When Puerto Rico was devastated this fall by Hurricane Maria, I got a few calls from groups thinking about rescuing dogs from the island, and wanting to know what infectious diseases I’d be concerned about. Leptospirosis, a potentially serious bacterial infection that can be transmitted from dogs to people (although that’s fortunately uncommon), was at the top of my list. Unfortunately, that’s turned out to be exactly the case, as several puppies brought north from Puerto Rico by a Vermont rescue developed leptospirosis after arrival.

Importation always carries some inherent disease risks. That’s why we (should) use some common sense practices to reduce the risk. This may include careful selection of animals, pre-screening for certain diseases before exportation, testing on arrival, and infection control practices during for a period after arrival.  These measures are still no guarantee, but they should reduce the risk of the new arrivals carrying, developing or spreading infectious diseases.

There was one additional noteworthy detail from a news article about the puppies in Vermont:

A couple of days later, the puppies were taken to the outdoor patio at Ramunto’s Brick and Brew Pizzeria so that the patrons and customers could interact with them.

  • Not a great idea. Adopted animals need time to adapt to their new environment. They also should be quarantined for a while to see if they have any problems and to reduce the risk of them transmitting anything to other animals or people. Here, their caretakers (well intentioned as they may have been) created more risk by taking newly imported puppies out in public rather than isolating them for a period longer than a couple of days.

More information about leptospirosis is available on the Worms & Germs Resources – Pets page.