Discussions - Recent Threads

RE: Brucella Canis in Veterinary Professionals

Katherine Clarke — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 07:06:36 GMT

Hi Steve,

I am so sorry to hear about your colleague.

I was the clinical lead for the development of the Brucella canis policy within Linnaeus and thus have done a lot of reading and chatting to foreign vets about Brucella to try and understand which countries should go on the 'red' list.

Spanish travelled dogs, I personally would say yes, you need to test every year if they go every year and waiting three months for seroconversion seems logical. We added Spain to the list around 18m ago when I became aware of three unrelated dogs imported from Spain who tested positive.

The situation in the US is variable with some states seeing more Brucella that others. But honestly, it is very hard to determine true prevalence anywhere due to lack of screening of asymptomatic dogs.

Happy to chat more if you need.

Katherine

Brucella Canis in Veterinary Professionals

Steve Leonard — Fri, 15 May 2026 16:18:42 GMT

Hi,

This is a sensitive subject and is troubling a lot of small animal practitioners currently with regards what is the risk to our teams, clients and patients.

I have a colleague who has kindly consented to having me sharing her situation with you as it highlights how little we know about this disease in people. She had minimal contact with a dog who subsequently tested positive late last year (who knows how many other unknown carriers she has done dentals, spays etc on).

Unfortunately, earlier this year she became quite unwell with a fever. She was pregnant and tragically miscarried. Her GP has a sister who is a vet and was happy to test for B.canis. She had high serology results and a positive PCR result.

Weeks later she still is positive on both tests and her infectious disease specialist has told her the only people he is seeing this in is pretty much always veterinary professionals.

Treatment is not without significant risk to her health. She would need to hospitalised for IV antibiotics that carries significant risk of AKI and then possibly up to 6 months of oral tx. Elimination is not certain.

She is not an isolated case and there are potentially lots of chronic / subclinical cases out there. Her consultant stated he has approached BVA and BSAVA for funding to do some more research into the situation because wider finding doesn't seem to be available (as it affects such a limited cohort - i.e. us). This funding doesn't seem to have been forthcoming but I am not sure when the approach was made.

Obviously, all our first thoughts were that in endemic countries they must see it all the time however according to her specialist is that surveillance is pretty much non-existence as low-priority in countries with plenty of other significant health issues to contend with.

In addition, like me, many of you may be blood donors and it struck me that is there a potential risk to recipients that hasn't been addressed here?

My colleague is well, thankfully and coping admirably with these difficult decisions regarding how to proceed. I think it has affected all of us who know her and I'm sure some of you also have friends and colleagues who may be facing a similar situation.

We don't want a knee-jerk panic response so I thought I would speak to you all here as you are an 'evidenced based' group that will give this proper thought. Also I know in many of your referral centres and universities there are people looking at the canine side, and possibly the human side already. If there is, it would help my colleagues to know that is the case. If not then maybe we can try and get some data and possibly approach BVA/BSAVA again with an idea of helping quantify the risk a little better.

Your thoughts gratefully received.

Steve

RE: Brucella Canis in Veterinary Professionals

Penny Watson — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 13:26:29 GMT

Hi Steve

I am not an infectious disease expert but was wondering why you were particularly concerned about Spain - my brother lives there, with a dog, and I was not aware it was a particularly Brucella canis hot spot. So I did a quick literature review and found this.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352771425002617?via%3Dihub

I don't think travelling is the problem - otherwise we would be worried about dogs going to Switzerland or Holland or indeed Canada. I think what we need to know is how it is transmitted and what animals would be at high risk - is it still believed to be transmitted largely at mating and abortions and through milk or is there more widespread dog to dog transmission? If the former, I suspect the reason we are less worried about dogs from Holland, Switzerland and Canada is because of responsible breeding in those countries which I hope would contain the disease. Hence why illegally exported dogs from anywhere are a problem.

You could argue that this increased prevalence reported in those countries is due to increased testing- but I'll leave the infectious disease experts to comment more.

RE: Brucella Canis in Veterinary Professionals

Steve Leonard — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 11:39:22 GMT

Sorry Joanna, I thought I'd posted a thank you for this (but I obviously just thought it).

As we are now hitting the Summer holidays and I am lined up for lots more AHC's it's occurred to me that we have plenty of clients who do travel to Spain (an at risk country) for a couple of weeks. How are these pets going to fit into our regimes? Do we test them for Brucellosis 3 months after returning every year?

