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Last Month, the Oregon Department of Agriculture sent an alert regarding cases of atypical canine infectious respiratory disease being anecdotally reporting throughout the Willamette Valley. Since that time, ODA has received over 100 case reports from Oregon veterinarians – Thank you! See the heat map of current cases below.
While we are still actively working with reporting veterinarians and specialists at OSU’s Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine (CCVM), the Oregon Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (OVDL), and the USDA’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory (USDA-NVSL) to find the causative agent behind these cases, I wanted to send an update to share what we do know at this time.
 CIRD Case Report Heat Map
What is Currently Known
The cases reported to ODA appear to primarily fall within three general clinical syndromes:
- Chronic mild-moderate tracheobronchitis with a prolonged duration (6-8 weeks or longer) that is minimally or not responsive to antibiotics
- Chronic pneumonia that is minimally or not responsive to antibiotics
- Acute pneumonia that rapidly becomes severe and often leads to poor outcomes in as little as 24-36 hours.
Based on the epidemiology of the cases reported at this point, the cases appear to share a viral etiology, but common respiratory diagnostic testing has been largely negative. A handful of cases do test positive for M. cynos, but that agent is not believed to be the underlying causative agent.
Next Steps
ODA is working with pathologists and virologists at the OVDL, as well as the USDA-NVSL to implement a diagnostic testing plan in these cases. In most cases tested to date, it appears that the period of shedding may already be passed by the time cases are seen by the reporting veterinarians. To address this limitation, ODA has engaged with several emergency veterinary practices to begin widespread sampling of potential respiratory cases, which will be paired with PCR testing using generic primers, virus isolation, and rapid whole genome sequencing in hopes of diagnosing an etiologic agent.
ODA is also working with an Animal Rescue Entity in the Salem area which had several cases within their rescue population to collect samples for serology. OVDL will be testing these samples using broad serologic tests to hopefully narrow down the pool of potential etiologic agents.
Recommendations for New CIRD Cases
While we are still working to find the underlying cause of these atypical CIRD cases, we are still requesting that any new suspected atypical Canine Infectious Respiratory Disease cases be reported to the ODA Disease Reporting Hotline at 503-986-4711. Until we know more about the causative agent, we recommend that cases initially be handled as normal, with diagnostic testing to rule out common causes of CIRD, and treatment of necessary to address common bacterial agents when warranted by clinical/laboratory findings.
ODA is currently focusing initial diagnostic efforts (beyond targeted diagnostic projects mentioned above) on cases of acute pneumonia which die or are euthanized. If you have a case that meets these criteria, please contact ODA immediately (503-986-4711) to make arrangements for necropsy and diagnostic testing at OVDL.
Contact
Ryan Scholz DVM MPH
Oregon State Veterinarian
statevet@oda.oregon.gov
503-986-4680
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