title: Canine dysautonomia in a litter of Havanese puppies.
abstract: Canine dysautonomia is a sporadic, generally fatal disease that rarely affects groups of related animals. Four 10-week-old Havanese puppies from a litter of 5 developed clinical signs of canine dysautonomia. The 4 affected dogs were exposed to an outdoor environment, whereas the fifth littermate was not exposed to the outdoors and remained clinically healthy. Clinical signs of dysautonomia developed 10-16 days after going outside the house. An unrelated dog also developed dysautonomia after exposure to 1 of the affected Havanese littermates. All 5 dogs had morphological changes consistent with dysautonomia (widespread neuronal degeneration in autonomic ganglia, select brainstem nuclei, and ventral horn motor neurons). Differential diagnoses were excluded through negative toxicological evaluation, fecal parasite screening, negative Canine distemper virus reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, fluorescent antibody testing, attempted virus isolation, and electron microscopy. The 5 affected dogs were in the Kansas City, Missouri area, where there is a high incidence of dysautonomia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY (Hull, O'Toole, Miller, Shoults, Schumaker)Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory, Laramie, WY (O'Toole, Miller, Schumaker)DVM, Gainesville, MO (Deck)Strothertowne Pet Hospital, Lee's Summit, MO (Jones)Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO (Johnson, Shaw).
authors.forename: Noah C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Hull
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY (Hull, O'Toole, Miller, Shoults, Schumaker)Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory, Laramie, WY (O'Toole, Miller, Schumaker)DVM, Gainesville, MO (Deck)Strothertowne Pet Hospital, Lee's Summit, MO (Jones)Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO (Johnson, Shaw).
authors.forename: Donal
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: O'Toole
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY (Hull, O'Toole, Miller, Shoults, Schumaker)Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory, Laramie, WY (O'Toole, Miller, Schumaker)DVM, Gainesville, MO (Deck)Strothertowne Pet Hospital, Lee's Summit, MO (Jones)Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO (Johnson, Shaw).
authors.forename: Myrna M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY (Hull, O'Toole, Miller, Shoults, Schumaker)Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory, Laramie, WY (O'Toole, Miller, Schumaker)DVM, Gainesville, MO (Deck)Strothertowne Pet Hospital, Lee's Summit, MO (Jones)Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO (Johnson, Shaw).
authors.forename: Hannah
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shoults
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY (Hull, O'Toole, Miller, Shoults, Schumaker)Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory, Laramie, WY (O'Toole, Miller, Schumaker)DVM, Gainesville, MO (Deck)Strothertowne Pet Hospital, Lee's Summit, MO (Jones)Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO (Johnson, Shaw).
authors.forename: Robin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Deck
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY (Hull, O'Toole, Miller, Shoults, Schumaker)Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory, Laramie, WY (O'Toole, Miller, Schumaker)DVM, Gainesville, MO (Deck)Strothertowne Pet Hospital, Lee's Summit, MO (Jones)Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO (Johnson, Shaw).
authors.forename: Warren
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY (Hull, O'Toole, Miller, Shoults, Schumaker)Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory, Laramie, WY (O'Toole, Miller, Schumaker)DVM, Gainesville, MO (Deck)Strothertowne Pet Hospital, Lee's Summit, MO (Jones)Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO (Johnson, Shaw).
authors.forename: Gayle C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY (Hull, O'Toole, Miller, Shoults, Schumaker)Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory, Laramie, WY (O'Toole, Miller, Schumaker)DVM, Gainesville, MO (Deck)Strothertowne Pet Hospital, Lee's Summit, MO (Jones)Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO (Johnson, Shaw).
authors.forename: Daniel P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Shaw
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY (Hull, O'Toole, Miller, Shoults, Schumaker)Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory, Laramie, WY (O'Toole, Miller, Schumaker)DVM, Gainesville, MO (Deck)Strothertowne Pet Hospital, Lee's Summit, MO (Jones)Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO (Johnson, Shaw) bschumak@uwyo.edu.
authors.forename: Brant A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Schumaker
mesh_terms: D000822:Animal Husbandry; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004216:Distemper / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D004217:Distemper Virus, Canine / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004285:Dogs; D004777:Environment; D008923:Missouri / Q000453:epidemiology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D054969:Primary Dysautonomias / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary*
keywords: Autonomic dysfunction; canine dysautonomia; dogs; epidemiology; outbreak