Scientists from the University of New Hampshire may have identified a pathogen that has sickened thousands of dogs and killed some in the United States.
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The mysterious respiratory disease may be caused by a new type of bacterial infection that can easily evade the canine immune system, according to researchers.
Some dogs have already died from the disease, whose symptoms include a cough that can last for weeks, watery eyes, and sneezing.
In a development that may help shed light on the disease affecting a variety of dog breeds, researchers from the University of New Hampshire’s Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory and the Hubbard Center for Genome Studies told NBC News that they have identified a pathogen that may be what’s making pets sick.
Through genetic sequencing of samples from an initial group of 30 dogs from New Hampshire that were infected last year and another 40 from Rhode Island and Massachusetts that fell ill this year, researchers claim to have discovered a previously unknown germ.
The pathogen is “an odd bacterium,” according to Dr. David Needle, head of the pathology section in the College of Life Sciences and Agriculture at the University of New Hampshire.
“It’s smaller than a normal bacterium in its size and in the size of its genome. Long story short, it’s a weird bacterium that can be tough to find and sequence,” he said.
