U.K.: Experts baffled by deadly disease killing dogs in New Forest & other forested areas

[Tonka]

http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/new...Forest/?ref=nt



Experts baffled by "deadly toxin" killing dogs in New Forest...

[Emily]

Re: U.K.: Experts baffled by "deadly toxin" killing dogs in New Forest

http://www.newforestdog.org.uk/noticeboard

MYSTERY ILLNESS IN THE FOREST

The following press release has kindly been sent by Roger Stobbs from Forest Veterinary Clinic:

“We have seen six cases of dogs with acute renal failure following foot injuries in the last 3 months, the majority of these dogs are from the Fordingbridge area...

http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/new...rest_/?ref=rss

Can US experts identify mystery toxin killing dogs in the New Forest?

10:24am Thursday 7th March 2013 in News
[snip]


All the dogs died after being exercised in the Latchmore Brook area, which was part of a bombing range during the Second World War.

They are thought to have been killed by a water or soil-born toxin that has been disturbed, possibly by recent heavy rain...

There was an old bomb discovered and detonated in 2011.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-12354800

3 February 2011 Last updated at 05:49 ET
World War II bomb blown up in New Forest


A WWII explosive device found by a walker in the New Forest has been blown up by bomb disposal experts.
[snip]
He said: "I did hear that an American aircraft came down around here during the war. Maybe it was something to do with that."...

New Forest wartime history

[Emily]

Re: U.K.: Experts baffled by "deadly toxin" killing dogs in New Forest

http://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/ne..._deadly_toxin/

Vets may never find deadly toxin

11:00am Friday 26th April 2013 in News By Miranda Robertson

ANIMAL medicine experts are still no nearer to finding a cause for a spate of dog deaths in the Forest, and now admit they may never solve the mystery.
[snip]
Blood from the affected dogs was sent to an expert in Texas for analysis weeks ago, but tests for heavy metals, phosphorus, bacteria and other suspected toxins have proved negative...

QUESTIONNAIRE TO HELP INVESTIGATION INTO NEW FOREST DOG DEATHS

[Shiloh]

UK: Unidentified disease killing dogs

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandst...ts-alabama-rot


Dog disease outbreak prompts call to vets to send tissue samples for tests
Unidentified disease similar to Alabama rot has killed 13 animals across Britain in recent months
Ian Sample, science correspondent
theguardian.com, Thursday 23 January 2014 12.12 GMT

nvestigators are calling on vets to take tissue samples from dogs that die from a mysterious disease that has killed 13 animals across Britain in recent months.

The unidentified disease causes small skin ulcers to form on the dogs' legs, and within a week progresses to kidney failure which has been fatal in all but three confirmed cases.

The disease is similar to another illness called Alabama rot, which was first spotted in greyhounds in the US in the 1980s. That disease is thought to have been caused by a toxin produced by E coli, but tests on greyhounds did not confirm the suspicion.

The outbreak in Britain has struck nine dogs in the New Forest, with other cases reported in County Durham, Surrey, Cornwall and Worcestershire. The disease has affected a range of breeds, including a border collie, a jack russell, a Hungarian vizsla, an English springer spaniel and a doberman.

The Forestry Commission has put signs up around the New Forest to warn dog walkers about the disease...

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: U.K.: Experts baffled by deadly disease killing dogs in New Forest & other forested areas

Mystery of the killer dog disease: UK death toll hits 21 after pets develop lesions and fatal kidney failure
A total of 48 dogs of different breeds have contracted the illness in the UK
Disease attacks the blood vessels and affects the dog's skin and kidneys
Total of 48 dogs now thought to have contracted the disease - 24 confirmed cases with 21 deaths, plus 24 unconfirmed cases - in less than 18 months
Common symptoms include lesions, loss of appetite, and vomiting
Vets and experts admit they are unsure what is causing the disease
Symptoms are similar to a fatal disease called Alabama Rot from the 1980s
By TOM KELLY
PUBLISHED: 07:47 EST, 24 March 2014 | UPDATED: 19:34 EST, 24 March 2014
....

