How easily disease can be dispersed

[Angelus9]

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I know it's come up on here before about "thinking outside the box," yet not looking for zebras everytime you hear hoofbeats (or whatever that saying is).

There was a working dog competition in Kiev on October 6-9. 35 nations sent dog & handler teams to compete. (List here: http://www.wusv-2011.com/en/teilnehmer ).

The competition is over and everyone went home, and yesterday this email came to the USA GSD list:

<<Hello dogtrainers from all over the World,
I'd searched for the fastest way to reach the most of you. Last week we entered the WUSV 2011.....The German team has several ill dogs after this WUSV (Jenny, Sven (dog is in critical state, and Sascha (good luck with everything all!!)), the Dutch team has 2 sick dogs now (Sjacky (became sick in Kiev already), and my own dog is showing the first signs already.(gasping, darker urine, listlessness) Vets in Kiev say that the illness is called Piroplasmose or Babesiosis (this is also the name of the parasite they said).

"When they draw blood you can see big changes in the blood levels. (10/15% lower then they should be). I'll post this results later. For now, spread the word!! Share this post and let every dogsporter who was in Kiev know. Jogi said that we must find out how many dogs are infected."

Since this email 4 more dogs, 2 each from the Finnish and Slovakian teams, have become ill.

The illness has been confirmed as Babesiosis. (Not a new disease to the USA - it's been here since the late 1960's).

Just sharing for a few reasons: you never know if any of you will end up seeing any of these dogs where you work, or you might hear about strange illnesses and not think it would be something like this; interesting (and alarming) to see how in one fell swoop an illness (not necessarily this one) can go in one weekend to 35 countries; and of course, the eternal subject for vet school interviews.

 

[Lissarae06]

Babesiosis huh? What kind of dog show was it? there are 2 types of Babesia in dogs that we have been taught (in the US anyways). One is tick transmitted and the other is through direct transmission like a fight wound or blood transfusion. That's weird that all of these dogs came down with it. Interesting.

 

[Angelus9]

It was a Schutzhund competition. All the dogs compete one-by-one and not in groups in each of 3 phases: tracking, obedience, and protection. So each dog had to complete an 800 yard track with around 5 turns, finding articles along the track, so that's a good tick opportunity right there.

 

[breenie]

It was a Schutzhund competition. All the dogs compete one-by-one and not in groups in each of 3 phases: tracking, obedience, and protection. So each dog had to complete an 800 yard track with around 5 turns, finding articles along the track, so that's a good tick opportunity right there.

But aren't ticks more prevalent in wooded areas? I feel like it's really unlikely for like 500 hundred ticks to be hanging out some grass and they manage to attach and infect 5+ dogs...?

Someone explaaaaiiinnn. I haven't had parasit yet.

 

[Lissarae06]

Each tick would also have to be carrying the Babesia.

 

[supercanuc]

Could the jute bite sleeve used in the competition be a vector?
Here is my logic:
Babesiosis often leads to DIC, which messes with the bloods ability to clot properly. Because of this the gums would bleed an abnormal amount of contaminated blood onto a shared bite sleeve. The subsequent biting of the sleeve, and damage to the un-infected dogs gums, would then lead to the uptake of the protozoa and the spread of infection.

Just my thoughts, not a vet student yet though.

 

[sunshinevet]

Could the jute bite sleeve used in the competition be a vector?
Here is my logic:
Babesiosis often leads to DIC, which messes with the bloods ability to clot properly. Because of this the gums would bleed an abnormal amount of contaminated blood onto a shared bite sleeve. The subsequent biting of the sleeve, and damage to the un-infected dogs gums, would then lead to the uptake of the protozoa and the spread of infection.

Just my thoughts, not a vet student yet though.

A dog with DIC would not be competing in such a competition. They would be very, very, very sick.

 

[CorporateFatCat]

A dog with DIC would not be competing in such a competition. They would be very, very, very sick.

👍 There is a reason why DIC is also known as "Death is Coming".

 

[Marsala]

There are at least 3 Babesia spp. found in Europe that cause the disease in dogs, but both are transmitted by tick bite, blood-contaminated needles, or transplacentally.

Breenie-ticks love grassy areas. I did my master's on babesiosis (and anaplasma, in cattle) and my PhD is an expansion of the project. What I found on the farms that I sampled is that some would be completely overrun with ticks carrying babesia, and others had none. I think you can have pockets with lots of infected ticks, for sure.

Just my 2 cents. Interesting topic.

 

[breenie]

There are at least 3 Babesia spp. found in Europe that cause the disease in dogs, but both are transmitted by tick bite, blood-contaminated needles, or transplacentally.

Breenie-ticks love grassy areas. I did my master's on babesiosis (and anaplasma, in cattle) and my PhD is an expansion of the project. What I found on the farms that I sampled is that some would be completely overrun with ticks carrying babesia, and others had none. I think you can have pockets with lots of infected ticks, for sure.

Just my 2 cents. Interesting topic.

