Cause of Mystery Disease Believed Found (Coronavirus)

AP Online via COMTEX ^ | Mar 24, 2003 | DIRK BEVERIDGE

[Solon]

My dog has had annual corona/distemper/parvo shots each year for the past ten years ... she's 12. A Pomeranian

Just in case you're not aware of the latest vaccination protocols----

Twenty-two Schools of Veterinary Medicine including Texas A&M University do not recommend canine corona virus vaccine. Apparently, they've (A&M) seen only 1 case in the last 7 yrs.

[aristeides]

CDC Press Release.

[aristeides]

New AP story incorporates CDC input: Cold-Causing Bug Suspected in Mystery Flu.

[Geezerette]

Thanks!!! Several months ago, there was a thread here on FR with the source as the Houston Chronicle. It stated that vets are now finding out that dogs should not have those 3 in 1 shots every year ... maybe every two or three years. Rabies every three years.

My dog was due for her rabies AND the other shots this month, and keeping that article in mind, just had her get the rabies shot only to satisfy the license law. So, really, she hasn't had those other shots in a little over a year.

I was going to wait a year or more to have her vaccinated ... she is an eight-lb. dog, and that article said that the little ones get the SAME dose as a St. Bernard would get!!!

So, maybe she doesn't need them anymore??

Again, thanks for any info!

g

[Terridan]

"...By inhalation of aerosols..."

I wonder when the CDC will be honest with us and tell us the real history of this and West Nile...

[aristeides]

Suspected U.S. SARS Cases Now 39 .

[Dog Gone]

Uh oh. Does this mean it spreads as easily as the common cold?

I'm not sure how it could be otherwise. The hospital workers who contracted the illness were not kissing their patients.

[Terridan]

Thanks for the info... scary huh? I didn't see mentioned though, the names of the infected kids in Michigan, or Chicago was it? They died... ages 2 - 8. No mention whatsoever. It was unusual because kids at that age not suseptible to death as infants or the elderly. I am still suspicious, as I am about West Nile, and its quickened spread across the US. It didn't follow the usual progression of spreading, after arriving here. Who knows. Invisible killers, but I think Islam related. God Bless!

[aristeides]

Teenagers and young adults are said to have had the highest mortality from the Spanish flu in 1918-9.

[TaxRelief]

We are making progress on the diagnostic front. Hong Kong radiologists have determined that chest X-rays of SARS patients show unique characteristics. They have been producing reliable results, using this crude method, since Saturday. They are quite confident that this form of analysis separates probable cases from suspect cases effectively. Clearly it is critical not to expose patients ill with something else to SARS.

[LurkedLongEnough]

Such a lab doesn't have to be in or near China or Hong Kong, of course.

"Facteurs de virulence des coronavirus hemagglutinants et valeur vaccinale et diagnostique des protéines recombinantes"

translation:
"Factors of virulence of the coronavirus hemagglutinants and vaccine value and diagnoses recombining proteins", was published just a couple of years ago out of the University of Quebec, microbiology and biotechnology.

==> A cure for the common cold? Or research to weaponize it?

[vetvetdoug]

This kills our paramyxovirus theory. A coronavirus being the causative agent complicates things a lot since there are literally thousands of coronaviruses in the mammalian species. In cats it is extremely difficult to differentiate the pathogenic coronaviruses from the non-pathogens. There is so much cross reactivity with the tests that the one's that are available are questionable when just the test is positive without clinical symptoms. Hogs and cats have the most pathogenic. It is very questionable if the canine virus is really a pathogen or just a saphrophytic organism. I do not recommend the canine coronavirus vaccine.

[glory]

Easier said then done...my mother returned home from England last week, Manchester no less--not a whole lot you can do to avoid it.

[glory]

ON a positive note, she's been home a week and only has her usual sinus problems with spring so that is past incubation time right so we are safe to assume she didn't pick anything up on her flight home?

[Mother Abigail]

But the head of Health Canada's national microbiology laboratory in Winnipeg said scientists there have been unable to replicate the CDC's findings working with specimens taken from Canadians who have developed severe acute respiratory syndrome.

"We've been aware of these (CDC) results for a couple days and as yet we've not been able to confirm the results," said scientific director Dr. Frank Plummer.

"Our results were negative for coronaviruses. And we continue to find evidence of human metapneumovirus."

On Friday, Plummer announced his team had found human metapneumovirus, a member of the paramyxovirus family, in specimens from six of eight patients for whom the lab had samples.

---

Seems to be a difference of opinion.

Very real possibility that both are finding artifacts...

[Mother Abigail]

A flight from England to US is not really a concern.

It is Asia, and stopovers in Asia that are bothersome...

[vetvetdoug]

Are there any new textbooks on Virology that are current and reflect all of the taxonomic changes that have occurred since PCR technology?

[TaxRelief]

This is a unique situation that includes paramyxoviridae and coronoaviridae working in concert.

[Mother Abigail]

The Best

[aristeides]

I was thinking that if this was the result of simultaneous infection with the two viruses, then killing or neutralizing either one could stop the disease. But your post gives me another thought: another line of attack would be to stop their working together in concert.