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz2wvw1P6IP
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

[Pathfinder]

Re: U.K.: Experts baffled by deadly disease killing dogs in New Forest & other forested areas

VIDEO: Outbreak of Alabama Rot confirmed in Leigh area

6:10am Thursday 1st May 2014 in North West


DOG owners are being warned not to walk their pets in wooded areas after an outbreak of Alabama Rot was confirmed in Leigh.

Vets from across the borough met with Wigan Council on Monday night to discuss the matter following confirmation that at least two dogs have died after contracting the mysterious but deadly disease, for which there is no cure.

Several other suspected cases of the disease are currently being investigated.
...
A Wigan Council spokesman said: ?The council's role in relation to this issue is to provide confirmed information and pointers to further advice. We are in communication with vets both locally and nationally. So far we have been made aware of two confirmed cases in the Leigh area.?

Exactly where the confirmed cases are thought to have contracted the deadly disease is unclear but suspected cases have been reported from Pennington Flash and Lilford Woods and Wigan Vets4Pets has warned dog owners to stay away from the Lilford Park area on its Facebook page.
...
For more information and advice about Alabama Rot visit the council?s website at

http://www.wigan.gov.uk/Resident/Environmental-Problems/Dogs/Alabama-Rot---What-you-need-to-know.aspx.

[Pathfinder]

Re: U.K.: Experts baffled by deadly disease killing dogs in New Forest & other forested areas

Alabama Rot ? an unexplained dog illness

...
Where have cases been to date?

The following table outlines all cases being referred to as Alabama Rot (identified and confirmed) to date from across the UK (not just walks including the Forestry Commission?s Public Forest Estate). It will be kept updated with new information as received from Anderson Moores Veterinary Specialists who have been collating information on the cases and leading the investigation.

Please note that we will aim to keep this table updated as promptly as possible, but we are not able to update the information in response to media reported cases or those from individuals. This is to ensure that what is published is as accurate as possible, coming from Anderson Moores who can verify cases as accurately as possible through scientific investigation.

?Unconfirmed? cases are either awaiting test results, or may never be confirmed if no tissue was available for examination.

Locations in green include cases found on the Forestry Commission?s Public Forest Estate. Click on the location for more information.

LAST UPDATED 16th April 2014:
<TABLE border=1 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width=568 colSpan=2>Cases Dec 2012 ? May 2013

</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=284>Confirmed 13

</TD><TD vAlign=top width=284>Unconfirmed 2

</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=284>5 New Forest, Hampshire
1 Upton, Poole, Dorset
7 elsewhere UK (including: Cornwall; Worcestershire; County Durham; Surrey, Nottinghamshire)

</TD><TD vAlign=top width=284>2 New Forest, Hampshire

</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=568 colSpan=2>Cases Dec 2013 ? Present

</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=284>Confirmed 21

</TD><TD vAlign=top width=284>Unconfirmed 18

</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=284>7 New Forest, Hampshire
1 Yorkshire
1 Monmouthshire
3 Dorset
1 Shropshire
2 Surrey
1 Northamptonshire
1 Somerset
1 Petersfield, Hampshire
1 Lancashire
2 Greater Manchester

</TD><TD vAlign=top width=284>10 New Forest, Hampshire
2 Cheshire
1 Co. Antrim
1 Dorset
1 West Sussex
1 Greater Manchester
1 Somerset
1 Kent
(1 survivor)

</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=284>Total: 34

</TD><TD vAlign=top width=284>Total: 20

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

...

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/alabamarot

[Emily]

Re: U.K.: Experts baffled by deadly disease killing dogs in New Forest &amp; other forested areas

The biggest cluster is still in New Forest. That first outbreak was reported in dogs who had cut their paws. From the article in the first post in this thread:

Mrs Beal said: ?The vet thinks it's an unidentified toxin that has worked its way up through disturbed soil, a bit like anthrax.

