RANDY GIBSON
UKC Forum Member
Registered: Sep 2006
Location: bluefield,wv
Posts: 2936 |
Canine Brucellosis
Protect your dog from this harmful STD.
D. Caroline Coile, Ph.D.
It was a formality, really – the brucellosis test the stud-dog contract required for breeding. Then the test came back positive.
That’s when the world started spinning.
What is brucellosis? Canine brucellosis is the best known sexually transmitted disease in dogs. It’s caused by the bacteria
Brucella canis (B. canis), although in rare cases, other Brucella species, particularly those from wild hogs, have infected
dogs.
What does it do? B. canis settles in the reproductive organs of both males and females, flourishing in tissues dependent on
testosterone, estrogen or progesterone. It renders males infertile, with large, abnormal sperm in the first three months after
infection, followed by a lack of sperm with long-term infection. It causes abortion around 40 to 55 days of gestation in about
75 percent of bitches, with others appearing to fail to conceive because of early abortion or resorption (when fetuses are
absorbed, leaving no sign of pregnancy). B. canis can also infect and cause problems in the eyes, vertebrae and kidneys.
Is it only transmitted through sexual intercourse? Besides mating, B. canis is spread through exposure to vaginal discharge
or aborted material from infected bitches, and from urine containing semen or prostatic fluid from infected dogs. Dogs
housed with infected dogs will usually become infected within six months.
Isn’t it too rare to worry about? Around 20 to 30 percent of dogs screened in Central and South America, and about 8
percent of stray dogs in the southern United States, test positive for brucellosis. However, it’s found all over North America.
A 2008 outbreak in two high-volume Michigan kennels that supplied puppies to pet stores in several states brought
brucellosis back into focus. Some unconfirmed reports speculate the relocation of dogs affected by Hurricane Katrina, and
the distribution of shelter dogs and imports from Mexico throughout the United States may have also spread the disease.
How can I prevent it? Unfortunately, no vaccination is available, partly because the immunological response would cause
blood tests to look as though dogs that received the vaccination were instead infected with brucellosis. But there are ways to
prevent it:
Don’t allow your dog to sniff and lick at the urine or vaginal discharges of strange dogs.
Test both dog and bitch at least three weeks before any proposed mating, even if it’s their first time. Dogs can catch
brucellosis from means other than sexual intercourse. The three-week periods allow you time to retest should a positive
result come in.
Before bringing a new dog into your home, particularly a stray or a dog from a kennel or shelter situation, test it for
brucellosis.
Is testing expensive? Screening with a simple blood test ranges from about $15 to $80. Several types of blood tests are
available, the most popular being a rapid slide agglutination test (RSAT – usually run in-house at the veterinary clinic) and
the tube agglutination test (TAT – usually run at a testing laboratory).
The type of test won’t be important unless your dog tests positive. Then it is very important because although these
common tests are sensitive, they are not extremely specific; they tend to react to a lot of other bacteria that aren’t B. canis.
In fact, about 40 percent of dogs the RSAT identifies as infected are not (“Canine Brucellosis Caused by Brucella Canis” by
S. Shin and L.E. Carmichael, Recent Advances in Canine Infectious Diseases, 1999).
If the test came back negative... Your dog is almost certainly clear. The exception is if the dog was infected in the last 8 to
12 weeks.
If the test came back positive... Some veterinarians may advise euthanasia at this point, but don’t do it. Additional testing
must be done. Repeating the same test, or even another type of agglutination test, will yield the same result. Thus, if your
dog tests positive with an in-house RSAT, sending it off to a lab for a TAT is useless.
What other tests are there? The agglutination tests are good screening tools, but if one comes back positive, ask your
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04-08-2012 03:12 PM
