KRV/ SDA questions

[vein]

We adopted three rats in early August - two from a litter born 7/3, one from a litter born in late April. They were all pedigreed and the breeder was well known in the area, but even then, we kept them in quarantine for 3.5 weeks before bringing them from the IL's.

Since then, no problems have occured - they've all been healthy, the two boys and one girl we had before have all been healthy (and the girls are getting along fabulously) but apparently another breeder in the state had one of her adopted rats from (I think) the same July litter tested before removing her from quarantine and she tested positive for SDA *and* KRV - rat parvo virus.

KRV I'm really not super concerned about on a personal level - we do not ever intend on breeding, so reabsorbed/stillborn litters won't be an issue for us. From the looks of things, KPV may be in a huge percentage of the rat population and breeders have just been unaware of it for the most part due to the lack of actual illness symptoms in the vast majority of rats. (I will make sure that whenever we take them to the vet, however, they know that there is a possibility they have it so they can take any precautions they think are needed)

Does anyone have any details on transmission of different types of parvoviruses from animal to animal? Specifically, could it theoretically morph from the rats to the dangerous type of parvo in dogs? (Likely a really stupid question, but I haven't had my morning coffee yet)

However, the SDA part is a bit frightning, even with me knowing the facts about it.

Since the girls have been here for almost 2 months now with no signs of SDA, I'm assuming it's safe to say that if at any point they did actually have it (which I highly doubt) they didn't show symptoms or pass it on to their new cagemate or the two elderly boys who live in the same room as they do now. Have there ever been instances where SDA has become infectious after a quarantine and after a large amount of time has passed without showing symptoms or can I signal the "all clear" as far as SDA goes for when we visit my parents and bring them all down and have them in the same house as my moms two rats? (Hers are related to the girl we already had and they have both been around our boys and our girl in the past - other than ours, they are around no other rats)

Also, while I keep reading this info, I'm either too tired or just can't read, but would it be possible for a litter to show up as being positive for SDA just because they had antibodies for it from their mother?

[Falls City Rattery]

Ok... I am no expert I will grant you that...

(Kim and LSR seem to be the best thing we have in the matter at this point.)

But I will say that there may be a great deal of fear.  Why because honestly there is still a great deal that we in the rat community do not know just yet.

SDA I would not feak out tooo much since you already introduced them. If something was going to happen I would think that it would have already.  

HOWEVER... if it were me... I would put my house in a 6mth lockdown quarrentinne... no rats in or out.  Just to be on the safe side.  If I found this to be too hard to do for one reason or another then I would test.  

As far as KRV in pet populations that seems to still be up in the air.  Mainly cause well there is so much that is not known about it.  

Honestly I would have to say DON'T PANIC.  I know for many of us that is easier said then done.  I would stay tuned to the disscussions you have been watching.  

Jennifer

[stodda29]

I'm having my new girls (still in quarantine, and technically I only tested one--they'll both have anything one of them has) for KRV, SDA, and Sendai, but honestly, SDA and Sendai would worry me more than KRV.

Breeders are worried now about KRV because it can reportedly cause litter losses; non-breeders, however, aren't likely to notice anything.  I spent this past summer working at the unit for lab animal medicine at a university and they were dealing with outbreaks of both mouse and rat parvovirus (KRV is a rat parvovirus).  Neither showed any clinical signs in either the rats or the mice--they were only discovered on routine screening of sentinel animals.

The fact that pet rat owners don't routinely do serum screening makes it impossible to say with absolute certainty what's a new outbreak, and what we've had all along.  If a breeder tests and comes up clean, I'd say definitely take extra steps to stay that way if you can, but once all the results come in, I wonder how many are going to be clean after all.

Just my .02.  

[Sabriel]

I agree that there is a lot we do not know about KRV.  Many breeders will be having tests done in the next week or so, and as we get results back we will have more information about it.  Some people speculate that most rats have it, since we have been uninformed about this virus or so long.  It may also be something that we can eventually control by being careful and responsible.  This may involve closing infected ratteries and either testing for the virus every 6-12 months or testing each new rat that enters our ratteries.  For now, we will just have to wait for results to come back so that we can all make informed decisions.

The good news is that parvoviruses are species specific and KRV will not spread to your dogs.  

As for the SDA, I would recommend that you quarantine (not rats in or out) all of your rats for 2 months even if you have never seen symptoms.  If there is any reason to suspect that you may have been exposed to SDA, quarantine (or testing) is always the best thing you can do to prevent further spread of the virus.  A 6 month quarantine is not necessary for the SDA, and it seems that no amount of quarantine will rid you of KRV.

[Falls City Rattery]

I just said I would do 6mths because that is what my vet recommends.  She says there is disagreement among vets if you are clear in 2-6 mths and she wouuld prefer 6 mths.

Also when I say 6 mths... I would say the 2 mths they have already been together counts toward that time.

Jennifer