Does anyone have any contacts from the USA about B.canis over there? Is it on their radar as it is a 'High Risk' country according to the maps I've seen.

RE: Brucella Canis in Veterinary Professionals

Sara Ramsey — Thu, 28 May 2026 19:19:09 GMT

This is such an interesting thread and it is concerning given when you read the current guide lines...they tend to state that reproductive fluids are the highest risk, so I would say we are potentially complacent about other situations which aren't "reproductive".

Currently we have access to corporate guidance and we are supposed to flag if an animal is imported but this isn't done consistently, nor is recording which country they have come from.

We don't have many "imported rescues" so I wonder if that is why this is not on our radar?

Definitely time to tighten up.

RE: Brucella Canis in Veterinary Professionals

Joanna Hansen — Thu, 28 May 2026 06:26:20 GMT

Our hospital’s SOP for the last couple of years (and we’ve had a previous staff member test positive):

-every dog on registering/appt booking is asked if they are UK born

-if non-UK then the owner has a choice to pay a small surcharge and we wear PPE and disinfect room after, or they can be tested

-if they have been tested prior to import we require a negative APHA test 3 months+ after import

-no dog will be admitted to our hosp or have any diagnostic testing done without a negative brucella test. In the event of an emergency we have in-house snaps tests and as long as that is negative we will hospitalise a patient but continue to use PPE until a negative APHA test

-no pregnant or immunocompromised individual is involved in taking bloods or caring for any non-tested dog

-if we have a positive case (and we’ve had quite a few) we do offer a repeat test to owners. If that comes back negative then we do discuss euthanasia. If the owner doesn’t want to euthanise then we advise complete isolation from all dogs/public places. In terms of the veterinary care we will continue to offer we are telephone consulting wherever possible and still providing routine care with ppe and environmental decontamination but the owners are aware that we will not hospitalise or do any form of procedure that puts our staff at risk -euthanasia would be offered instead.

-any dog in the same household as a positive dog is treated as though it is positive until a negative Brucella test 3 months after last contact with the positive dog

Sadly however, we recently we had 2 1-year-old UK born (and untravelled) dogs test positive (they were symptomatic, and the stud dog had recently tested positive). They had been in our hospital multiple times for various reasons and had completely “slipped through the net” despite what we’d previously considered to be a rigorous SOP.

I too would be interested to hear what others are doing….?

RE: Brucella Canis in Veterinary Professionals

Steve Leonard — Wed, 27 May 2026 21:12:52 GMT

Another colleague from the same practice has been tested for B.canis and has come back positive. She had been having odd aches and pains in her joints, chills and fatigue so asked her GP to get tested. Not sure what the follow up is likely to be at this point as waiting on referral to specialist.

Armed with this information we have increased our communication with regards testing dogs from outside the UK. We are trying to be level headed with the messaging and couching it in terms of gathering data to quantify the level of disease to help the profession and the government get a handle on the prevalence.

What we really haven't nailed down is what we are going to do if/when we get a positive case. Different vets have very different attitudes to risk and this presents a huge dilemma for deciding the level of care you can reasonably give as a practice.

I would be happy to do a home visit to perform a low risk procedure such as vaccination but what happens when this dog cuts itself badly in the owner's garden? Is it ok to bleed all over the car park, waiting room and throughout the practice? What if the vet is happy to see it but the nurse isn't or vice versa?

Has anyone got an SOP in place for positive cases already?

I did speak to Blood Donor Helpline. Not that helpful. They are aware of the disease, as expected, but only interested in symptomatic people. They asked the question "Have you been in contact with a dog with B.canis?" - well, how do I answer that currently? Not sure, I'll get back to you....

RE: Brucella Canis in Veterinary Professionals

Andrew Kent — Thu, 21 May 2026 10:12:55 GMT

I would love to hear how others are currently approaching travelled dogs given the above.

I find it an impossible balance - trying to juggle an appropriate degree of caution but without depriving large groups of dogs of appropriate care and causing panic amongst colleagues and clients. Plus (at least in our experience) the added risk of being basked on social media for expressing any degree of concern!

So we are trying to be pragmatic about it but not sure what that should really look like!

Great topic to discuss :-)

Andy

RE: Canine Biome analysis

Andrew Kent — Thu, 21 May 2026 10:09:02 GMT

Where I have seen reports from these and other companies my general impression is that the evidence base we have simply does not support the conclusions that are made.