Increased surveillance could be picking up other cases caused by unrelated toxic exposures, whether from chemicals or pathogens. Officially the greyhound outbreak is 'idiopathic', but here is the racing greyhound association's position on the cause in their dogs:

http://www.gra-america.org/the_sport/articles/a_myths.html

While it was never proven that verotoxins were the culprit, for some reason they believe that risk is reduced when 4D meats are handled properly.

Currently the outbreak(s) in the UK are NOT believed by monitoring veterinarians to be related to raw feeding, or a particular brand of processed pet food.

http://www.andersonmoores.com/vet/news

There has been some suggestion in the media that cutaneous and renal glomerular vasculopathy is caused by feeding raw food. We have found no link to any particular brand or type of food, nor have we identified any link to raw diets.

It has been suggested that washing dogs post walking can definitely prevent this disease. Although washing may not an unreasonable thing to do, we do not know the cause of cutaneous and renal glomerular vasculopathy and it is therefore impossible to give specific, accurate advice on prevention. An environmental cause is only one of a number of possibilities.

There was at least somewhat of a 'background' incidence in Europe of this disease prior to the recent UK cluster:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12431001

Vet Rec. 2002 Oct 26;151(17):510-2.
Cutaneous and renal glomerular vasculopathy in a great dane resembling 'Alabama rot' of greyhounds.
Rotermund A1, Peters M, Hewicker-Trautwein M, Nolte I.
Author information

1Department of Small Animal Medicine, School of Veterinary Medicine, Hannover, Germany.

[Emily]

Re: U.K.: Experts baffled by deadly disease killing dogs in New Forest &amp; other forested areas

http://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/ne...erious_illness

Vets save dog from mysterious illness
First published Thursday 28 August 2014 in News by Miranda Robertson

A DOG affected by a mystery toxin affecting pets in the New Forest has been saved after vets used dialysis to filter her blood.

Alba the 11-month-old Labrador was diagnosed with a mysterious illness that has been killing dogs around the country, and given just hours to live.

The toxin, now dubbed New Forest Syndrome, causes catastrophic kidney failure.

Initial symptoms include lesions on the legs or paws that won?t heal and it has been known to kill within days.
...
The procedure, known as plasmapheresis, has been carried out on humans since the 1950s, but had never before been tried on a dog with New Forest Syndrome.

The procedure was risky because the machine also removes the clotting agents in the blood that would allow the wound to heal, meaning Alba risked bleeding to death.

?6,800 bill! Plasmapherisis is used to remove antibodies from the blood.

http://www.nephky.com/plasma.htm

So is this an autoimmune illness? If so, are the dogs' immune systems changing, or is there a novel pathogen or toxin in the environment?

[Emily]

Cutaneous and renal glomerular vasculopathy as a cause of acute kidney injury in dogs in the UK

• L. P. Holm,
• I. Hawkins,
• C. Robin,
• R. J. Newton,
• R. Jepson,
• G. Stanzani,
• L. A. McMahon,
• P. Pesavento,
• T. Carr,
• T. Cogan,
• C. G. Couto,
• R. Cianciolo,
• D. J. Walker

Veterinary Record vetrec-2014-102892Published Online First: 23 March 2015 doi:10.1136/vr.102892

• [Abstract]
• [Full text]
• [PDF]
• [Supplementary Data]

