Distemper outbreak stirs concern

SANDPOINT - Panhandle Animal Shelter officials say they are close to pinpointing the source of a canine distemper outbreak last month.

The compass needle is drifting toward puppies that were flown from a shelter in southern California earlier this year, according to Panhandle Animal Shelter executive director Mandy Evans.

"But at this point we are not 100-percent certain that that's where it came from," Evans said.

Evans said confirmation of the source of the outbreak has been delayed by the virus' six-week incubation period. However, the incubation period is about to lapse.

All told, 21 puppies at the shelter were diagnosed with distemper. Two of the puppies have died and necropsies on them confirmed the distemper diagnosis.

Shelter officials initially stated in a news release that they didn't expect the illness to affect recently adopted dogs, but it turns out six puppies were adopted out before the outbreak was detected.

Three of those six puppies have been returned to the shelter and are being held in a quarantine ward, Evans said. The other three pups are quarantined at private residences, according to Evans.

It remains unclear how the infected puppies escaped detection, although Evans suspects it may be linked to the virus' six-week incubation period. Evans said the puppies were checked twice in California and once again when they arrived in Idaho.

The outbreak was irksome to Dr. Bob Stoll, a Sandpoint veterinarian who vividly recalls when canine distemper was a miserable fact of life in Idaho more than 30 years ago.

"I've lived through this - holding people's hands and having them crying and seeing puppies screaming in pain," Stoll said.

Stoll took particular issue with the shelter's initial statement that it did not believe infected dogs had been adopted out amid the outbreak since three of the stricken pups were taken by their new owners to his clinic for treatment.

Stoll also questions the wisdom of importing rescued dogs into Idaho when California undoubtedly has more rescue volunteers and resources per capita.

Stoll contends the outbreak comes amid a backdrop of immunity complacency in the Panhandle because the disease has been absent for so long and attitudes about vaccinations are less stringent in the West than other parts of the country.

"My biggest problem is that community has been becoming appeased," said Stoll, who recommends that all dog owners in Bonner County vaccinate their pets immediately.

Stoll is concerned that the conditions are frighteningly ripe for a large outbreak.

"There are dogs that do recover and they shed the virus for three months, and many of those dogs don't have any clinical signs. That's why we're headed for a wildfire," Stoll said.

Evans said she appreciates Stoll's concerns and those of the public.

"I can understand where Dr. Stoll is so passionate about it because he has been in practice long enough that he was here when we did have major outbreaks of distemper," said Evans.

Evans admits the outbreak is cause for some alarm, but she does not believe a canine distemper firestorm is brewing. The shelter is consulting with a shelter medicine veterinarian at the University of Wisconsin to contain the outbreak and it helped organize free vaccination clinics at local veterinary offices.

"She's been kind of walking us through each phase of making sure that we're containing the situation, that we're providing the best medical care that we can for those dogs and that we don't see any further spreading of the disease," Evans said.

Center Valley Veterinarian Hospital is offering free canine distemper vaccines by appointment. The Fry Creek Animal Clinic also offers free vaccines by appointment.