A World-First Project to help reduce or even eradicate Canine Parvovirus

Veterinarians around Australia are being asked to help with a bold new research project looking to bring a ‘disruptive technology’ approach to the issue of canine parvovirus (CPV) in Australia.

The disease is the biggest viral threat to the health of dogs in Australia, though it can be endemic in some areas while being absent in other (even adjacent) areas. Nearly five thousand cases of CPV have been reported in Australia alone in the last five years^* and the true number of cases may significantly higher.

Researchers from University of Sydney will be sending a survey to the whole veterinary profession in January 2017, seeking every veterinarian to answer, in an attempt to gauge the true national distribution and prevalence of CPV and then to start measures to try and bring the disease fully under control, and potentially even eradicate it.

Look out for the survey in January and please fill it in when you get it. To contact the research team, you can email Dr Mark Kelman at kelmanscientific@gmail.com.

*              E. Zourkas, M. P. Ward, and M. Kelman, “Canine parvovirus in Australia: A comparative study of reported rural and urban cases,” Vet. Microbiol., vol. 181, no. 3–4, pp. 198–203, Dec. 2015.