It can be 'interesting' but I think we are a long way from the point where any real therapeutic decisions can be made based on the results.

Andy

Canine Biome analysis

Sara Ramsey — Tue, 19 May 2026 12:47:25 GMT

We have had a client have their dogs faeces analysed at a laboratory in Aberystwyth and they have received a report and some recommendations.

I would like to remain open minded and wondered if anyone else is using these services. Our understanding of dysbiosis is growing all the time - hence to microbiota modulation approaches to diarrhoea.

The report is interesting but I felt some of the statements were a little too definitive and wondered where the evidence came from..canine studies or AI and extrapolation from human studies?

The recommendations do include 12 week courses of plant and fibre based supplements supplied by the company.

Does any one know if insurance covers this..It is around £180 for the initial analysis.

Perhaps it might be a good topic for our autumn meeting?

IMTP - 2nd line tapering plan with multiple relapses

Catherine Gerrie — Thu, 21 May 2026 09:26:54 GMT

My colleague has a 5y4m FN ESS with a chronic history of repeated immune mediated relapses.

She was diagnosed with IMTP in February 2023 after presenting with petechiae and bruising. Investigation for secondary causes were unremarkable and she was started on an immunosuppressive dose of steroids. There was initial stabilisation, but we did note some variation on platelet count whilst remaining on the same dosage (one week 90 x 10^9/L, another week >300) though none reaching a critically low value. Tapering took a while and eventually reached 0.15mg/kg (1/2 5mg tab po sid) which was not then stopped (owner led).

In September 2024 they presented with pyrexia, shifting lameness on hindlimbs and bilateral hock effusions. Platelets were normal. Investigation diagnosed IMPA and treatment was started at an immunosuppressive dose again using examinations and CRP to track response to treatment. This tapered nicely to EOD dosing and again was not stopped as the owners were concerned about relapse.

IMTP recurred in October 2025. Initial hospitalisation stabilised the platelet count and allowed movement to per os and out patient care. Reduction in dosage resulted in relapse though (platelet count reduced from 155 to 0 on smear, whilst on a 1.25mg/kg dose). Ciclosporin was then started at 4.8mg/kg per os SID and the steroid dosage increased. The platelet count resolved within 48hrs and then the ciclosporin has allowed tapering on the pred every 3 weeks without issue. The current dose is 0.75mg/kg per os SID.

The main is concern is about another impending relapse when the pred is stopped, and when the ciclosporin is tapered. We are not going to know unless we try, but any advice on people's experience with these difficult to taper cases would be welcome.

RE: IMTP - 2nd line tapering plan with multiple relapses

Andrew Kent — Thu, 21 May 2026 10:06:49 GMT

Hi Catherine,

Tricky case!

I would broadly agree that this is trial and error but given the number of relapses I guess I would be tempted to maintain an immunosuppressant in this dog long-term (maybe even life-long) unless you run into issues.

I do think your ciclosporin dose might be a bit low - if you look at Andrew Mackin's work looking on pharmacodynamics (sadly testing is not currently available as far as I am aware) then most dogs need 10mg/kg/day (typically divided) to achieve immunosuppression and a small percentage even need more. So I would wonder if your chances of coming off steroid would be higher if you increased the dose....

I have had cases that I can then successfully maintain on clclosporin (or something else) and some that seem to be steroid dependent.

The other real challenge with these cases is accurate platelet counts - when you mention going from 90 to 300 it makes me think some of those might have been inaccurate.

Hope that helps,

Andy

RE: Canine Biome analysis

Sara Ramsey — Wed, 20 May 2026 16:14:14 GMT

Thank for the reply Emi, that sounds a bit concerning..no information screening donor dogs.

This dog is on a raw diet which they have advised continuing...then adding supplements with fibre and plant extracts.

(I'd be tempted to try a fibre/biome diet first I think?)

RE: Canine Biome analysis

Emi Barker — Wed, 20 May 2026 15:08:19 GMT

I had seen this too, and also have a client that uses their products (I cannot comment on efficacy or insurance coverage). I do not know much specifically about the products that are currently for sale in the UK but it does look very similar to the US site AnimalBiome that I have had owners try to import FMT from in the past. Enough to make me suspect that the UK-based team might be a franchise. When I looked into their business they only became registered last year - so they are new to the UK.

