The Mysterious Dog Virus – Should we be scared?

Typically a non pet owner, doesn’t think twice about an illness infecting dogs. We may glance at the news and go, ‘Oh that’s a shame,’ but if we don’t have a pet, it doesn’t affect us .. right? Or should I say ‘infect’.

When I first heard of this mysterious virus, I immediately thought of the movie, ‘Conquest of the Planet of the Apes’. Where pets are apes because there are no cats and dogs.  Ricardo Montalban’s characters tells Caesar, the ape. "They all died. Within a few months. Eight years ago. Every single dog and cat in the world. It was like a plague. The disease that killed them was a mysterious virus.”

Sound familiar?  Almost eerily prophetic.

A ‘form’ of this mystery virus has surfaced in the past. But this one, this new one, killing dogs within days if not hours of infection, is bold and brash. New and mutated. It hits, infects, devastates and kills. The pets suffers so much that the only recourse is euthanasia to stop their misery.

This has species extinction level potential.

Not much is being said, because no one really is standing up and paying attention to the vets. After all, they’re just dogs, right? They are yelling out and no one hears.

We should.

This mystery illness is being called an evolved form of Circovirus.  But even samples aren’t matching anything they knew. Post Mortem tissue samples of the dogs … breed nothing recognizable. No sign of the virus at all in some cases.

This form of virus, or something very similar,  is typically seen in two species. Pigs and birds. (Got the swine flu willies don’t ya).

A virus mutates and evolves when it jumps from one species to another, start with a bird one way, hit a pig another, and infect a human a whole other way.

Did this jump from pig to dog? How? It is speculated via humans. Speculated by the vets. Many are saying that pet owners are showing flu symptoms when they bring in the dogs, and sequentially, Vet Clinic workers are falling ill after dealing with the sick dogs. Not deathly ill, and hopefully, not yetl.

But is this an act of nature of a lab mishap.  Oddly enough, Michigan is an infected state not long after they initiated the Invasive Species Order.  Which is described by the farming consumer site as:  The order was issued by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in December 2010 to prohibit “feral” swine which are identified by such ubiquitous characteristics that most any swine, especially heritage breeds raised on family farms, are unjustly threatened with eradication.

Tossing out a conspiracy theory, could this be the way to eradicate the Invasive Species and it just got out of control? After all, the Mystery dog virus is airborne.

But should we, as people be concerned? Yes. Why? This is being labeled as a zoonotic infection. Simply, that is a virus or infection that can jump and spread between vertebrae species. If it can jump, it can mutate, if it jumps from your neighbors pet fido, it could mutate when it hits you. Those suspected as being infected by their dogs are merely sniffling and coughing now, but its possible it won’t always be like that.

History has shown it.