Flu Vaccine Approved for Dogs - YorkieTalk.com Forums

livingdustmops · 07-05-2009, 04:03 AM

Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press

Published: June 29, 2009 - NY Times
There is a new flu virus going around. It initially looked quite lethal, and caused panic. Now it is clear that it has killed relatively few victims — and many of those have underlying conditions. It is particularly dangerous to be the possessor of a pushed-in nose — that is, to be a Pekingese, a pug or a Shi-Tzu.

The virus, scientists believe, jumped from horses to dogs at least five years ago, but it has never infected a human.

Last week, the United States Department of Agriculture announced that it had approved the first vaccine for it.

While fears of a flu pandemic among humans have shifted from the lethal H5N1 avian flu to the relatively mild H1N1 swine flu, the H3N8 canine flu has been a quiet undercurrent in the United States, rarely discussed except among veterinarians and dog owners in the few areas where it has struck hard: Florida, New York City’s northern suburbs, Philadelphia and Denver.

In line with the virologists’ adage that the only predictable thing about flu viruses is that they are unpredictable, the dog flu has baffled those following it.

“I don’t think we know what this virus is going to do yet,” said one of its discoverers, Dr. Cynda Crawford of the University of Florida veterinary school.

When Dr. Crawford began studying it in January 2004, it had come to her notice as a mysterious cough and pneumonia that killed a third of the greyhounds at a Florida dog track. By the next year, she had found it in seven states and had shown that it could be passed by dogs who just rubbed noses on the street or shared a water dish, and that humans could carry it on their clothes. There was a brief flurry of fear that it would kill 1 percent to 10 percent of the country’s 70 million dogs.

It has proved about as deadly as Dr. Crawford predicted. She estimates that by itself, it kills 5 percent of the dogs that catch it. Add the deaths at shelters that eliminate the virus by killing all their dogs and disinfecting their cages, and the total mortality rate is 8 percent.

(By contrast, the mortality rate of the 1918 Spanish flu in humans was about 2 percent.)

But it has not spread nearly as vigorously as she expected. It has now been found in 30 states, but almost exclusively in settings where dogs live closely together: shelters, pet stores, kennels and dog schools. Because the owners of these establishments have learned to turn away sick dogs just as school principals facing swine flu send home sick children, the disease’s progress has been slowed.

“Probably over 10,000 dogs have been infected,” Dr. Crawford said, “but I can’t say whether it’s 20,000 or 30,000. In a population of 70 million, that’s a drop in the bucket.”

Dr. Edward J. Dubovi of the veterinary school at Cornell University, another discoverer of the virus, said it is “probably not as well adapted to dogs as it could be.” It took five mutations to let it jump to dogs from horses, where it had circulated for 40 years.

Another mutation or two “could make it a very serious issue,” he said, but at the moment, “it takes a certain density of dogs to keep it going.”

Some veterinarians have found that the dogs that tend to die from it are the “brachycephalics” — dogs with short snub noses.

Just as obesity has proved dangerous to human flu victims because of the weight on their chests, being bred to have a short, bent respiratory tract is dangerous for dogs.

“It really puts a strain on their ability to breathe,” Dr. Crawford said. “They can’t move air in and out of their lungs.”

jp4m2 · 07-05-2009, 10:49 AM

This is an interesting article addressing this vaccine......

Dog Flu Vaccine: Do You Really Need a Shot for the H3N8 Canine Virus?
Written by Jan on July 1, 2009 – 9:41 am

Pug The flu is coming! The flu is coming! Be afraid … be very afraid.

This time the flu is headed for our beloved dogs. It’s the flu that killed racing greyhounds in Florida, beginning in 2003.

But don’t worry, the pharmaceutical industry has a lovely new vaccine with a shiny new needle. Before long, expect a scary notice with the urgent message to rush in for a magic shot before your dog gets the new virus. Why not get a bunch more shots while you’re at it? But before you go flying in, credit card in hand, I hope you’ll read this article, and others, and ask yourself some important questions.

Questions like ….