As well as offering intestinal microbiota testing direct to owners of dogs (Dog Microbiome Test Kits | Gut Health Analysis UK | Biome4Pets) and horses - and there are lots of caveats to say that they do not give veterinary advice - they also sell freeze-dried FMT capsules Gut Renew - again very similar to those on offer by AnimalBiome that my client tried to import in the past. They appear to be using faeces from dogs that are either on a home prepared diet or a raw meat-based diet. I cannot see any mention on how the donor dogs are recruited and screened.

Also interested to hear if anyone else had any experience of them.

Emi B

RE: Brucella Canis in Veterinary Professionals

Lucy Graham — Wed, 20 May 2026 10:32:25 GMT

Hi Steve,

A colleague currently on maternity leave has contacted me about a friend that this happened to, and that other members of staff have been tested with quite a few positives (I don;t have the details of testing methods). I think this is probably the same person as we're quite local to you.

My colleague asked for me to review our practice policy as she's understandably very concerned, but I'm finding it tricky to get the balance on awareness/panic you mention!

Please may I ask what others do with regards to screening both clinical team members and imported dogs?

Thanks,

Lucy

RE: Balloon dilators

Laura Marshall — Tue, 19 May 2026 12:27:47 GMT

Thanks for that Andy!

Balloon dilators

Laura Marshall — Mon, 18 May 2026 20:15:15 GMT

Hi colleagues,

One of our surgeons is having issues sourcing balloon dilators for colonic strictures. The only cones he’s found so far won’t supply the veterinary market.
Anyone have any recommendations?

Many thanks,

Laura

RE: Balloon dilators

Andrew Kent — Mon, 18 May 2026 21:09:58 GMT

Hi Laura,

I buy most of my balloons from Boston Scientific who (at least currently) will sell to Vets. Guessing you have tried Olympus who will not....

Any of the interventional companies will help - Boston, Cook Medical, Infiniti Medical etc.

Hope that helps,

Andy

RE: Brucella Canis in Veterinary Professionals

Steve Leonard — Sun, 17 May 2026 07:02:23 GMT

Thanks for that information Emi, I will pass it on. As suspected it’s not the case in Scott’s blog but that case has understandably caught our attention since our colleague’s case.

I am going to call the blood donor helpline tomorrow to see if I can find someone to discuss this with but want to be a little cautious because, as Scott put it “So, don’t freak out. Finding that sweet spot between awareness and panic is tough with infectious diseases.”

RE: Brucella Canis in Veterinary Professionals

Kate Murphy — Sat, 16 May 2026 09:02:12 GMT

Steve Leonard I was really sorry to read this and

am thinking of your colleague and all those

affected. Emi Barker and dred.hall thank you both for taking time to share your knowledge both on the disease and potential funding avenues, I am always learning from you both.

RE: Brucella Canis in Veterinary Professionals

Emi Barker — Sat, 16 May 2026 08:32:53 GMT

Indeed a tragic case on many levels. It is unclear whether this case is separate from the UK-based veterinary surgeon reported recently at ESCMID (and mentioned on VV and on Scott Weese's blog https://www.wormsandgermsblog.com/) - I suspect separate.

Sadly, cases of confirmed or probable symptomatic Brucella canis infection in people are not new. That vets are at increased risk cf. general population is also not new and was reported by Nicoletti et al in 1967 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/5234542). Mercifully, clinical disease appears to be rare in countries with low prevalence - although when they are diagnosed can be lifechanging. What is abundantly clear is that awareness of brucellosis as a differential is just as important in human medicine as it is in canine medicine and that without this awareness clinical cases and many more exposure events will be missed (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/40070936). Diagnosis is often stumbled upon through blood culture - or following specific screening once a risk has been identified as it was in this case / the one reported at ESCMID. It may be that vets are both more likely then the average pet owner to become infected and also more likely to flag Brucella canis as a differential when they present with symptoms of concern.

In terms of research - was the suggestion to screen members of the profession? As Ed indicated, various knowledge gaps relating to test limitations, benefit of screening clinically well people, and veterianary awareness were indicated by HAIRS back in 2023 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hairs-risk-assessment-brucella-canis/hairs-risk-assessment-brucella-canis. As there is in clinically well dogs that we screen using serology - I would imagine there would be considerable concern regarding poor positive predictive values and the impact of a positive result on clinically well individuals for whom treatment would likely not be given.

