Research Papers / Parvovirus and canine distemper; Review on two animal diseases [4]

This review is about two common animal diseases, thanks for your help!!

Parvovirus and canine distemper are two diseases for which there is a significant morbidity amongst the majority of canine species, and sometimes, as in the case here, act both upon the same animal.

Parvovirus characteristically resists external agents and seriously affects puppies under six months, severely injuring intestine. Contagion may occur either directly through contact with another infected animal, indirectly through contact with infected material, or via vertical transmission through the placenta.

Within 3-4 days of infection, lymph organs, intestinal mucosa and, finally, other internal organs will be affected.
Vomiting, bloody diarrhea, necrotic debris and intense dehydration appear during a 5-7 days-lasting acute course. Owing to these symptoms, Doberman of the case here were treated with physiological saline. Related conditions are severe dehydration and bacterial infection.

By contrast, Canine distemper is a less responsive-to-bacterial-infection disease that develops several respiratory, digestive, cutaneous and nervous manifestations.
This specific virus is spread worldwide with a high prevalence due to the great number of pathogen carriers and reservoirs of the virus. Apart from dogs, other species are affected with this virus.

The contagion usually occurs directly and via vertical transmission via the placenta, and also can be indirectly transmitted through contaminated food and water as it is resistant to gastric pH and it can keep alive in urine, faeces and saliva up to 60 days.

This virus enters the body through airway, affecting lymph nodes. After 4-6 days, the virus colonises lymphatic system and on the seventh day the respiratory system, digestive system, genitor-urinary system, mucous membranes, skin, glands and central nervous system (CNS). After 15 days following the infection antibodies appear. The animal can heal or it may have a few lasting effects depending on the level of antibodies production.

In this case, necropsy was performed in three young Dobermans with these clinical signs of the virus like fibrinous peritonitis, depletion of Peyer's patcher and fibrononecrotic enteritis.

This could be verified in the histopathology through the observation of distemper inclusion bodies in the bladder epithelium, cytomegalic inclusion and hypertrophic cells in the intestinal epithelium, and dilatation that affects the crypts of Lieberkühn, among others.

Recommended treatments for these cases are soft diet, rehydration, treatment for vomiting and diarrhea with anti-emetics and antibiotic coverage to prevent deaths from secondary infections. Also a vitamin complex of group B or corticoids should be given if the disease becomes worse and anticonvulsionants as shock treatment.