* Is your dog really at risk?
* Is the vaccine effective?
* Is it safe?
* What adverse reactions are expected short-term? And long-term (in a drug rushed to market with conditional approval)?
* Did the virus mutate to Canine Influenza in racing greyhounds from racing horses vaccinated against Equine Influenza? Are there unintended consequences for humans down the line from the canine influenza shot?

When I first read the New York Times article, New Flu Vaccine Approved — For Dogs, I thought: here we go again. Bird flu … swine flu … now dog flu?

My fears were allayed somewhat when author Donald McNeil, Jr.,began: “There is a new flu virus going around. It initially looked quite lethal, and caused panic. Now it is clear that it has killed relatively few victims — and many of those have underlying conditions.” But then he added: ”It is particularly dangerous to be the possessor of a pushed-in nose — that is, to be a Pekingese, a pug or a Shi-Tzu.” I relaxed again with: “It has now been found in 30 states, but almost exclusively in settings where dogs live closely together: shelters, pet stores, kennels and dog schools.”

I repeat: “It has now been found in 30 states, but almost exclusively in settings where dogs live closely together: shelters, pet stores, kennels and dog schools.”

I looked over the comments following the on-line article and realized that a lot of pet parents are nevertheless panicking. I asked a few of my vaccination activist vet friends to offer some advice. Here’s what they wrote.

***From Dr. Patricia Jordan, DVM, CVA, CTCVH & Herbology, Author of the upcoming book on vaccination: Mark of the Beast

I am a veterinarian, I have 25 years of experience and I am HORRIFIED that this new vaccine was ever manufactured and is now being promoted for use. Our leading premier veterinary immunologist and vaccine researcher, Dr. Ron Schultz, has already informed us that the only reason there even was a canine flu……….is the use and overuse of the vaccine in horses for the horse flu!

Indeed the very use of modified live vaccines squirted up the nose of the horses that then shared the locality of the race track with dogs, racing greyhounds….that increases the chance of species jumping and this is EXACTLY why we have this pathogen. Vaccines keep the viral proteins of the disease in play and are the very reason we rise mutations of more severe strains and why we eventually have species jumping of the viruses from our companion animals then to man!

Emory University in Georgia has a paper out about the overuse of veterinary vaccines leading to emerging Public Health issues in man. How do you think Bordatella [Kennel Cough vaccine] came to infect now both cats and humans in the households with the dogs! With the impending pandemic that will be made by the mass vaccination using swine flu vaccines…..we certainly DO NOT NEED our dogs adding to the pandemic with theirviral flu protein sequences imposed upon them with the latest shot to pop for profits!

The country of Indonesia has the most virulent, pathogenic, lethal strains of Bird Flu and the most humans deaths because of the VERY FACT they have a mass inoculation program. Three experts in their country have critized their governments mass inoculation program and the mathematical model proves all three of these scientists work. One is a Tropical Disease Virologist, a second an Avian Disease Specialist and the third a Veterinary Pathobiologist, they all have weighed in: MASS INOCULATIONS ARE THE VERY CAUSE OF RISE OF MUTANT STRAINS AND PANDEMICS ARE THE ENDGAME.

I would never ever, recommend this and especially to dogs [flat-faced dogs likes pugs and bulldogs] who can hardly breath to begin with. Boarding facilities and vaccinologists will be the reason this vaccine will make more disease and deaths occur. Do not get the vaccine.

In continued correspondence Dr. Jordan added:

Canine Flu came from the use and overuse of modified flu vaccine in the equine. The horses had the vaccine sprayed up their noses and then the modified live virus mutated to be able to attack and infect dogs. The first were the racing greyhounds on the very tracks that the equine flu came from.

You can expect that the virus will once again mutate and jump to infect man and probably the cat, anyone that shares the environ with the dogs. Some dogs … because a vaccine has nothing to do with the ability of the individual to deal with a virus … may not have any signs until a stressor or another trigger comes along … bad food, travel, crowding, the physical exertion of racing, etc.

People getting flu vaccines is most likely where the flu mutated from us to the horses……and we can expect much more of that with all of these pop a shot for profit coming down the pike. I’m particularly worried about groomers and kennel owners believing they need to add this shot to their requirements for service. Then you will see stressed out multiply-housed animals really rise a mutation.

