2014 CVM News: Canine parvovirus found in wild carnivores in U.S.

Abstract

This news item from the Cornell Chronicle is about: When canine parvovirus first emerged in 1978, it caused a global pandemic in which hundreds of thousands of dogs are thought to have died. Since then, the virus has occasionally shown up in wild animals, but these were considered a result of small-scale spillovers from dog populations. A new study by Andrew Allison and Colin Parrish of the Baker Institute for Animal Health in the College of Veterinary Medicine and others shows that many wild carnivores actually carry the virus, and that it is relatively easy for a parvovirus from a wild carnivore to adapt to life in a dog and vice versa.