From Common animal-associated infections (England) annual report: 2024 - GOV.UK

"Following a review of PCR test results in 2024, the following case definitions have been applied for brucellosis surveillance in England from 2022 onwards:

Confirmed Brucella canis is any person with isolation of Brucella canis from a clinical specimen.
Probable Brucella canis is any person with a clinically compatible illness with:
- B. canis-specific antibody response (B. canis IgG ELISA, Serum Agglutination Test, or Rapid Slide Agglutination) with seroconversion or increase in titres on convalescent or paired serology testing
  
  OR
- other B. canis-specific antibody response AND detection of human pathogenic Brucella spp nucleic acid in clinical specimen AND negative non-canis serology"

Data up to end of 2024 indicated 1 confirmed case in 2022 (well publicised), and 3 probable cases in 2024. From Common animal-associated infections in England: 2025 - GOV.UK: In 2025 there was 1 probable B. canis case [a female in the 15 to 44 years age group. The case experienced symptoms consistent with acute brucellosis and had potential travel and occupational exposures.] and "testing is now only advised for exposed individuals with symptoms of brucellosis". I believe this was the one reported at ESCMID.

i.e. positive serology alone is insufficient to say confirmed or probable Brucella canis infection.

----------

There is a recent paper that systematically compared the biological characteristics and host interaction mechanisms of four pathogenic Brucella species in humans. DOI: 10.1007/s00203-026-04800-1. They suggested that Brucella canis might not be as persistent in people cf. the other species (B. melitensis, B. abortus, B. suis) owing to differences in its surface that were more likely to trigger an intense immune response in people. From which I take - we cannot base all of our expectations of disease / predictions on knowledge of other closely related species [although this is frequently and very understandably done in the absence of data] and there are nastier bugs out there than Brucella canis - but I don't really want to become infected with any of them.

----------

It is good that our profession is become more aware of this occupation exposure risk. There is guidance to reduce that risk where risk factors are identified - and I am an advocate of engaging with risk management proactively rather than reactively. However, we cannot eliminate all risk. We are seeing cases where canine brucellosis is being identified following periods of patient contact - either as risk factors were missed [something we can do something about through tightening protocols] or as the canine infections were acquired through vertical (less commonly horizontal) transmission in the UK and no risk factors were apparent [something we cannot mitigate against - although we should be cogniscent as to brucellosis being a differential for some presenting signs / syndromes].

It is also essential that we do not assume that the medics are aware of our vocational exposure risks - as they are highly variable across our profession and we are but a small section of the community - and I am glad, Steve, that your colleague was able to voice their concerns and received a receptive ear.

RE: Zoom Spring Meeting....

Sara Ramsey — Fri, 15 May 2026 17:01:45 GMT

Can anyone remember what TENOD stood for...high temperature collapsing dogs. Thanks!

Zoom Spring Meeting....

Steve Leonard — Fri, 15 May 2026 08:21:43 GMT

Are there any else of you struggling to get onto the meeting - it's saying it's connected and host has started the meeting...

RE: Brucella Canis in Veterinary Professionals

dred.hall — Fri, 15 May 2026 16:55:55 GMT

Steve

That's a very sad and somewhat alarming story.

Although there is now compulsory testing of dogs imported from Romania, the last government risk assessment was in 2023 <https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hairs-risk-assessment-brucella-canis/hairs-risk-assessment-brucella-canis> and it highlighted how little we know.

The issue about blood donation is of concern. I was a life-long donor (until I had coronary stents placed), and don't remember ever having to tell them my occupation. Considering the fallout from the haemophilia Factor VIII scandal, they probably should screen at-risk potential donors. However, I don't know how one would engage with them.

As for research funding, BSAVA Petsavers, and ECVIM-CA Clinical Studies Trust Fund are potential sources, athough their next calls won't be until 2027. BVA don't have a specific research fund but it might be worth asking them. Unfortunately, Dogs Trust currently have no new research funding available currently.

One other thought is that Paula Boyden, while still at Dogs Trust, raised concerns about imported dogs following symptomatic infection of a dog fosterer <https://www.bva.co.uk/news-and-blog/blog/author/paula-boyden#>.
She may be worth contacting?

RE: Zoom Spring Meeting....

Steve Leonard — Fri, 15 May 2026 15:49:58 GMT

Fantastic day's talks with something for everyone I feel. Thanks to the committee for organising