Lepto 4

Re: Lepto 4

Michael Woodhouse — Fri, 17 Apr 2015 22:58:36 GMT

We see lepto a bit (~half a dozen cases per year) and they are always in unvaccinated farm dogs. I'm not keen to swap brands either. If we had a case in a vaccinated dog then we will look again

Re: Lepto 4

Gareth C. — Fri, 17 Apr 2015 18:11:53 GMT

[quote user="Bob Russell"]

I am not going to jump ship with vaccine brands as there should be an L4 very soon with our range. Not going to get in a panic as there are apparent arguments for and against the need. It seems to be a sensible move to improve strains covered.

[/quote]

same with our practice. also we haven't seen or heard of a lepto case within our area. It's a good case of evidence based medicine in practice: in the vet world a lot of big conclusions can be made from relatively small numbers of cases. The point above about lots of different types and the new one just happens to be one of those on the test is interesting too. However there is no reason not to cover the broadest spectrum available.

Re: Lepto 4

Bob Russell — Fri, 17 Apr 2015 16:39:32 GMT

Re: Lepto 4

patrick murphy — Fri, 17 Apr 2015 15:52:12 GMT

dinovet here again,

talking to the techies at Virbac, to be specific, problem is that the PCR ? test covers for 4 serovars non-specifically, and the new 'bad boy' happens to be one of the 4, and as of yet they have not had DNA confirmation of any of those leading to the diseases. apparently there are ?250 serovars, some matter some do not. I can only hope that they speak the truth, but in North Bristol I have not seen one for sure. we have a flow chart that allows the owners to decide if they are at risk, and we have had very few takers. I do however understand that it will soon be the standard as early as May.

Re: Lepto 4

Christopher Saul — Thu, 16 Apr 2015 19:02:38 GMT

The Current European consensus statement specifies: "given the widespread recognition of leptospirosis in european dogs that have been vaccinated with bivalent vaccines, the use of quadruvalent vaccines is recommended in an attempt to increase the spectrum of protection"

Re: Lepto 4

Bob Russell — Thu, 16 Apr 2015 13:46:12 GMT

Not sure how far along it has got but there is likely (I am led to believe) that a competitor 4 strain will be available in the summer!

It really is high time that we all made the change!

Re: Lepto 4

Neil Wheadon — Thu, 16 Apr 2015 12:43:08 GMT

Ah the joys of locumming, been dealing with this for 18 months now in a variety of practices

In all cases a booster comes back for a second L4.

Potential Issues

1) People not coming back. If explained correctly, everyone does, I haven't had a single person out of the hundreds done, refuse

2) People forget, get these. Typical recall is 4-6 weeks. Data Sheet says 4 weeks and most come back for this. Had a case yesterday that came back at 7 weeks.

3) Herd management required. If you are boosting your entire client base over a year, it doesn't half clog up the appointments, but great for a quiet day. In, jab, next..... I do wander if it's worth getting them all in at 1400 in the waiting room for the second and just going round injecting everything.

4) Cost. MSD have been sponsoring the second, however to trace you need to get the computer code right.

Benefits

1) A local vet hospital reckons to have seen 50 cases in the last year, compare that to Distemper

2) I'm pretty sure I see a lepto maybe every 2 months in various practices

3) Langford almost look for it routinely in our area.

In the Bristol area practices are increasingly taking it up. There is almost a requirement to do it with Facebook campaigns and clients asking why a particular practice aren't doing it.

If I had a dog, I'd vaccinate against L4, too many cases round here not to

Neil

Re: Lepto 4

Sammy82 — Thu, 16 Apr 2015 12:23:23 GMT

Tell them that their dog might not be fully covered for a new strain and maybe get a disclaimer signed to that matter. You can only advise, it's up to the owner to decide which vaccinations they want for their dog (unless kennels/pet passports are involved)

Re: Lepto 4

Rob Davis — Thu, 16 Apr 2015 12:15:41 GMT

Presumably you have to restart everybody. What do you do about those who don't want to come back for a second vaccination?

Re: Lepto 4

Hannah Wynne Richards — Thu, 16 Apr 2015 11:43:39 GMT

I've changed to it.

Wynne