanket and the blanket is given away with a puppy to a new family, we have a source of transmission,” said Greg Nelson, DVM, director of surgery and diagnostic imaging at Central Veterinary Associates in Valley Stream, New York in an exclusive interview with Thailand Medical News.
Symptoms In Humans
Symptoms in humans include flu-like symptoms including fever, headache, joint pains and fatigue. In some cases night sweats are prevalent and in severe cases seizures.
In certain cases, the bacteria can attack the nervous system, eyes or heart causing serious complications or even death (which in most cases is cause of death is not even properly determined and linked to the bacteria infection but instead be classified as heart disease etc.)
Individuals with weakend or compromised immune systems including young children, pregnant women, those with HIV or cancer have a greater risk of developing more severe symptoms.
But new emerging studies show that humans carrying the bacteria will suffer severe associated healthcare problems or diseases in the future. For example a report from Iowa State stated that women infected with the bacteria will lost like suffer from childbirths, miscarriages and various gynecologic complications while men could suffer from infertility and also genital cancer.
Treatment for the Diseases in H
umans when properly diagnosed involves antibiotic protocols though there are cases where the infection emerges even after treatment .
The disease in believed to be underreported in medical reports, literature and studies because many dogs can be asymptomatic and the presence of the bacteria is difficult to detect in both dogs and humans. Most medical news platforms and medical journals also do not carry any coverages about this new potential bio threat.
Whats even more troubling is that test kits for the bacteria are not available in most Asian countries including thailand and also the lack of knowledge about the disease in Asia.
