Parvoviral Infection - Dogs

DEFINITION
CPV-2 infection is an acute systemic illness characterized by hemorrhagic enteritis.
Often fatal in pups, who may collapse in a “shock-like” state and die suddenly without enteric signs, after only a brief period of malaise.
The myocardial form, observed in pups during the early outbreaks when the dog population was fully susceptible, is now rare.
Most pups are now protected against neonatal infection by maternal antibodies.
Monoclonal antibodies have revealed antigenic changes in CPV-2 since its emergence in 1978.
The original virus is now virtually extinct in the domestic dog population.
The viruses currently circulating in dogs, designated CPV-2a and CPV-2b, have been genetically stable since 1984.
These viruses are more virulent than the original isolates, and case mortality rates appear to be higher than in the earliest outbreaks.
Most of the clinical literature is based on the response of dogs to CPV-2 and should be reevaluated in light of the emergence and dominance of the newer types in dogs.
As with rabies variants, the antigenic changes in CPV-2 do not affect the ability of various vaccines to protect dogs.