Going hunting with your dog is an exciting experience, which makes the already deep bond between the four-legged animal and its owner indissoluble. Going out into the open and hunting can sometimes represent gods dangers for the dog. This, in fact, could contract gods virus or delle diseases capable of endangering its survival.
Among these, one dangerous pathology for the four-legged hunting companion is the Aujeszky's disease, which has pigs or wild boars as healthy carriers. The virus it was first observed in 1813 in cattle raised in the United States.
Animals that contracted the virus exhibited a intense itching hence the definition of mad itch, and most of the time they met their deaths. The disease subsequently also arrived in Europe. Right in Switzerland in 1849 was defined for the first time Pseudorabies, as the symptoms were very similar to those of anger.
Over the years, studies to understand how to deal with the disease and its origin continued. In 1902 Aujeszky, a scholar from whom the disease takes its name, understood that the virus not was of bacterial origin. Until in the 1910 Schmiedhofer following in-depth experiments he established that theagent of the pathology was of viral type.
Currently the Pseudorabies it is still widespread. L'herpesvirus (alphaherpesvirus) lurks within the organism of pigs or wild boars. Despite this, the disease can be transmitted to many other mammal species, in particular to carnivores, ruminants and equidae.
Thanks to modern studies it has been possible to establish that the virus serotype è unique, but there are different strains that act differently depending on the animal or its age. For example, the strain present in wild boars is attenuated compared to that of pigs, but has a different development cycle than that of the domestic pig.
I hunting dogs can get infected in various ways. By ingesting the entrails or the raw pork and wild boar meat, with the bite or via direct contact. The latter are the cases that occur especially during a wild boar hunt.
When a dog is infected, the main ones symptoms they can reveal themselves to neurological level. In this case, encephalomyelitis can occur in the animal, paralysis of the larynx and an intense pruritus, which in extreme cases can lead the animal to self-mutilation. Usually theincubation va from 2 to 6 working days,, while the spread of the disease leading to death è fast. Start within 48 hours of the onset of the first symptoms.
At the first symptoms it is good consult a veterinarian, although there is no effective treatment that can defeat the disease. The only way to keep the dog safe from Aujezsky's disease is to limit contact with healthy carriers of the virus and avoid basing the hound's diet on raw pork and wild boar meat.