Mystery illness plaguing UK dogs thought to be a coronavirus

A mystery dog illness affecting dogs across the UK is thought to be caused by a form of coronavirus.

Pups have been falling seriously ill with sickness and diarrhoea after going on walks, with the first case reported on the Yorkshire coastline.

The bug then spread inland to other parts of England, including Leeds and Kirklees, and now leading experts in infectious diseases believe they know why.

What is causing the illness in dogs?

It is thought the sudden wave of cases could be caused by a type of coronavirus, with Canine Enteric Coronavirus (CEC) being one of the top candidates for the infection.

Professor Alan Radford, an expert in veterinary health informatics at the University of Liverpool, has been investigating the abnormally high rate of sickness and diarrhoea occurring in dogs.

He has been working as part of a specialist team headed by the Small Animal Veterinary Surveillance Network (SAVSNET) which revealed new data that might pinpoint a possible cause.

While CEC is thought to be the most probable cause for the sickness, investigations are still ongoing.

Professor Radford said: “Analysis of real-time data collected by SAVSNET from veterinary practices suggests that in Yorkshire, levels of disease have been statistically higher than we would expect for three weeks – we can therefore call this an outbreak in Yorkshire.

“In other regions, the increases we have seen so far look more like normal seasonal variation.

"However, such signals can change quickly, and we will continue to monitor the situation.”