It’s the very use of vaccines is what keeps the disease in play. Vaccination does not mean immunization; it does not mean immunity. Every vaccination is experimentation under the guise of providing health care delivery.

You asked about side effects. I fear vaccinating will contribute to the making of a pandemic virus, will contribute to the circulation of viral proteins, will contribute to the toxic load of pets and people, and will help rise the strains of mutations.

*** Stephen R. Blake, DVM, Author of The Pet Whisperer

I am so sorry to hear our friends the animals are going to be exploited once again. I have seen this scare tactic used for the past 40 years to get people to inject their animals with dangerous vaccines that have no safety studies to back them up. This is also the case with human vaccines.

Each individual must ask themselves, “Is the risk from the natural infection greater or less than the potential danger of the vaccine?”

“The witch doctor succeeds for the same reasons all the rest of us doctors succeed. For each patient carries his own doctor inside himself. They come to us not knowing this truth. We are at our best when we give the doctor who resides within each patient a chance to go to work.” — Albert Schweitzer

Dr. Schweitzer makes it very clear about what healing is. Injecting chemicals into an animal is not healing. It does not awaken the doctor who resides within each patient. It disrupts the immune system of the animal and can result in everything from death to chronic disease states, such as autoimmune disease, organ failure, allergies, etc.

For the past 25 years I have stressed the following issue about vaccinations. Is the theory of vaccination practical? When we know there are an infinite number of strains of virus and bacteria, does it make any sense to try to prevent disease by injecting an infinite number of viruses and bacteria into the blood stream’s of animals and people? My answer to this question is NO. I feel the answer to preventing disease is a healthy immune system. You can read my page on how to stay healthy The Pet Whisperer™ and learn what you can do to help your animals and yourselves stay healthy.

The reason animals get ill is due to their susceptibility to infection. We should be putting our resources into nutrition, no chemicals, IE flea and tick, pesticides, herbicides, clean water, stop over vaccination practices. Injecting more chemicals into animals is not prevention. A strong healthy immune system is health.

Learn about raising your pet on raw or natural diets, bovine colostrum, essential oils, clean water, chemical free living and few or no vaccinations. You will do no harm with these products and will help provide the doctor within with the building blocks to keep them healthy.

jp4m2 · 07-05-2009, 10:50 AM

article continued*****

On May 27, 2009, the USDA (Department of Agriculture) granted a conditional license to this first vaccine against Canine Influenza Virus (CIV), produced by drug giant Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health. The drug company writes in a recent press release available on their website: ” It may be given to dogs six weeks of age or older and can be given annually as a component of existing respiratory disease vaccine protocols to ensure more comprehensive protection.” (Respiratory vaccines, according to top experts I’ve interviewed, have dubious effectiveness and known propensity to adverse reactions. See my Vaccinating Dogs page for more information; scroll down to the section on Bordetella/Kennel Cough.) The CIV vaccine will be up for regular licensing in one year.

During the conditional period, data will be gathered on “product purity, product safety under normal conditions of use in field safety trials and demonstration that the product has a reasonable expectation of efficacy.”

So, I’ve given you something to think about other than fear of dog flu. I’m a consumer advocate, not a vet, but I will not be purchasing a flu vaccine for my dogs. I will continue to put my money in building health with great food and no harmful drugs.

Dr. Cynda Crawford, one of the flu’s discovers, calls the number of dogs who have died of this disease “a drop in the bucket” of the nations 70 million dogs. It is my belief that the number of dogs adversely affected by reactions to vaccines, especially drugs rushed to market, would overflow that bucket many times over.

I hope you’ll think health, not fear, when the Powers That Be warn you to be scared and buy drugs.

livingdustmops · 07-08-2009, 11:27 AM

Good article...I really like to read both sides and especially when it comes to vaccines etc. I believe we do overdose on many things so this is helpful...thanks.