Abstract

To describe the signalment, clinicopathological findings and outcome in dogs presenting with acute kidney injury (AKI) and skin lesions between November 2012 and March 2014, in whom cutaneous and renal glomerular vasculopathy (CRGV) was suspected and renal thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) was histopathologically confirmed. The medical records of dogs with skin lesions and AKI, with histopathologically confirmed renal TMA, were retrospectively reviewed. Thirty dogs from across the UK were identified with clinicopathological findings compatible with CRGV. These findings included the following: skin lesions, predominantly affecting the distal extremities; AKI; and variably, anaemia, thrombocytopaenia and hyperbilirubinaemia. Known causes of AKI were excluded. The major renal histopathogical finding was TMA. All thirty dogs died or were euthanised. Shiga toxin was not identified in the kidneys of affected dogs. Escherichia coli genes encoding shiga toxin were not identified in faeces from affected dogs. CRGV has previously been reported in greyhounds in the USA, a greyhound in the UK, without renal involvement, and a Great Dane in Germany. This is the first report of a series of non-greyhound dogs with CRGV and AKI in the UK. CRGV is a disease of unknown aetiology carrying a poor prognosis when azotaemia develops.

http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/cont...3/13/vr.102892

Several breeds of dog in England killed by mysterious kidney disease

6 hours ago

http://phys.org/news/2015-03-dog-eng...se.html#inlRlv

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.brockpress.com/2015/03/fl...abama-rot-444/

Flesh-eating disease in U.K. believed to be Alabama rot
March 31, 2015 Chace King

According to a report published in the Veterinary Record Journal, 30 dogs who recently died in the U.K. suffered from Alabama rot, a deadly disease which causes skin lesions, kidney failure and in 90 per cent of all cases, death.

Despite what killed the dogs, it is still unclear where the disease originated, with almost 71 potential cases having developed in the U.K alone between November 2012 and March 2014.

Geographically speaking, the disease has been limited to a few cities in the U.K. including Northamptonshire, Yorkshire, Dorset, Shropshire, Surrey, Cornwall, Worcestershire, County Durham and Monmouthshire. It is unclear why more cases have not developed in other cities, but it may be because of the short life-span of animals who are afflicted with the disease.

Originally, Alabama rot was first observed in the USA and has seldom been seen in other countries, with this being the first report of multiple cases in the U.K...

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.courier.co.uk/Dog-owners-...ail/story.html


Dog owners warned over deadly canine disease Alabama Rot following confirmed case in Kent
By Kent and Sussex Courier | Posted: April 29, 2015


DOG owners are warned to watch out for signs of the deadly new canine disease sweeping through the country, with one confirmed case already in Kent.

One dog has contracted the disease in the county, according to Petdoctors.co.uk.

Alabama Rot is a disease that originated in American greyhounds, but has made the crossing to the UK in recent months. While it can be treated if caught early by a vet, the disease can be fatal.

The first signs of Alabama Rot are skin lesions and swelling, generally on the dog's legs. If left untreated, the dog's kidneys will shut down, leading to renal failure...

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news...ed-not-7082443

Dog owners being warned not to walk pets in woodland after outbreak of deadly disease

16:37, 28 Dec 2015
Updated 16:38, 28 Dec 2015
By Jim Hardy

The Alabama Rot crisis has caused another dog to fall ill in Wiltshire following cases in Monmouthshire, Warwickshire and Gloucestershire...

[Emily]

http://www.bexhillobserver.net/news/local/deadly-alabama-rot-what-dog-owners-need-to-know-1-7232941

Deadly Alabama rot: what dog owners need to know

11:52 Friday 26 February 2016


With three cases of fatal Alabama Rot in Sussex, what do dog owners need to know about the fatal disease?
Three animals in Sussex are now thought to have died after contracting Alabama Rot ? the first a suspected case earlier this month, in Battle, and two other confirmed cases this week, in Littlehampton and Angmering....

Something unique to some of these parks is that livestock are allowed to freely range the forests. There are long-held rights that allow this.

[Emily]

http://www.cornwalllive.com/alabama-rot-kills-dog-as-another-case-of-flesh-rotting-bug-is-confirmed-in-south-west/story-29973120-detail/story.html

Alabama Rot kills dog as another case of flesh-rotting bug is confirmed in South West

By G_Bartlett | Posted: December 10, 2016

http://www.vets4pets.com/stop-alabama-rot/