[AlpacaTalk] Alpaca Virus
A name has been given to the group of symptoms for the virus that has
been called "the snots." Tufts had their first death on
10/31/07. They quickly labeled the group of symptoms Acute Respiratory
Distress Syndrome (ARDS).
I have included an email from the owner of the alpaca that died
yesterday. If you have not read it please do. It helps better show
what we are facing with ARDS. Please keep reporting, so we can find the
virus that is causing these deaths.
We had a 9-yer-old dam here for breeding that was 4 months pregnant
pass away last night due to from complications of the respiratory virus
that has been going around. If you are interested in the details,
please read on.
We contracted the virus from the New England Coastal Classic, with some
animals in the show string showing symptoms the Monday after the show.
We don't have the best of quarantine set-ups and I have been having a
very bad, and late, fly season. After reading alpacasite that Monday
and talking to other local breeders that had already dealt with it, I
knew quarantine was not going to be effective, but I went through the
steps anyway.
By the end of the week, I had animals in two other paddocks showing
symptoms. In Nora's paddock, 5 of the 8 animals presented with nasal
discharge for several days. Nora was not one of these animals.
I found Nora Thursday morning (10/25) sitting in the barn, grunting. I
immediately called the vet to tell him that I thought I had an alpaca
in respiratory distress. I brought her right in. He listened to her
lungs and heard nothing. He examined her thoroughly and when he touched
around her stomach, she screamed. He diagnosed colic, but gave her
amoxicillin to cover all our bases. We went back to the farm where I
separated her within the paddock to keep on eye on her during the day.
By 4:00 we realized that she wasn't chewing cud or pooping. We thought
at that point my vet was right and we were dealing with a GI issue. We
tubed her with mineral oil. At 6:00pm we noticed another female in her
paddock that was making the same grunting noise. At 8:00pm we gave this
2nd alpaca SMZ-TMP.
We continued to check on both animals every 2 hours through the night.
At no time through the night did Nora have a fever, but was showing an
elevated respiratory rate (hovering around 30-34 rpm). The other animal
was found grunting at 11:00, 1:00 and 3:00. I also noticed that she was
not chewing cud like the other alpacas. At the 5:00am check, she was no
longer grunting and was chewing cud. By 8:00am we decided to take Nora
into Tufts, and the other animal was nursing her cria, eating hay, and
doing everything she should as if nothing unusual had happened the
night before.
Nora passed away on Tuesday evening, which was day 6 for her. Dr.
Paxton at Tufts has said that Nora was suffering from Acute Respiratory
Distress Syndrome. Tuesday morning the doctors were optimistic about
her recovery, by that evening she was gone. Even the doctors were
shocked and upset.
Nora was a beautiful, regal alpaca. Her legacy will live on through her
many daughters, but my heart aches too much right now to take solace in
that thought. I just can't believe we lost her.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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posted by Chaddo at 6:13 PM
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