07-05-2009, 04:03 AM	#1
livingdustmops Princess Poop A Lot Donating Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Colorado Posts: 6,728	Flu Vaccine Approved for Dogs Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press Published: June 29, 2009 - NY Times There is a new flu virus going around. It initially looked quite lethal, and caused panic. Now it is clear that it has killed relatively few victims — and many of those have underlying conditions. It is particularly dangerous to be the possessor of a pushed-in nose — that is, to be a Pekingese, a pug or a Shi-Tzu. The virus, scientists believe, jumped from horses to dogs at least five years ago, but it has never infected a human. Last week, the United States Department of Agriculture announced that it had approved the first vaccine for it. While fears of a flu pandemic among humans have shifted from the lethal H5N1 avian flu to the relatively mild H1N1 swine flu, the H3N8 canine flu has been a quiet undercurrent in the United States, rarely discussed except among veterinarians and dog owners in the few areas where it has struck hard: Florida, New York City’s northern suburbs, Philadelphia and Denver. In line with the virologists’ adage that the only predictable thing about flu viruses is that they are unpredictable, the dog flu has baffled those following it. “I don’t think we know what this virus is going to do yet,” said one of its discoverers, Dr. Cynda Crawford of the University of Florida veterinary school. When Dr. Crawford began studying it in January 2004, it had come to her notice as a mysterious cough and pneumonia that killed a third of the greyhounds at a Florida dog track. By the next year, she had found it in seven states and had shown that it could be passed by dogs who just rubbed noses on the street or shared a water dish, and that humans could carry it on their clothes. There was a brief flurry of fear that it would kill 1 percent to 10 percent of the country’s 70 million dogs. It has proved about as deadly as Dr. Crawford predicted. She estimates that by itself, it kills 5 percent of the dogs that catch it. Add the deaths at shelters that eliminate the virus by killing all their dogs and disinfecting their cages, and the total mortality rate is 8 percent. (By contrast, the mortality rate of the 1918 Spanish flu in humans was about 2 percent.) But it has not spread nearly as vigorously as she expected. It has now been found in 30 states, but almost exclusively in settings where dogs live closely together: shelters, pet stores, kennels and dog schools. Because the owners of these establishments have learned to turn away sick dogs just as school principals facing swine flu send home sick children, the disease’s progress has been slowed. “Probably over 10,000 dogs have been infected,” Dr. Crawford said, “but I can’t say whether it’s 20,000 or 30,000. In a population of 70 million, that’s a drop in the bucket.” Dr. Edward J. Dubovi of the veterinary school at Cornell University, another discoverer of the virus, said it is “probably not as well adapted to dogs as it could be.” It took five mutations to let it jump to dogs from horses, where it had circulated for 40 years. Another mutation or two “could make it a very serious issue,” he said, but at the moment, “it takes a certain density of dogs to keep it going.” Some veterinarians have found that the dogs that tend to die from it are the “brachycephalics” — dogs with short snub noses. Just as obesity has proved dangerous to human flu victims because of the weight on their chests, being bred to have a short, bent respiratory tract is dangerous for dogs. “It really puts a strain on their ability to breathe,” Dr. Crawford said. “They can’t move air in and out of their lungs.” __________________ Cindy & The Rescued Gang Puppies Are Not Products!

