'Lepto' (as those of us in the biz call it) is a unique organism that is not quite a bacteria, but not a virus. It actually has its own category of 'leptospires'. A couple of interesting points came from the conference;
- This disease is transmitted to people. You may recall back a few years ago when many of the triathletes participating in a Springfield, IL event became sick with Leptospirosis. The investigators could never conclusively determine how they got infected, but it was the slowest swimmers who were infected, leading the investigators to assume the athletes came in contact in the water of Lake Springfield.
- In animals, our 'at risk group' includes German Shepherds and Shepherd mixes, hunting dogs, and any dog who drinks out of a puddle of water (like that narrowed it down very much).
- The presenting speaker (from Kansas State University), of all the cases he had in the past 12 months, none of the 14 dogs were in the 'at risk' group.
- In this area of central Illinois, raccoons and rats are the main carriers.
- Many of the clinics in the area have diagnosed 1-2 cases of Lepto per year
- There are many 'serovars' of Lepto, and there is no cross protection of Lepto (warning - medical speak coming) Gryppotyphosa to Ictohemoragica, so vaccination needs to be done with the appropriate serovars.
So what is the take home lesson here?
If your dog is in the 'at risk' group, you should definitely get him or her vaccinated. If they have not been vaccinated before, a series of 2 vaccines, 3-4 weeks apart is initially, then annual booster.
If your household has someone that is 'immunocompromised', your dog should be vaccinated. Immunocompromised individuals are:
- on chemotherapy
- on dialasys
- blood thinners
- any antiviral medication
Anyone who wants to be safe.
Next time what was learned at the heart (cardiology) seminar.
