NH Researchers May Have Found Key To Understanding Mystery Dog Illness

NEW HAMPSHIRE — New Hampshire researchers believe they have found a key to understanding a mysterious, potentially antibiotic-resistant respiratory syndrome that has affected hundreds of dogs throughout the country, the University of New Hampshire announced this week.

The researchers — from UNH’s New Hampshire Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory and Hubbard Center for Genome Studies — have identified a small portion of the genome of a previously uncharacterized bacteria that may be causing the illness, university officials said.

The potential breakthrough came with the use of genetic sequencing of samples from 70 dogs in New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts from the last two years, according to school officials. Of those dogs, 30 were from New Hampshire and were affected last year, while the 40 from the other two states showed signs of respiratory illness this year.

Researchers believe the bacterium may be part of the dog microbiome and have recently developed the capacity to cause disease, school officials said.

Symptoms of infection in dogs include a cough that can linger for several weeks, runny eyes, and sneezing, according to officials, who added that only "a very small subset of dogs have died after a long bout of this illness that is then complicated or superimposed with a severe acute pneumonia."

The exact number of deaths due to the illness is difficult to state as there is not yet a specific way to define or test for it, and it can mimic other respiratory conditions seen in dogs.

The hope, school officials said, is that identifying the bacterium can ultimately lead to determining the right course of treatment for infected dogs. UNH officials noted that "if it is decided definitively that this unknown bacterium is causing some proportion of the noted respiratory syndrome, in-depth research can begin to find the proper medicine to combat it, which would be a significant breakthrough for veterinarians throughout the country."

"A finding like this is potentially pretty exciting, even though we still have to see how it develops to a place where we are comfortable saying this is a pathogen in the syndrome," David Needle, pathology section chief at the NHVDL and clinical associate professor in the College of Life Sciences and Agriculture Needle, said in the news release. "But a finding like this is significant. You work at a state university to do work that you believe in, that is impactful and that you think has value, is engaging and interesting – and this really ticks all those boxes."

The next step is to gather more samples from other states that have been impacted by the illness, which will allow the team to develop a more specific test for the bacteria, officials said.

As experts work to pin down the illness, veterinary laboratories across the country are encouraging people to take basic precautions to keep their pets healthy, decrease their dogs' contact with other dogs, and contact their vet if their dog is sick.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.