The influence of parvovirus infection and other factors on the survival of dogs with haemorrhagic diarrhoea

The influence of parvovirus infection and other factors on the survival of dogs with haemorrhagic diarrhoea In this retrospective study (2006-2009), 63 dogs with acute haemorrhagic diarrhoea were examined. The aim of this investigation was to determine the effect of age, gender, breed, rectal body temperature, leukocyte count, neutrophil count, serum protein concentration, albumin concentration, therapy and infection with parvovirus on survival. Based on blood and faecal analyses, 33 dogs were considered to be parvovirus-positive, while 30 dogs were deemed to be parvovirus-negative. In the group of the parvovirus-positive patients, the 23 males and 10 females had a median age of 2.7 months with a median body temperature of 38.6 degrees C. Leucopaenia was diagnosed in 26 of the 33 parvovirus-positive dogs and 28 had a neutropaenia. Hypoproteinemia was present in 25 of these dogs and 27 had a hypoalbuminaemia. In the group of the parvovirus-negative dogs, the 15 females and 15 males had a median age of 9.5 month. At the time of presentation in our clinic, they had a median body temperature of 38.6 T. Leucopaenia was diagnosed in three of the 30 parvovirus-negative dogs and neutropaenia in one dog. Hypoproteinaemia was found in 17 of these patients, hypoalbuminaemia in 15. The parvovirus-positive dogs stayed a mean of 6.6 +/- 2.7 days in the hospital. After successful therapy, 21 of these 33 dogs (63.6%) were discharged, nine patients (27.2%) died during hospitalisation, while three (9%) were euthanized. Only one of 30 parvovirus-negative dogs died, the remaining 29 patients were discharged after a mean of +/- 2.6 days in the clinic. Overall 26 dogs were medicated with Stagloban (R), eight with Virbagen (R) Omega and nine with plasma/blood or a combination of these therapies. None of the therapeutic remedies had any significant effect on the survival rate of the dogs with hemorrhagic diarrhoea in this study. However, the administration of these therapies often happened when the patient was in poor general condition. In the logistic regression analysis, only an infection with parvovirus was significantly negatively correlated with survival (p = 0.03). On the basis of these results it is evident that a parvovirus infection continues to have a high mortality rate (36%) in dogs.