The Guide Dogs headquarters has been rocked after two young dogs were put in quarantine after testing positive for an incurable disease that can be transmitted to humans, The Telegraph can reveal.
The young males were screened for the bacterium Brucella canis earlier this year and returned a positive test. The animals have been separated from the other dogs and are handled only by vets in hazmat suits, despite concerns the tests were false positives.
It is understood they are the first guide dogs to test positive for the disease. There is no cure, and it can also infect humans. Many vets refuse to treat infected animals because of the risk of catching the disease.
Owners are advised by the Government that the only way to guarantee no onward transmission to other dogs or people is euthanasia of the infected dogs.
B. canis spreads via contact with bodily fluids. However, saliva and urine contain low levels of the bacterium, and the main risk is from exposure to reproductive fluids, during whelping or neutering.
Influx of imported dogs
A surge in Brucella canis cases in the last few years is a result of imported pet dogs with the disease flooding the UK market. Most infected imported dogs come from Romania, official data show.
Experts worry that the influx of infected imported dogs is allowing the dog disease to spread undetected.
Guide Dogs set up its first Brucella screening programme in the Spring to ‘build a steel ring around our dogs’ and make sure any used to breed were clean.
Albus and Spencer, an 18-month-old Black Lab and almost three-year-old Golden Retriever, respectively, were two of the 80 potential studs to be tested and the only ones to get a positive result.
The two animals were at the charity’s Leamington Spa headquarters when they tested positive. This is where early Guide Dogs training is done as well as much of the veterinary care, research, and breeding.
“Once this was diagnosed, they went into an isolation status,” Dr. Tim Davies, Chief Veterinary Officer at Guide Dogs, told The Telegraph.
“We’ve now moved them to a specific facility we have in Reading, which gives them more space — it has better grass runs they can use, for example.
“Part of that is that it’s better in terms of space; the second part is that, in the very unlikely event they did have the disease, the last place on earth we would want these dogs is around our breeding stock.
“They were looked after in Leamington Spa in a biosecure fashion, shall we say, so people are kitted up when they are dealing with them.
“In Reading staff will wear overtrousers, wellies, and anorak-type stuff. At the National Centre (in Leamington Spa), they used hazmat suits.
“During grooming they went to masks and goggles but they didn’t do that that often because, with the very nature of this, you don’t want to handle them a huge amount.”
The dogs have so far spent four months in de-facto lockdown and cut off from other animals. Access was limited to the site, and dogs separated when the positive results first arrived.
Senior vets will neuter the dogs at the specialist Reading facility to prevent them from passing on any infection they may have. Brucella canis leads to infertility in dogs and manifests as underweight puppies, stillbirths, and a high puppy death rate. There is no sign that the Guide Dogs stock is infected, Dr. Davies said.
“The neutering is actually high-risk for our vets, as that is where any Brucella is most concentrated. But our vets understand the situation and are happy to do it. I have said to them, if you do not want to do it, then I will do it myself,” Dr. Davies said.
Brucella canis tests are not perfect, he said, as they have a specificity of around 98 per cent, which means if 100 completely healthy animals are tested, there will be two dogs flagged up as positive incorrectly. He believes this is likely the case with Albus and Spencer.
The dogs fall into the ‘negligible risk’ category, he said, because they had no symptoms, no exposure to imported dogs, and only a weak positive lab result.
Dr. Davies believes the positive result is likely caused by the test identifying proteins in the blood that look similar to B. canis antibodies and therefore produce an erroneous positive result.
The long-term fate of the dogs remains up in the air. Dr. Davies believes they are not infected, but the test result was positive, despite not being entirely reliable.
Guide Dogs is understood to be currently working on a radical scheme to get Albus and Spencer adopted by remote fosterers and out of quarantine and this state of purgatory caused by unreliable tests and ‘vague’ guidance from the Government, according to Dr. Davies.
Guidance is understood to be updated next week, and advocates are calling for clearer recommendations on actions to be taken if a dog tests positive, with current guidelines being accused of being ‘too vague.’
Brucella canis infection in people is rare, can be treated and not deadly. Clinical symptoms vary widely but include fever, chills, malaise, a swollen spleen, and enlarged lymph nodes.
Children, immunocompromised people such as HIV patients, and pregnant women may be at greater risk.
A remote home for two “friendly and happy” guide gogs is being sought, and the volunteers must meet a specific list of requirements.
Albus and Spencer were preparing for their first time at stud in April and living a life of luxury before testing positive for an incurable bacterium called Brucella canis.
The Guide Dogs charity had implemented a screening protocol for the infection, which can spread to both dogs and humans, in response to a surge in cases from imported pets.
The disease leads to reproductive issues in dogs, and antibiotics fail to eliminate the infection. Euthanasia is the only guaranteed way to prevent onward transmission to dogs and people. Humans can be treated with antibiotics, and cases are rare.
For the owners and carers of Albus and Spencer, two seemingly perfectly healthy canines, the positive test was a shock. For Dr. Tim Davies, Chief Veterinarian at Guide Dogs, their result is erroneous. He believes it’s a false positive, caused by an imperfect testing protocol.
However, with no way to overturn the result and no concrete government advice on what to do in “marginal cases,” the healthy and happy animals are destined for a life of lockdown and quarantine, living in biosecure wings of Guide Dogs buildings away from other animals.
The only humans they interact with wear heavy PPE to meet safety protocols that err on the side of extreme caution.
Although Dr. Davies is “fairly chilled” about the situation due to the low level of risk, Guide Dogs insists that all staff must wear goggles, gloves, masks, and even full-blown hazmat suits. Government documents say euthanasia is the only guaranteed way to stop onward transmission, but Guide Dogs refuses, citing “negligible risk.”