key: cord-0015118-p89m3kyu authors: Jaffey, Jared A.; Lappin, Michael R.; Ringold, Randy; Kreisler, Rachael; Bradley‐Siemens, Nancy; Hawley, Jennifer; Sun, Andrew; Blakeman, Cody; Mayer, Nancy title: Serum 25‐hydroxyvitamin D concentration and infectious respiratory disease complex in shelter dogs date: 2020-12-14 journal: J Vet Intern Med DOI: 10.1111/jvim.16008 sha: 1068f25971d2b994b6e3d79531c260b19144bbeb doc_id: 15118 cord_uid: p89m3kyu BACKGROUND: Hypovitaminosis D is a risk factor for the development of respiratory infections in humans and repletion can be protective. OBJECTIVES: Determine if serum 25‐hydroxyvitamin (OH)D concentrations are lower in shelter dogs and if 25(OH)D concentrations are associated with clinical signs of canine infectious respiratory disease complex (CIRDC) or with time in the shelter. ANIMALS: One hundred forty‐six shelter dogs (clinically ill n = 36, apparently healthy n = 110) and 23 nonshelter control dogs. METHODS: Prospective cohort study. Shelter dogs were grouped as clinically ill or apparently healthy based on the presence or absence, respectively, of clinical signs associated with CIRDC. Serum 25(OH)D concentrations were measured with a competitive chemiluminesence immunoassay. Nucleic acids of agents associated with the CIRDC were amplified by polymerase chain reaction assays. RESULTS: The concentration of 25(OH)D was 7.3 ng/mL (4.5‐9.9, 95% confidence interval [CI]) lower in dogs with signs of CIRDC than apparently healthy shelter dogs (t(142) = 2.0, P = .04). Dogs positive for DNA of canine herpesvirus (CHV)‐1 had serum 25(OH)D concentrations 14.9 ng/mL (−3.7 to 29.6, 95% CI) lower than dogs that were negative (t(137) = 2.0, P = .04). Serum 25(OH)D concentrations in shelter dogs were not different from control dogs (t(45) = −1.4, P = .17). Serum 25(OH)D concentration was not associated with duration of time in the shelter (F(1, 140) = 1.7, P = .2, R (2) = 0.01). CONCLUSION AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: Vitamin D could have a role in acute respiratory tract infections in shelter dogs. Canine infectious respiratory disease complex (CIRDC) is a highly contagious syndrome caused by a variety of infectious agents. 1 This syndrome challenges clinicians globally as it consumes shelter resources, decreases adoption, and could result in euthanasia. Nearly 50% of apparently healthy shelter dogs were polymerase chain reaction (PCR) positive for nucleic acids of ≥1 of the agents that have been associated with CIRDC. 2 These results suggest that exposure to these pathogens is common in crowded environments like shelters. The reason some dogs housed in animal shelters develop clinical signs of CIRDC when exposed to these potential pathogens while others remain healthy is usually not known for individual dogs. However, there are many factors both before (eg, variable immunization, parasiticide administration, and nutritional adequacy) and after (eg, high density housing, common dog-to-dog interaction, dose of the pathogen, or exposure to more pathogenic strains or novel pathogens) shelter admission that could contribute to this complex disease process. Respiratory infections are 1 of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in children. 3 Hypovitaminosis D is a risk factor in humans, that is associated with increased susceptibility and severity of acute respiratory infections. [4] [5] [6] [7] Meta-analysis revealed that vitamin D supplementation per os in humans was safe and protected against acute respiratory tract infections. 8 The primary circulating metabolite of vitamin D, 25 -hydroxyvitamin (OH)D, has been established as a useful biomarker in dogs to predict outcome in various disease processes. [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] However, the role of vitamin D in shelter dogs with CIRDC remains unknown. In order to begin to understand the role that vitamin D has in shelter dogs with CIRDC, our study had 4 objectives (a) to compare Serum was stored in freezer resistant plastic tubes, packed with dry ice and shipped overnight for 25(OH)D quantification within 48 hours of acquisition. Serum was stored at −80 C until quantification. Specimens were measured for 25(OH)D at a commercial laboratory using a direct, competitive chemiluminesence immunoassay. This assay has an intraassay and interassay precision (5 replicates) of 4.0% and 3.4%, respectively. Freeze-thaw testing for 25(OH)D stability revealed there was no significant difference for up to 4 freeze-thaw cycles. This method has been validated in canines and previously reported. 15 Twenty-three nonshelter healthy control dogs were included. The distribution of breed, sex, age, and duration of stay for shelter dogs (ie, clinically ill and apparently healthy) and nonshelter healthy control dogs can be found in Table 1 . Time to event analysis of the time from admission to the shelter until onset of clinical signs associated with CIRDC revealed that the median time for dogs that would show clinical signs was before day 19 (Figure 4) . A time-to-event curve demonstrating when dogs were sampled (median 46 days) showed that most dogs were sampled after the The primary problem with all studies amplifying nucleic acids of CIRDC agents is the failure for these assay results to correlate to clinical signs of disease. 26 Apparently healthy dogs are commonly positive for each of these potential pathogens. 2 Positive PCR assay results can be from infection by field strains of the agents, but for many of the potential pathogens, modified live vaccine administration can also result in positive assay results. 27 No funding was received for this study. The authors thank Antech Complex PCR assays for this study. We also thank Paige Hunsinger and Heather Hotchkiss for their technical assistance. Dr Randy Ringold is employed by VDI Laboratory which offers testing for vitamin D in companion animals. No other authors have a conflict of interest. Authors declare no off-label use of antimicrobials. Approved by the Midwestern University College of Veterinary Medicine dThanAnimal Care and Use Committee (protocol 2981). Authors declare human ethics approval was not needed for this study. ORCID Jared A. Jaffey https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0270-4728 Michael R. 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