Dog virus in Pennsylvania: How to protect your pet from a canine condition sweeping the country

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — This time of year, respiratory illnesses are plaguing not only people, but dogs as well.

Canines in at least 16 states, including Pennsylvania, have been diagnosed with a chronic respiratory disease, according to Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine.

LSU Vet Med has been researching the illness among dogs to educate the public on what it calls a “concerning issue.”

Atypical Canine Infectious Respiratory Disease Complex, or aCIRDC, has dogs across the country coughing and sneezing. It also causes discharge in the nose and eyes.

“I don't want anyone to panic," said Jackie Folsom, Lehigh Valley Humane Society's director of development.

"It's treatable and needs to be addressed. If you notice things that are your dog is acting differently in some way.”

Folsom said what a dog owner typically should look for "would be a hacking cough. It doesn't sound too much like a human cough, but kind of a hacking that your dog does repeatedly."

“Nasal discharge would be another thing to look for. If they seem to have a lot of things coming out of their nose like mucus or things like that.”

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Vaccines recommended

She said the humane society has not yet seen any dogs in the Lehigh Valley with the illness, but a strict cleaning process is in place to keep illnesses from spreading in the shelter.

“Every morning the kennels are disinfected with a special spray that's made for animal agencies called Rescue that kills all these viruses, bacteria, things ranging from Bordetella to parvo virus,” Folsom said.

“That's extremely important and we have an isolation area in our kennels for dogs that are sick, so we're able to take them out of the general population and treat them in an isolated space.”

Folsom said though the humane society hasn't seen aCIRDC yet, it regularly treats other conditions, such as kennel cough and canine influenza.

She said many of the other conditions have vaccines, so it’s important to get your pet immunized.

“Especially if you take your dog out to a lot of places where other dogs have been, like if you're going to be boarding or grooming your dog, they require those vaccines," she said.

"Or if you take your dog to the dog park frequently I would absolutely recommend making sure that your dogs are up to date on all relevant vaccines and things like flea and tick preventative and also anti-parasitic so they don't pick up anything while they're there.”

Symptoms and treatments

LSU Vet Med has researched the illness among dogs to then educate the public on what they call a “concerning issue.”

It lists the symptoms as:

• Chronic mild-moderate tracheobronchitis with a prolonged duration of six to eight weeks or longer. Signs include coughing, sneezing and serous or mucoid oculonasal discharge
• Chronic pneumonia minimally responsive to antimicrobials. Signs may include dyspnea (labored breathing), systemic signs in some patients
• Acute pneumonia that rapidly becomes severe and may lead to death in 24 to 36 hours 

LSU Vet Med lists potential treatments as:

• Cough suppressants if the cough is dry and unproductive
• Saline nebulization, so long as it does not exacerbate the cough
• Oxygen therapy and, in severe cases, ventilation
• Antimicrobials if there is evidence of secondary bacterial infection
• Fluid and nutritional therapy

LehighValleyNews.com reached out to multiple veterinarians and dog boarding facilities across the Lehigh Valley and all said they have not yet heard of any cases in the area.