Earlier this week, we received some feedback on one of our articles on leptospirosis, written by Dr Patricia Jordan. This came in from a concerned pet owner, who wrote:
I find statement #1 [the disease is treatable] from 2010 Dogs Naturally magazine alarmingly misleading. Our 1 yr old german shepherd did not have the leptospirosis vaccination and was subsequently exposed to a carrier dog. She was absolutely in top form and condition prior to exposure. She was the picture of health, but she became critically ill after exposure despite intensive antibiotic and IV fluid therapy. She went into acute renal failure and our choices were to extra put her down or try hemodialysis. We opted for dialysis at UC Davis and she did pull through. I will never allow a dog in my care to risk contracting lepto again and we will be getting the lepto vaccine for our dogs. For other pet owners to read your statements seems very misleading having lived through the experience we have.
While Dr Jordan and Dogs Naturally certainly sympathize with this pet owner, her response to her sick dog is one that we are all tempted to make. It’s understandable that we all want to protect our dogs from severe illness but in the case of lepto, vaccination may not be the solution.
Based on serologic data, the main lepto serovars causing disease in dogs include L. pomona, L. grippotyphosa, occasionally L. autumnalis and L.bratislava, and rarely, L. canicola, L. hardjo, and L. icterohaemorrhagiae. What most people don’t know is that the lepto vaccine only protects dogs against the main two servers for about two weeks, if at all. Andre-Fontaine G, Branger C, Gray AW, et al. Comparison of the efficacy of three commercial bacterins in preventing canine leptospirosis. Vet Rec 153:165-169, 2003.
Dr Stephen Barr of Cornell University states: “most [vaccines] claim year efficacy except those subunit vaccines covering L. pomona and L. grippotyphosa (protect for 2 to 2½ weeks post-booster)”
This means that your dog has to be vaccinated twice for the lepto vaccine to protect against the primary two serovars and that protection only lasts for about two weeks. To be truly and fully protected against lepto for a one year period, this would require up to 26 vaccinations. Is this a risk worth taking?
Before you answer that, please read this response from Dr Patricia Jordan:
“If your dog is vaccinated for lepto, the antigens in the vaccines do the same harm to the immune system as possibly a natural infection. There have been cases of dogs having to go through dialysis also to save them and no Leptospira were found. The reason? The damage from the antigens in the vaccinations are just as capable as causing the disease pathology! Vaccinating your dog can also destroy the kidney in 48 hours and in some cases, cause untreatable dermatitis. The damage from lepto vaccination to your dog’s immune system also includes the associated risk of cancer from the adjuvant and the same adjuvant is associated with upregulation of IgE and the consequence includes allergies, asthma, atopy, anaphylaxis and death.”
There are definite risks to the lepto vaccine but the most compelling reason to steer well clear of it is the fact that even if your dog survives this dangerous vaccine without any apparent short term damage, he is only protected for a couple of weeks for the serovars that are most likely to cause harm. We wish we could say that there was an effective solution to protecting your pets from lepto but vaccination certainly isn’t the panacea that many vets claim.
My puppy was recently (yesterday) giving the lepto vaccine. Being a first time puppy owner I unfortunately assumed it was routine. I admit I should of have asked or researched it first, but at the same time trusted the vet. I will absolutely never recommend anyone receiving the lepto vacc. Our vet did not fully explain that it wasn’t required or the deadly side effects. My dog went into shock and nearly didn’t make it. I am so thankful that someone was watching over her or else we would of have lost her yesterday. If you are going to administer this vaccine to your pet please be careful.
*Also, forgot to mention.. I have spoken with numerous dog owner’s within the last day who have never even heard of this vaccination. One has a pond in the backyard and the second has a creek. Both have had numerous pets throughout their lives as well. Goes to show you how unnecessary it really is.
Julie, I hope your little your little girl. Please consider looking for a holistic vet – theavh.org is a great place to start!
I’m sorry, I forgot to add that all 3 dogs had a different, or multiple, strains of Leptospira. ALL different.
Unfortunately I’ve had 3 dogs come down with Lepto all at different times. We live on a farm in Virginia, next to the National Forest and have a lot of deer on our property. We also have mice, from time to time, around our barn and feed area.
Our 1st dog went to Virginia Tech Veterinary Teaching Hospital and had to be euthanized because of renal failure and we couldn’t afford dialysis. With the next two I immediately recognized the symtoms and started them on a treatment. Believe me I’ve thought long and hard about this vaccination and have decided not to give it to any of my dogs. The reason is that there is not a vaccination that will cover all the strains. And in Virginia it also takes about a week to get the blood results back because it goes to the state lab to be tested…..in line with cows, sheep, hogs, etc.
I’m only saying that I feel there are more risks to having this vaccination and it simply doesn’t cover enough of the Leptospira.
Actually, the comment about 2 weeks immunity only applies to subunit vaccines. Most commercial lepto vaccines are killed bacterins.
So how long does the killed bacterins version provide protection? I really hate it when incomplete information is given. It just muddies the waters for pet owners
There is still considerable controversy about the efficacy of some vaccines with little data. Some vaccines show efficacy out to a year post-booster; others are ineffective after 7 weeks post booster. The other confound is that with bacterin vaccines, antibody levels aren’t terribly predictive of protection: antibody protection does not equal immunity. So the issue is that nobody really knows the DOI of bacterin vaccines
Except they do for rabies through challenge studies. I guess challenge studies haven’t been done for Lepto?