07-05-2009, 10:49 AM	#2
jp4m2 Love my Boys Donating Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: w/ my boys Posts: 5,056	This is an interesting article addressing this vaccine...... Dog Flu Vaccine: Do You Really Need a Shot for the H3N8 Canine Virus? Written by Jan on July 1, 2009 – 9:41 am Pug The flu is coming! The flu is coming! Be afraid … be very afraid. This time the flu is headed for our beloved dogs. It’s the flu that killed racing greyhounds in Florida, beginning in 2003. But don’t worry, the pharmaceutical industry has a lovely new vaccine with a shiny new needle. Before long, expect a scary notice with the urgent message to rush in for a magic shot before your dog gets the new virus. Why not get a bunch more shots while you’re at it? But before you go flying in, credit card in hand, I hope you’ll read this article, and others, and ask yourself some important questions. Questions like …. * Is your dog really at risk? * Is the vaccine effective? * Is it safe? * What adverse reactions are expected short-term? And long-term (in a drug rushed to market with conditional approval)? * Did the virus mutate to Canine Influenza in racing greyhounds from racing horses vaccinated against Equine Influenza? Are there unintended consequences for humans down the line from the canine influenza shot? When I first read the New York Times article, New Flu Vaccine Approved — For Dogs, I thought: here we go again. Bird flu … swine flu … now dog flu? My fears were allayed somewhat when author Donald McNeil, Jr.,began: “There is a new flu virus going around. It initially looked quite lethal, and caused panic. Now it is clear that it has killed relatively few victims — and many of those have underlying conditions.” But then he added: ”It is particularly dangerous to be the possessor of a pushed-in nose — that is, to be a Pekingese, a pug or a Shi-Tzu.” I relaxed again with: “It has now been found in 30 states, but almost exclusively in settings where dogs live closely together: shelters, pet stores, kennels and dog schools.” I repeat: “It has now been found in 30 states, but almost exclusively in settings where dogs live closely together: shelters, pet stores, kennels and dog schools.” I looked over the comments following the on-line article and realized that a lot of pet parents are nevertheless panicking. I asked a few of my vaccination activist vet friends to offer some advice. Here’s what they wrote. *From Dr. Patricia Jordan, DVM, CVA, CTCVH & Herbology, Author of the upcoming book on vaccination: Mark of the Beast I am a veterinarian, I have 25 years of experience and I am HORRIFIED that this new vaccine was ever manufactured and is now being promoted for use. Our leading premier veterinary immunologist and vaccine researcher, Dr. Ron Schultz, has already informed us that the only reason there even was a canine flu……….is the use and overuse of the vaccine in horses for the horse flu! Indeed the very use of modified live vaccines squirted up the nose of the horses that then shared the locality of the race track with dogs, racing greyhounds….that increases the chance of species jumping and this is EXACTLY why we have this pathogen. Vaccines keep the viral proteins of the disease in play and are the very reason we rise mutations of more severe strains and why we eventually have species jumping of the viruses from our companion animals then to man! Emory University in Georgia has a paper out about the overuse of veterinary vaccines leading to emerging Public Health issues in man. How do you think Bordatella [Kennel Cough vaccine] came to infect now both cats and humans in the households with the dogs! With the impending pandemic that will be made by the mass vaccination using swine flu vaccines…..we certainly DO NOT NEED our dogs adding to the pandemic with theirviral flu protein sequences imposed upon them with the latest shot to pop for profits! The country of Indonesia has the most virulent, pathogenic, lethal strains of Bird Flu and the most humans deaths because of the VERY FACT they have a mass inoculation program. Three experts in their country have critized their governments mass inoculation program and the mathematical model proves all three of these scientists work. One is a Tropical Disease Virologist, a second an Avian Disease Specialist and the third a Veterinary Pathobiologist, they all have weighed in: MASS INOCULATIONS ARE THE VERY CAUSE OF RISE OF MUTANT STRAINS AND PANDEMICS ARE THE ENDGAME. I would never ever, recommend this and especially to dogs [flat-faced dogs likes pugs and bulldogs] who can hardly breath to begin with. Boarding facilities and vaccinologists will be the reason this vaccine will make more disease and deaths occur. Do not get the vaccine. In continued correspondence Dr. Jordan added: Canine Flu came from the use and overuse of modified flu vaccine in the equine. The horses had the vaccine sprayed up their noses and then the modified live virus mutated to be able to attack and infect dogs. The first were the racing greyhounds on the very tracks that the equine flu came from. You can expect that the virus will once again mutate and jump to infect man and probably the cat, anyone that shares the environ with the dogs. Some dogs … because a vaccine has nothing to do with the ability of the individual to deal with a virus … may not have any signs until a stressor or another trigger comes along … bad food, travel, crowding, the physical exertion of racing, etc. People getting flu vaccines is most likely where the flu mutated from us to the horses……and we can expect much more of that with all of these pop a shot for profit coming down the pike. I’m particularly worried about groomers and kennel owners believing they need to add this shot to their requirements for service. Then you will see stressed out multiply-housed animals really rise a mutation. It’s the very use of vaccines is what keeps the disease in play. Vaccination does not mean immunization; it does not mean immunity. Every vaccination is experimentation under the guise of providing health care delivery. You asked about side effects. I fear vaccinating will contribute to the making of a pandemic virus, will contribute to the circulation of viral proteins, will contribute to the toxic load of pets and people, and will help rise the strains of mutations. * Stephen R. Blake, DVM, Author of The Pet Whisperer I am so sorry to hear our friends the animals are going to be exploited once again. I have seen this scare tactic used for the past 40 years to get people to inject their animals with dangerous vaccines that have no safety studies to back them up. This is also the case with human vaccines. Each individual must ask themselves, “Is the risk from the natural infection greater or less than the potential danger of the vaccine?” “The witch doctor succeeds for the same reasons all the rest of us doctors succeed. For each patient carries his own doctor inside himself. They come to us not knowing this truth. We are at our best when we give the doctor who resides within each patient a chance to go to work.” — Albert Schweitzer Dr. Schweitzer makes it very clear about what healing is. Injecting chemicals into an animal is not healing. It does not awaken the doctor who resides within each patient. It disrupts the immune system of the animal and can result in everything from death to chronic disease states, such as autoimmune disease, organ failure, allergies, etc. For the past 25 years I have stressed the following issue about vaccinations. Is the theory of vaccination practical? When we know there are an infinite number of strains of virus and bacteria, does it make any sense to try to prevent disease by injecting an infinite number of viruses and bacteria into the blood stream’s of animals and people? My answer to this question is NO. I feel the answer to preventing disease is a healthy immune system. You can read my page on how to stay healthy The Pet Whisperer™ and learn what you can do to help your animals and yourselves stay healthy. The reason animals get ill is due to their susceptibility to infection. We should be putting our resources into nutrition, no chemicals, IE flea and tick, pesticides, herbicides, clean water, stop over vaccination practices. Injecting more chemicals into animals is not prevention. A strong healthy immune system is health. Learn about raising your pet on raw or natural diets, bovine colostrum, essential oils, clean water, chemical free living and few or no vaccinations. You will do no harm with these products and will help provide the doctor within with the building blocks to keep them healthy. __________________ B.J.mom to : Jake J.J. Jack & Joey, momma misses you..... The joy found in the companionship of a pet is a blessing not given to everyone. The two most powerful words when we’re in struggle: me too..

