Dog with H5N1

The Thai newspaper, The Nation, is reporting that Thai researchers will soon report in the CDC journal Emerging Infectious Diseases a case of a dog infected with H5N1 after it was fed infected poultry. The current Indonesian cluster in the hamlet of Ranca Salak in the subdistrict of Cikelet, Garut, West Java involved two male cousins (ages 17 and 20) who fed dead chickens to dogs. There is no information on the dogs in this instance, but we know that cats who eat infected fowl can become infected.

This is not a particular surprise, but it emphasizes again that the mammalian host range for this virus is wider than usually appreciated. The major question is what other reservoirs for H5N1 infection exist and which of them, if any, are are epidemiologically significant, currently of potentially, in the circulation and transmission of this disease.

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"Dr Charal Trinvuthipong, an assistant to the Agriculture Minister, said news that a dog could contract bird flu was no surprise, given that the dog was a mammal. "We have heard about tigers and a cat getting bird flu before," he said."

"However, there was no report that bird flu could jump from mammals to humans."

In the above quote, this vet says bird flu does not jump from dogs to humans. I do not understand how he can be so certain.
Why does not Dr.Trinvuthipong do research to determine if other mammals might be a reservoir?

The WHO seemed to accept mammal to human transmission in the case of the Garut cluster.
As a side note Dowes Gittings seems to have had and NA mutation associated with Tamiflu resistance. (H274Y ISDN185497 A/Indonesia/560H/2006)

Would it be reasonable to assume that if it can transfer to poultry that free ranges and dies, that rats and mice are automatic carriers? I also liked the way that the WHO skirted the H2H issue by saying that you might become infected if you breach a 1 meter range. Sounds like a Jeff Foxworthy monologue. You might have H5 IF........you are from Indonesia.

By M. Randolph Kruger (not verified) on 01 Sep 2006 #permalink

It's a good thing dogs can get this virus, considering that most of the investigations of human samples of flu virus have been grown in chicken eggs (which theoretically would have a bias toward propagating more bird-like strains) or dog kidney cells (which up until now, if you believe there have been no dog cases, are from a species in which the virus shouldn't grow readily.)

If this site had emoticons, the one I'd be using here would be labeled ":irony:"

By Lisa the GP (not verified) on 01 Sep 2006 #permalink

Ohio State University has published a pamphlet about Darkling Beetles/mealworms - http://tinyurl.com/p48uo
It says that these guys transmit Avian Flu as well as Marek's disease (and other nasty things).
Do you Reveres have any contacts at OSU who might be talked into in researching on Indonesian Darkling Beetles/mealworms to see if they are a possible vector for the current outbreak of human cases there?
Note: apparently Marek's Disease has a genetic susceptibility component, which might account for familial clusters as in Karo outbreak?

The comments on the 2004 H5N1 infection of a dog in Supanburi in Thailand says much more about government transparency and media cylcles. The infection was initially reported in October, 2004 when dead dogs were H5N1 positive

http://www.recombinomics.com/news/10040401/canine_deaths.html

This report was immediately followed by claims that the positive samples were "mislabeled". Although Thailand was among the first to release H5N1 sequences (in early 2004), the 2004 H5N1 dog sequence was not released until May, 2006

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/05230602/H5N1_Canine.html

A description of the sequence was recently accepted by Emerging Diseases, so now, almost 2 years after the fact, the H5N1 infections in dead dogs is a topic of discussion.