Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Is your pooch as sick as a dog? UR scientists develop new canine flu vaccines

Juan Vazquez

Just like people, dogs can get sick from the flu. The H3N8 canine influenza virus can sometimes spread in kennels and dog shelters causing symptoms including coughing, runny nose, and fever.

"Dog owners usually get pretty sad, because their dogs are sick and they're kind of lethargic and don't want to play or eat their food," said Luis Martinez-Sobrido, Ph.D., associate professor at the University of Rochester.

His research team has developed two new vaccines for the type of flu currently circulating in dogs. There is a vaccine already in use, but Martinez-Sobrido says the new vaccines have proven to be more effective when tested in mice.

"We want to not only provide better health for the animals, but also we want to provide better health for humans, so we will not be exposed to this kind of influenza from dogs and we won't have a chance to get it from them."

The Centers for Disease Control says there is no evidence of flu spreading from dogs to people, but influenza viruses are always changing. Because of this, the CDC is monitoring H3N8 and H3N2, an avian flu virus that adapted to infect dogs.  

The vaccines developed at the University of Rochester are made using a weakened form of the H3N8 virus, and don't involve an injection.

"Both humans and dogs do not like needles and they prefer to get a Flu-Mist type nasal vaccine rather than intramuscular," said Martinez-Sobrido.

The H3N8 canine influenza virus originated in horses.  It was first detected in dogs in 2005 following cases of an unknown respiratory illness in greyhounds in the U.S.

Beth Adams joined WXXI as host of Morning Edition in 2012 after a more than two-decade radio career. She was the longtime host of the WHAM Morning News in Rochester. Her career also took her from radio stations in Elmira, New York, to Miami, Florida.