Aspects of the diagnosis, pathogenesis and epidemiology of canine parvovirus

STUDDERT, M. J.; ODA, C.; RIEGL, C. A.; ROSTON, R. P.

Between 18 July 1980 and 2 January 1981, 188 samples (145 faeces and 43 intestinal contents) were submitted from dogs with suspected canine parvovirus (CPV) enteritis. CPV was demonstrated in 56 (30%) of these samples; the weekly rate of positive CPV identification was remarkably constant at ∼30% even though clinical and often post‐mortem findings strongly supported a diagnosis of CPV enteritis. The simplest, most sensitive and most rapid method for detection of virus was haemagglutination (HA) which was twice as sensitive as isolation of virus and 8 times as sensitive as electron microscopy (EM). Forty nine of 56 (88%) samples positive for CPV were from dogs < 1 year old and 44 (79%) CPV‐positive samples were from pups < 6 months old; only one sample from a pup < 2 months old (pup was 7 weeks old) was positive. An additional 68 samples (53 faeces and 15 intestinal contents) were submitted from Beagle dogs that were part of a colony of ∼1200 dogs. Epidemiological data pinpoints the entry of CPV into the colony in November 1978 at which time most dogs including pups < 6 months of age developed antibody to CPV without developing clinical disease. From these data an overview of some aspects of the pathogenesis and epidemiology of CPV is constructed.