Bird Flu Killing Greyhounds in Rhode Island?
Recombinomics Commentary
May 6, 2005
>> Six greyhounds at Lincoln Park have died from kennel cough in the last 10 days.
All dogs at the park have been under quarantine since April 16th, when a kennel cough outbreak began.
Park spokesman Michael Trainor said 100 of the 800 dogs under quarantine at the track now have kennel cough.
The flu-like kennel cough is highly contagious among dogs. <<
The "kennel cough" sounds remarkably like the bird flu infections of greyhound in Florida last season. For the first time, avian influenza (H3N8) was isolated from a dog. H3N8 had been frequently isolated from horses, as had H7N7. Last season greyhounds in Florida were dying and several tracks in Florida were closed.
This season there was a similar outbreak in Florida again, although H3N8 isolation was not reported. The infections appear to be much more widespread this season and many tracks have temporarily closed, but the infection is still being described as a flu-like "kennel cough".
Media link