Infectious Canine Hepatitis

Infectious canine hepatitis (ICH) is a worldwide, contagious disease of dogs with varying clinical signs.

Disease Overview

Infectious canine hepatitis has signs that range from a slight fever and congestion to severe depression, marked leukopenia, and coagulation disorders.

CANINE HEPATITIS FAST FACTS

  • The incubation period is 4-9 days.
  • Also seen in foxes, wolves, coyotes, bears, lynx, and some pinnipeds.
  • Other carnivores may become infected without developing clinical illness.
  • The disease is less common where routine immunization is done.
  • Continued vaccination is needed to protect against periodic outbreaks from wild and feral hosts.

TRANSMISSION

  • Initial infection occurs in the tonsillar crypts and Peyerā€™s patches, followed by viremia and disseminated infection. Blood vessels are the primary target, with hepatic and renal parenchyma, spleen, and lungs becoming infected as well.
  • Chronic kidney lesions and corneal clouding (ā€œblue eyeā€) can result from immune-complex reactions
  • Canine Infectious Hepatitis is mainly passed through ingestion of urine, feces, or saliva of infected dogs.
  • Recovered dogs shed virus in their urine for over 6 months.

CLINICAL SIGNS

  • Fever
  • Apathy
  • Anorexia
  • Thirst
  • Conjunctivitis
  • Enlarged tonsils
  • Swollen head, neck or trunk areas
  • Discharge from the eyes and nose
  • Occasionally abdominal pain and vomiting

DOGS AT RISK

  • Young Dogs

MORBIDITY THREATS

  • Signs vary from a slight fever to death.
  • The mortality rate ranges from 10%ā€“30%.
  • Severely infected dogs may develop convulsions from forebrain damage.
  • Paresis, ataxia and central blindness have also been described.
  • In ~25% of recovered dogs, bilateral corneal opacity develops.

SPREADING DISEASE

  • The virus is spread in the feces, urine, blood, saliva, and nasal discharge of infected dogs.
  • Contracted through the mouth or nose, where it replicates in the tonsils.
  • The incubation period is 4 to 7 days.

DIAGNOSIS

Abrupt onset of illness and bleeding suggest ICH, although clinical evidence is not always sufficient to differentiate ICH from distemper (see Canine Distemper).

Merck Animal Health Vaccines

NOBIVACĀ®Ā CANINE 1-DAPPv

This product has been shown to be effective for vaccination of healthy dogs 6 weeks of age or older against canine distemper virus, canine adenovirus type 1 (hepatitis), canine adenovirus type 2 (respiratory disease), canine parainfluenza virus and canine parvovirus.

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