Call for more testing over B canis concerns

A senior charity vet has said more needs to be done to raise public awareness of the dangers posed by Brucella canis.

Dogs Trust veterinary director Paula Boyden suggested dedicated reference laboratories may help to improve protection against the disease, during a discussion at BSAVA Congress in Manchester.

Delegates were also warned the true scale of the disease in the UK remains unclear and the threat of other illnesses being brought into the country is likely to grow, too.

The level of professional concern about B canis might have been reflected by the number of delegates packed into the Manchester Central Convention Complex hall where the 23 March session took place, with many having to stand.

‘Huge concern

Ian Futter – the Scottish SPCA’s chief veterinary officer, who chaired the session – said the issue was “a huge concern” within the charitable sector.

Anxiety about the disease has been particularly heightened since Defra confirmed in January that a fresh review of its risks was underway.

Following the discussion, the department told Vet Times this assessment – being carried out by the Human Animal Infections and Risk Surveillance group, which it chairs – remains ongoing and its findings will be published “in due course”.

A spokesperson added: “We take the risks posed by Brucella canis very seriously – which is why the disease is now reportable, to allow us to monitor the number of confirmed cases and update our risk assessments.”

Mandatory

However, Defra has also faced calls to introduce mandatory testing of imported dogs after more than 50 separate cases of B canis were recorded in 2022, the first full year in which it was classed as a reportable disease.

Dr Boyden said Dogs Trust’s policy of blanket screening of dogs was important for herd health and had uncovered nine positive tests, out of 550, since it began two years ago.

She said testing should be encouraged both before breeding and importation, adding: “Owners need to be made more aware of the risks.

“There’s still a lot we don’t know. We don’t know how many Brucella-positive dogs there are in the UK.”

But she conceded that a lack of testing capacity was a problem and argued that reference laboratories, similar to those that are in place for rabies and would require official laboratory status to be conferred, would help to address the issue.

The lack of clarity about the full extent of the B canis problem was also highlighted by Hannah Walker, an internal medicine specialist at North Downs Specialist Referrals in Surrey, who said: “I don’t think we know how at risk we are.

“At the moment, we screen dogs that come in ill for investigation, but that may change in the next few years.”

Test recommendations

She recommended that testing should be considered either when importing a dog from an endemic country, when suspicious clinical signs are observed, as soon as possible and three months after exposure to an infected dog, and where a dog is intended for breeding.

Although euthanasia is the recommended course of action when a dog tests positive for the disease, it is not mandatory and a course of antibiotic treatment can be pursued.

But Dr Boyden said the disease’s high recurrence rate means there are ethical considerations to treatment that have to be balanced against broader considerations, such as the dangers posed by antimicrobial resistance.

She said: “The first dog we saw that tested positive was a 16-week-old puppy. It’s heartbreaking, but we have a duty to our staff, other owners and the wider dog population.”

She also praised an owner who had all her pet dogs euthanised after they contracted the disease from a fostered dog, adding: “I would hope I would have the courage to do the same thing.”

Travel risks

In a separate discussion of ethical considerations relating to the importing of dogs from overseas, Dr Walker warned that increasing pet travel also increased the risks of rabies and other diseases being brought back into the UK.

Dr Boyden also called for regulation of both welfare settings and importation facilitators to be introduced.

Responding to a question of whether dog imports should be banned altogether, she said such a move was unlikely either to become law or to be effective.

But she also argued that current arrangements were not providing adequate protection, adding: “We need better regulation.”