07-05-2009, 10:50 AM	#3
jp4m2 Love my Boys Donating Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: w/ my boys Posts: 5,056	article continued***** On May 27, 2009, the USDA (Department of Agriculture) granted a conditional license to this first vaccine against Canine Influenza Virus (CIV), produced by drug giant Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health. The drug company writes in a recent press release available on their website: ” It may be given to dogs six weeks of age or older and can be given annually as a component of existing respiratory disease vaccine protocols to ensure more comprehensive protection.” (Respiratory vaccines, according to top experts I’ve interviewed, have dubious effectiveness and known propensity to adverse reactions. See my Vaccinating Dogs page for more information; scroll down to the section on Bordetella/Kennel Cough.) The CIV vaccine will be up for regular licensing in one year. During the conditional period, data will be gathered on “product purity, product safety under normal conditions of use in field safety trials and demonstration that the product has a reasonable expectation of efficacy.” So, I’ve given you something to think about other than fear of dog flu. I’m a consumer advocate, not a vet, but I will not be purchasing a flu vaccine for my dogs. I will continue to put my money in building health with great food and no harmful drugs. Dr. Cynda Crawford, one of the flu’s discovers, calls the number of dogs who have died of this disease “a drop in the bucket” of the nations 70 million dogs. It is my belief that the number of dogs adversely affected by reactions to vaccines, especially drugs rushed to market, would overflow that bucket many times over. I hope you’ll think health, not fear, when the Powers That Be warn you to be scared and buy drugs. __________________ B.J.mom to : Jake J.J. Jack & Joey, momma misses you..... The joy found in the companionship of a pet is a blessing not given to everyone. The two most powerful words when we’re in struggle: me too..

07-08-2009, 11:27 AM	#4
livingdustmops Princess Poop A Lot Donating Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Colorado Posts: 6,728	Good article...I really like to read both sides and especially when it comes to vaccines etc. I believe we do overdose on many things so this is helpful...thanks. __________________ Cindy & The Rescued Gang Puppies Are Not Products!