Good to know! It just struck me as strange that SO MANY dogs could get sick from a (relatively speaking) difficult to transmit disease, especially when they weren't wallowing in a forest of ticks. 🙂

 

[Trematode]

I do not know anything about Babesia, but is it transmitted in a relatively short period of time? Most of the tick-borne diseases I have heard of (like lyme disease) is more likely to occur if the tick is attached for at least 24 hours. It seems strange to me that nobody reported finding a tick on their animal and if they did, nobody picked up on the fact that it was a tick sp. is a vector and sent it off to be tested. I think some vital information is missing from the email.

We watched a video on tick-borne illness in my medical and veterinary entomology class yesterday. Scary stuff!

 

[Angelus9]

Someone posted on a German Shepherd list, when asked if there wasn't any warning:

Yes, it was. On the official site, on the poster at the stadium entrance with big tick on it, by the microfone at the stadium. Also the sprays against ticks could be bought near the stadium. We have no big problem with ticks in Ukraine BUT ONLY if the dog sprayed with tick products. It's a pity that some dogowners thougth that Babesoise is not so dangerous desiase and do not prevent their dogs or did it not so carefully. 🙁

and prior, there was this warning:

http://www.wusv-2011.com/en/news
Important Information!!!! 1. Wir bitten Ihre Hunde unbedingt gegen Zecken zu schützen. Das ist sehr wichtig, denn die Gesundheit der Hunde ist bei Zeckenbefall erheblich gefährdet!!!
· We ask you to protect your dogs against ticks. This is highly important because of tick-bites are very dangerous for the health of the dogs.

Looks like people just didn't realize how serious this would be, and that the seriousness of the illness just wasn't stressed enough; I mean, most people who track a lot do use a preventive because ticks are so prevalent at home, so they thought it was just the usual "you're out in the grass, beware of ticks" warning we get here all the time. Maybe it's like West Nile virus in horses. When that hit the US a few years ago it was a horrible problem, and now that it seems here & horses have built up an immunity to it, well, you hardly hear about WNV at all any more. Maybe this strain of babesiosis doesn't affect the dogs in the Ukraine so much, but when it hit dogs who had no immunity against this particular strain, it hit incredibly hard. (Just theorizing on my part).

 

[dyachei]

Someone posted on a German Shepherd list, when asked if there wasn't any warning:

Yes, it was. On the official site, on the poster at the stadium entrance with big tick on it, by the microfone at the stadium. Also the sprays against ticks could be bought near the stadium. We have no big problem with ticks in Ukraine BUT ONLY if the dog sprayed with tick products. It's a pity that some dogowners thougth that Babesoise is not so dangerous desiase and do not prevent their dogs or did it not so carefully. 🙁

and prior, there was this warning:

http://www.wusv-2011.com/en/news
Important Information!!!! 1. Wir bitten Ihre Hunde unbedingt gegen Zecken zu schützen. Das ist sehr wichtig, denn die Gesundheit der Hunde ist bei Zeckenbefall erheblich gefährdet!!!
· We ask you to protect your dogs against ticks. This is highly important because of tick-bites are very dangerous for the health of the dogs.

Looks like people just didn't realize how serious this would be, and that the seriousness of the illness just wasn't stressed enough; I mean, most people who track a lot do use a preventive because ticks are so prevalent at home, so they thought it was just the usual "you're out in the grass, beware of ticks" warning we get here all the time. Maybe it's like West Nile virus in horses. When that hit the US a few years ago it was a horrible problem, and now that it seems here & horses have built up an immunity to it, well, you hardly hear about WNV at all any more. Maybe this strain of babesiosis doesn't affect the dogs in the Ukraine so much, but when it hit dogs who had no immunity against this particular strain, it hit incredibly hard. (Just theorizing on my part).

Just wondering what else you thought they should do. They posted warnings and had tick products nearby. If I were going to a foreign country for a competition I would be well aware of possible dangers to my pet - especially if they took the time to post them.

 

[Angelus9]

I meant the competitors didn't take it seriously enough to super-check for ticks, because most people who spend a lot of time in the woods & fields with their dogs routinely do all they can to prevent ticks, so they thought they didn't need something even stronger than what they were already using. Or maybe they did, and they used preventives and tick sprays but it just wasn't enough because this particular strain of disease was something that their dogs just couldn't handle, perhaps having slightly lower immune systems to the stress of shipping and traveling.

Like most people, I'm astounded that it hit so fast and so severely; dogs who make these world teams are usually used to a heavy training and travel schedule....just trying to figure out WHY this hit so hard.

 

[Angelus9]

Well, maybe the U.S. competitors did take tick prevention more seriously. In the list of ill dogs (10 or 11 so far), none of them are from the USA. Germany, France, Sweden, Finland, Slovakia, and dogs from Asia (I don't know which countries, but reportedly 2 fatalities), have become ill.

One person who was in Kiev posted that it turns out that the sick dogs were all staying at the same hotel, IOW, walking, training, etc. in that particular area.