ARE YOU WORRYING THAT YOUR DOG COULD GET EBOLA?

Aren't the media doing a great job in whipping up hysteria and fear.  Each day you turn on the news and you hear and read the latest frightening statistics about the 2014 African Ebola epidemic. WHO (World Health Organization) predicts that before it is contained, 20,000 people will have been infected and it will cost many million dollars to fight this outbreak. To date there is no cure, but there are promising new treatments and vaccines being developed to battle the disease that was first identified in 1976.

Can your dog get and transmit EBola?

Er! Im afraid the answer is Yes. 

However,  don't panic, because in the UK and areas of the world not contiguous to the affected countries in central Africa, the chances of  your dog contracting Ebola are extremely nil.

The virus is spread mainly in the current prevalent areas where the lifestyle is far different from ours. There is no known source of infection outside of affected areas in Africa. In our country, and most countries with more stringent rules concerning food production and sanitation, our pets can be protected as effectively as we are from this type of catastrophic disease.

What Is Ebola?

According to the World Health Organisation, Ebola is a virus or group of viruses that originated in central Africa, possibly in birds. The main reservoire for the virus is thought to be African fruit bats.
The symptoms could easily be mistaken for influenza. The victims suffer headaches, muscle and joint pains, fever, sore throat, 'the runs', vomiting and in extreme cases, it progresses to kidney failure and the hemorrhaging stage when the victim begins bleeding internally and externally.


What Creatures Are at Risk For Ebola Infection?

Ebola is a zoonotic (good word, that!) disease, which means it can be passed between species. The most adversely affected group is primates, including gorillas, chimpanzees, monkeys and humans. Other animals known to have been naturally infected are the African fruit bats, antelope, porcupines, rodents, pigs and  sometimes dogs. Cats don't seem to be infected. Among primates and humans, the disease is 50 to 90% fatal.

How Is Ebola Spread?

Ebola is spread in several ways. An important study done by infectious disease experts and veterinarians following the 2001-2002 Ebola outbreak, concluded that consumption of infected meat was one avenue. Gorillas and other primates kill and eat infected animals. African hunters trade in "bush meat" and people from many parts of Africa and Asia smuggle bush meat into their luggage and bring it to the UK. These are the people who are most at risk of getting infected. ebola is spread amongst humans by direct contact of kissing mouth to mouth, sex, body fluids such as urine, saliva, vomit, feces, semen and blood, open cuts and sores from infected individuals.
Objects such as needles may also be contaminated with infected fluids.

You cannot catch EBola by shaking someone's hand unless you have a cut on yours.  Nor can you catch the virus from a door handle,  stair bannisters or by standing near them just because they came from Sierra Leone or other parts of Africa.
      
How Do Dogs Get Ebola?

Information on the  DEFRA website assures us that Ebola among dogs in the UK is non existent. However, dogs and other animals can pick up Ebola from consuming infected meat and by direct contact with infectious fluids such as urine and poo.

 In many parts of Africa, dogs are kept as pets and for hunting. Because they are  not properly fed as they are in the western world, they scavenge and ingest infected meat or residue from infected people. The very detailed Centre for Contagious Diseases study found evidence of infection in dogs by testing hundreds of blood samples for antibodies.

The Centre for Contagious Diseases concluded that infected dogs are asymptomatic (do not develop symptoms) from Ebola. During the initial time of their infection, dogs can spread the disease to humans and other animals through licking, biting, grooming, saliva, tears, urine, and feces. However, once the virus is cleared from the dog it is no longer contagious. Dogs do not die from Ebola infections, but they can pass on flu-like symptoms to humans.

Just so that you know .......

When dogs dig after pooing,  they’re not burying anything – they’re marking their territory - using scent glands in their paws. So the next time your dog scatters earth and debris all over your shoes, its a way of saying "I woz here first, mate!"

And now on to something more cheereful to appease my cat owning friends..........

Until the next blog, enjoy scuffing through the dead leaves, looking at the changing colours on the trees and wearing woolly socks in the evening.

                                                                 Dawn (..)