Watch Out For The Microbes Around Us
We have only just begun to understand how the microbes surrounding us and living in us and our pets contribute to health and disease. But, without developing paranoia or an addiction to anti-microbial soaps, know we are surrounded and constantly under siege or support from organisms that can only be seen via the microscope.
This living world inside and outside of us and our pets has long been a key source of disease, but we may see in the future that it is also a source of disease prevention and treatment. I’ll write on that at a later date, but today wanted to address a disease that is on the rise among our canine patients and has risk of causing human disease as well.
Locally, we have seen an increase in the number of dogs becoming ill from a bacterium called Leptospirosis. I suspect part of that rise is due to our recent wet summer and fall. But we’ve been seeing Colorado’s rate rise with the influx of new pets from areas of prevalence, growth in the population of backyard wildlife such as raccoons, skunks and rodents, and also with the local water sources – such as the Boulder Reservoir – becoming reservoirs of the bacteria. Cats appear to be very rarely affected.
Lepto, as we call it for short, occurs worldwide and causes disease in dogs, humans and many other species. We originally saw it as primarily a rural disease in the Midwest among hunting dogs, but it is now truly established as an urban and suburban disease. It is no longer limited to big dogs – we just diagnosed Lepto in a Pomeranian last week.
Lepto is a bit complicated as it can be maintained in “reservoir hosts” that maintain the different serovars of this bacteria. There are more than 200 Leptospirosis serovars. The most common are L. grippotyphosa, L. Pomona, L. icterohaemrrhagiae and L. canicola. These reservoir hosts and infected animals shed the bacteria in their urine, leading to contaminated water or soil, along with the urine itself.
The Leptospires – the active bacteria – can lead to infection by entering cuts and abrasions in the skin and through the mucus membranes of the eyes, nose and mouth. One of the routes of infection noted for humans is for triathletes who have swum in contaminated water. It is very rare for there to be dog-to-dog or human-to-human transmission.
Typical clinical signs in people and dogs include high fever, severe headache, muscle pain, abdominal pain, development of jaundice, loss of appetite, vomiting and/or diarrhea. The bacteria is the leading cause of infectious acute kidney failure and of severe liver disease in dogs.
The good news is that Lepto is a treatable disease and responds well to supportive care and appropriate antibiotic. Even better for dogs is that there is a safe and effective vaccination against the most common serovars. Discuss this vaccination along with your pet’s level of risk with your veterinarian to determine if appropriate for your dog.
Dr. Margot can be reached at parkhillvet.com