04/05/2010

Parvovirus and Canine distemper virus

Canine Parvovirus infection (CPV) is a serious acute disease that affects the gastrointestinal and cardiac systems of dogs. The disease in dogs caused by this virus is commonly referred to as Parvo.Canine parvovirus (CPV) disease is currently the most common infectious disorder of dogs in the United States. In Brazil, the virus and related disease in dogs appeared clinically in 1980 with high death rate of infected animals.

Canine distemper is a multisystemic viral disease, caused by the canine distemper virus (CDV), often fatal, that affects the respiratory, gastrointestinal, and central nervous systems.

Use of P-MAPA on dogs infected with parvovirus (CPV), during several outbeaks in Brazil showed that a dose of P-M.A.P.A. (1mg/ kg body weight/ i.m.) for 3 days resulted in a recovery rate of more than 90%. The total number of dogs treated was 263.

The symptoms of CPV infection include lethargy, vomiting, fever, and severe diarrhea, usually bloody. The first sign of CPV is lethargy. The second symptom would be loss of appetite or diarrhea followed by vomiting. Due the normal intestinal lining is also compromised, blood and protein leak into the intestines leading to anemia and loss of protein. The process usually leads the infected dogs to death in few days after the infection.

All animals presenting CPV infection received a dose of 1 mg/kg/day of P-MAPA during 3 days. In the first day of the treatment, the vomiting and bloody diarrhea stopped and the other symptoms completely disappear on day 2 for the most of animals, or maximum on day 3 for the remaining animals. None of survival presents any sign of residual disease or remaining opportunistic infection.

Similar results with dogs exhibiting distemper virus  (CDV) were obtained only in the first stage of the disease, using the same dosage of P-MAPA (before reaching the central neurological system).

Conclusions: These results are indicative that P-M.A.P.A. acts in vivo in parvovirus (CPV) and in canine distemper virus (CDV).