Stray dogs as sentinels for canine parvovirus

An attempt to determine the prevalence of canine parvovirus in the stray dog population of Franklin County, Ohio (U.S.A.) was made by sampling dogs during the first 6 months of 1981. Serum and fecal samples, which were collected from 209 strays at time of euthanasia, were tested by serum hemagglutination inhibition (HI) and fecal hemagglutination (HA) techniques to determine canine parvovirus experience (seropositive) or fecal virus shedding, respectively. Sera collected from 93 strays for an unrelated study conducted in 1979 were used as the comparison group. All of the 1979 sera were HI negative (< 1:80) whereas, 139 of 201 (69.2%) sera suitable for testing from the 1981 group of strays were HI positive (? 1:80). The fecal HA results from the 1981 group revealed 26 of the 209 (12.4%) dogs were shedding parvovirus at time of euthanasia (HA titers ? 1:64). Of these 26 of the 209 (12.4%) dogs were shedding parvovirus at time of euthanasia were found to be seropositive. These results indicate that the stray population of Franklin County, Ohio, was not exposed in 1979, but by 1981 had experienced and for the most part, had recovered from canine parvovirus as indicated by a 69.2% seropositive dog population with 12.4% active virus shedders. The stray dog population, if sampled regularly, could thus serve as a sentinel for canine parvovirus activity in a community.