Try
Saying this One Five Times…Leptospirosis:
You
Don’t Want Lepto, Your Dog Doesn’t Want it Either
By
Steve Dale
There
aren’t too many diseases that kill both people and dogs;
leptospirosis is one of them. What’s more, this disease
– which most people have never heard of and can barely pronounce
– can potentially be passed from dogs to people.
“Based
on various surveys, there is no doubt whatsoever that leptospirosis
is under-diagnosed (in dogs),” says Dr. Alan Glickman, professor
of epidemiology at Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine,
West Lafayette, IN..
Leptospirosis
is a disease caused by spiral-shaped bacteria organisms, called
spirochete found in the urine of infected animals. People and
animals who happen to drink infected water become ill.
Glickman
said that the results of one survey demonstrated that when dogs
exhibited general symptoms possibly indicative of lepto, it turned
out twenty to thirty per cent did indeed test positive for the
disease.
“The
problem is that most vets don’t necessarily test for this
disease in the first place,” says Glickman. “They
should, but the symptoms (for leptospirosis) are general; they
just don’t have the mind set to think about leptospirosis.”
Those
general symptoms in dogs may be liver and/or kidney values gradually
falling out of whack, a fever, generalized depression, vomiting
and lack of appetite. “The difficulty is that any combination
of these symptoms might indicate any number of other illnesses,”
says Atlanta, GA-based Dr. Stephen Jaffe, director field veterinary
services Ft. Dodge Animal Health.
Lepto
can diagnosed by a blood test. But what you think you see isn’t
always what you get when it comes to lepto. Even though a positive
blood test indicates a positive infection, an initial negative
blood test doesn’t necessarily rule out leptospirosis.
“I
can’t believe I hadn’t heard about this disease,”
says Al Luhua, who lives in Waimea, Hawaii, a state where lepto
is relatively common. His 4-year old German shepherd-mix was diagnosed
last year. “I’m lucky, Ginger is just fine now. But
I could have lost her.” Because he lives at a place where
lepto occurs with some frequency, vets know to look for it, even
if the pet’s owners have never heard of the disease, but
that’s generally not the case elsewhere in America.
Of
course, the best way to deal with leptospirosis is to avoid it
in the first place. Ft. Dodge has manufactured a vaccine, which
Jaffe maintains is new and improved. Jaffe says the vaccine is
safe and will fight off various serovars or strains of the disease.
Again, what you see isn’t always what you get with lepto.
Because there are there are about 200 known serovars, treatment
and/or diagnosis may be complicated when vets don’t know
exactly which strain they’re dealing with.
For
example, a strain of lepto, called grippotyphosa, was recently
discovered in New York City, a place where you might not expect
to find lepto in the first place. The Cornell University Diagnostic
Laboratory and public health officials in the Big Apple have repeatedly
expressed concern about the potential spread of the disease.
Raccoon,
deer and all sorts of animals, including city rats – apparently
a primarily transmitter in places like New York City - deliver
the disease through their urine. So, it’s easy to understand
how lepto occurs in dogs since they’re not always choosy
about where they choose to drink.
Lepto
is transmitted to people the same way as it is in dogs. Since
people are more discerning about where they drink, you’d
think lepto would be pretty much non-existent here. Not being
a reportable disease, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) in Atlanta, GA say they don’t know for certain –
but estimate 100 to 200 instances of lepto in people annually,
with about half of those occurring in Hawaii. There are places
in Hawaii where signs warn: ‘Lespospirosis: Don’t
drink the water.”
The CDC calls leptospirosis the most widespread zoonotic disease
in the world (that’s any disease that animals and people
can pass to one another). According to the World Health Organization,
following last year’s tsunami in Asia, leptospirosis was
responsible for deaths throughout Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand
and India.
When
lepto in people is diagnosed swiftly and treatment is appropriate,
it is rarely fatal. However, diagnosis and treatment may not be
so efficient in third world countries, particularly following
disasters.
The
disease is transmitted when people drink from, or even bathe or
swim in water infected by wild and/domestic animals (and then
accidentally take in small amounts of water).
While
your own infected dog could transmit the disease to family members,
Glickman says that’s not likely to happen. “Of course,
vaccinating the dog is one way to alleviate any concern,”
he says.
Those
people most at risk may be veterinary professionals who deal with
infected dogs, and certainly geography does play a role for people
and pets.
In
the U.S., Hawaii remains a hot bed for the disease, and, of course,
dogs don’t read signs telling them not to doggy paddle in
picturesque lagoons. But lepto occurs in the contiguous 48 states
as well, particularly in pets.
Certainly,
you might figure indoor/outdoor cats would be susceptible. It
seems cats may be infected, and may possibly continue to spread
the disease; however they don’t become ill. “All kinds
of animals do get sick with lepto though,” says Glickman.
who points out there’s currently an outbreak among California
sea lions.
In
the past, it was thought that climates with more rain and therefore
more standing water would have the most lepto. Those climates
remain places where lepto happens. However, Glickman’s soon
to be published research demonstrates that where suburban sprawl
intersects with forests - and their inhabitants – the disease
is apparently on the rise. Farms have always been places where
lepto occurs, and now – as confirmed by New York’s
experiences – lepto has come to the big city.
All
unvaccinated dogs are susceptible if they’re exposed to
lepto. Of course, dogs who are outdoors more often, or who go
camping or even to dog parks might be more prone. It seems small
dogs who spend their lives in high rise condos are less at risk.
Glickman,
says the vaccine is no more or less safe than most other canine
vaccines. However, dogs under twenty pounds are more likely to
have an adverse vaccine reaction. “The higher the dog’s
weight, the lower the chance of a bad reaction to any vaccine,”
Glickman says.
As
with all vaccines, talk to your veterinarian about what’s
right for your pets.
