This information for clients of the Beaumont Sainsbury Animal Hospital relates to a bacterial infection that affects dogs, known as Brucella Canis.

In the UK, this infection is mostly seen in dogs that have been imported from Eastern Europe. The disease can cause fertility problems, fever and back pain in affected dogs, but other dogs can carry the bacteria without appearing to be unwell.

There have been a small number of reports of dog owners and veterinary staff contracting Brucella Canis from infected dogs. The government has produced an information document for dog owners which can be found at :

Brucella canis: information for the public and dog owners - GOV.UK

The Beaumont Sainsbury Animal Hospital encourages all owners of imported dogs to read this information.

Minimising risks at the veterinary hospital

To minimise the risk for veterinary staff, the Beaumont Sainsbury Animal Hospital protocol is as follows:

• Clients are asked about their pet’s travel history when a dog is registered with the Beaumont Sainsbury Animal Hospital, and again at the start of every consultation
• Where dogs have travelled from at-risk countries^{^} veterinary staff will recommend that a blood test is performed to check for Brucella Canis
• This blood test is sent away to the official APHA government lab
• Dogs that test negative have their official test result recorded and are treated no differently to non-travelled dogs
• Travelled dogs that have not been tested and those that have a positive test result will continue to receive routine care at the hospital, but special arrangements will apply:
  • Veterinary staff will wear PPE when handling these dogs
  • If the dogs urinate in the waiting room or consulting rooms please advise a member of staff so that a particular cleaning protocol can be used
  • If these dogs require admission into the hospital they will be housed in the isolation ward rather than the communal wards
  • Procedures that are high-risk for transmission of Brucella Canis to veterinary staff^^ will be risk assessed and may be offered with adaptations to improve safety or declined according to the specific circumstances of the case
• Brucella Canis is a reportable disease which means that owners of dogs receiving a positive result will be contacted by their local human health team to advise them on staying safe. Please be aware that while the health team is likely to discuss euthanasia of infected dogs, this is not compulsory.

Please contact the surgery at beaumont@rvc.ac.uk if you have any further queries.

Additional information

^ Countries of concern:

• Eastern Europe: Romania, Poland, Moldova, Ukraine, Hungary, Slovakia, Bosnia, Serbia, and the Balkans
• Southern Europe: Spain, Greece, and Italy
• Asia (China, Japan, India, Phillipines, Malaysia, Korea, Taiwan)
• Other regions: Turkey, Russia, Central and South America, Mexico, Africa and Macedonia

^^ Procedures with a higher risk of Brucella Canis transmission:

• Procedures involving the reproductive or urinary system. Whelping and C-Section procedures are by far the highest risk
• Joint surgery
• Dental surgery where teeth are scaled or divided, resulting in aerosolization of bacteria

Dogs travelling regularly between the UK and at-risk countries will require testing 3 months after every visit if they are entire (not neutered). Dogs that are neutered prior to travel are not considered high risk for Brucella Canis and do not require testing.