Tuesday, November 22, 2005

K-State Research Team in Search of Cause, Cure of Mysterious Respiratory Disease in Greyhounds

By Keener Tippin II

It is a mysterious respiratory disease that thus far has scientists baffled.

The illness resembles the canine flu that is spreading across the nation. This disease, which some have referred to as "kennel cough," has been afflicting racing greyhounds in Kansas and across the country, and resulting in quarantined facilities, lost revenue and even in the death of some dogs.

"There are a number of theories about what is going on," said Dr. William Fortney, a veterinarian and assistant professor of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology in Kansas State University's College of Veterinary Medicine. "The primary focus is on the new dog flu virus which may be a mutation of the equine influenza virus. Unfortunately, as with many of the laboratories around the country, we have come up with nothing; it looks like it is something new. Obviously, they're sick, but we can't find that inciting agent that's causing it. A few laboratories have reported finding a canine influenza virus as a possible cause."

Generally speaking, kennel cough is not a fatal disease unless the infected animals have a compromised immune system, such as in some older animals or with very young animals.

Fortney said the inability to find the cause of the disease has made it clear that researchers needed to upgrade diagnostic capabilities to adequately study it. To do that, however, would cost some money.

Enter the Kansas Racing Commission and a $104,000 grant to assist Fortney and his team of researchers to increase the level of testing within racing greyhounds to identify the disease. The researchers, all from K-State, are Sanjay Kapil, an associate professor of clinical virology who heads up the virology team; M.M. Chengappa, a university distinguished professor and head of the department of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology who heads the team's bacteriology research; and Richard D. Oberst, an associate professor of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology whose expertise is molecular diagnostics.

"Instead of just picking one disease and focusing our efforts there, we're going to look at a lot of different possibilities," Fortney said. "It's sort of a team approach, so when there is an outbreak of respiratory disease the team will be up and ready to go. We'll have the newer and improved diagnostic capabilities, so we're hopeful we can get this figured out."

Determining the cause of the disease can lead to not only better treatment, but determine a better quarantine and disinfectant program. "If you don't know what it is how are you going to disinfect it?" Fortney said.

Another piece of solving the problem would be the development of a vaccine.

"If you know what the specific agent is then, potentially, we could develop a vaccine to eliminate this problem," Fortney said. "To culture a virus, it may take two weeks to four weeks before you know what was causing the illness. We'll still use the slower method to do that, but if we can figure this out, we could develop a screening tool or tentative diagnosis within 24 hours. Using molecular diagnostics, we could initiate some appropriate treatments until virology comes in and confirms the tentative diagnosis was correct."

While kennel cough is normally not fatal in dogs, Fortney said this new respiratory disease may possibly be a new strain of the disease.

"That is one possibility," he said. "We are getting set up to be able to use some polymerase chain reaction technology to look at the various strains of bordatella- related kennel cough. That's actually Dr. Chengappa's piece of the respiratory disease puzzle, but there is growing evidence that the outbreaks are probably caused by a virus that these animals have not been exposed to previously. That may explain why so many of the adults get sick. Generally, if it is caused by a virus that they have previously been exposed to, a few will get sick but not the number we are currently seeing.

"So, it has the clinical appearance of being something pretty new," Fortney said. "Perhaps that is why we haven't been able to find the cause looking for the common or routine kennel cough agents."

According to Fortney, an outbreak can cause a tremendous economic impact on the industry and community. He said the Woodlands race track in Wyandotte County had an outbreak this spring. The track was quarantined but later reopened with full racing. There also have been isolated outbreaks in greyhound farms around the area. Kansas has not had any reported outbreaks of the disease in several months.

"It's going to take a while to develop the new diagnostic tests," Fortney said. "We're already moving forward and we're working as hard as we can. We aren’t the only group trying to figure this new disease out. There are several other colleges of veterinary medicine and state diagnostic labs that are looking at the problem. It is hoped we can share our expertise and collaborate our findings."