Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Louping ill virus exposure in UK dogs shown by blood tests
By Elgueta, Iris et al.·Published in The Veterinary record·2024·Vets Now Referral Hospital, United Kingdom·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Seropositivity to louping ill virus in dogs in the UK.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A study found that 4.5% of dogs tested in the UK had antibodies to the louping ill virus (LIV), which can cause serious neurological issues. Among dogs showing signs of neurological problems, the rate was higher at 15%. The research suggests that using tick prevention products may help protect dogs from this virus. While the overall number of infected dogs was low, veterinarians should consider LIV in dogs with sudden or worsening neurological symptoms, especially given recent cases.
People also search for: dog neurological symptoms · louping ill virus in dogs · tick prevention for dogs · dog with unexplained seizures
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Louping ill virus (LIV) is a tick-borne flavivirus that can cause fatal meningoencephalomyelitis in dogs. Four dogs with confirmed LIV infection and a case series of dogs with suspected flavivirus infection have been reported in the UK. However, underreporting of LIV infection due to lack of testing is suspected. METHODS: Surplus serum/plasma from 220 dogs was used to determine the seroprevalence of LIV by haemagglutination inhibition (HAI) test. Signalment and environmental factors were investigated for potential correlations with a positive titre (serum dilution of 1:20 or more). RESULTS: Two hundred and two dogs were suitable for inclusion in the study, nine of which (4.5%) were seropositive. Among the dogs investigated for neurological disease (40/202; 19.8%), six (15%) were seropositive. Ectoparasiticide use approached significance (p = 0.055) for being protective against LIV seropositivity. LIMITATIONS: The main limitations were the specificity of the HAI test, the relatively small number of samples, the low number of seropositive dogs, the poor geographical distribution of the samples and the inherent limitations of questionnaire-based research. CONCLUSION: The seroprevalence of LIV in the UK dog population appears to be low. However, LIV should be considered in dogs presenting with unexplained acute or subacute progressive neurological clinical signs, especially because of the recent reports of several dogs with clinical flavivirus infections.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39344584/