# Vaccines in Costa Rica



## Lee H Sternberg (Jan 27, 2008)

Dogs here die long before their time. They die from disease, injury and in the case of thousands of homeless dogs, starvation. A old dog in CR is 6 years old.

Because of the disease factor, I decided last month to proceed with all vaccinations with my male Dutchie. My dogs are often with me outside their fence area and around town. All other dogs here run loose.

My female will be due for her shots in 2 months. I'm inclined, under the circumstances, to proceed with her booster vaccines.

Thoughts?


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## Geoff Empey (Jan 8, 2008)

I'd be inclined to vaccinate just because of the obvious neglect the other K9s in the area are subject to. I'm sure they must have a higher rate of rabies and the other ugly diseases down there. There must be a huge population of bats as well. 

Up here what made me not vaccinate was the obvious possibility of toxic shock and the statistics of rabies in my country. The stats just don't warrant concern there was only 3 K9s and 5 wolves with rabies all across the country in the first 6 months of this year. Likely these cases are all rural and the biggie for rabies is the skunk. http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/anima/disemala/rabrag/statse.shtml


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Lee H Sternberg said:


> Dogs here die long before their time. They die from disease, injury and in the case of thousands of homeless dogs, starvation. A old dog in CR is 6 years old.
> 
> Because of the disease factor, I decided last month to proceed with all vaccinations with my male Dutchie. My dogs are often with me outside their fence area and around town. All other dogs here run loose.
> 
> ...


Define "booster"

What have your dogs had and when? What are you thinking of repeating?


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## Lee H Sternberg (Jan 27, 2008)

Anne Vaini said:


> Define "booster"
> 
> What have your dogs had and when? What are you thinking of repeating?


The typical one year shots for parvo, distemper, etc. that vets try to tell you, you need every year. Everything but rabies which apparently are good for three years. In the US I don't normally do this but here ain't the US. They had all their vaccines a year ago.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

What are their ages?

And what's the "etc." in _parvo, distemper, etc._ ?


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## andreas broqvist (Jun 2, 2009)

ther are 2 types of rabies shotts. One is every year and one is every 3 year.
It also depends on withs cuntry you plan on viseting, Some cuntrys you nead the Every year shott to visit.


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## Lee H Sternberg (Jan 27, 2008)

andreas broqvist said:


> ther are 2 types of rabies shotts. One is every year and one is every 3 year.
> It also depends on withs cuntry you plan on viseting, Some cuntrys you nead the Every year shott to visit.


 Andreas - That is correct. Both my dogs have 3 year rabies vaccines. Their vaccines were less than one year old when I arrived here. 

It would have been necessary to vaccinate again if their shots were over a year old. Apparently Costa Rica is not aware of of rabies shots good for 3 years.

Good point for anyone that plans to do some international travel with their dog(s).


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## David Frost (Mar 29, 2006)

Connie Sutherland said:


> What are their ages?
> 
> And what's the "etc." in _parvo, distemper, etc._ ?


Lepto? I would think it might be a worthwhile immunization over there. 

Dfrost


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## Lee H Sternberg (Jan 27, 2008)

Connie Sutherland said:


> What are their ages?
> 
> And what's the "etc." in _parvo, distemper, etc._ ?


Connie - David hit it. I looked on the shot records from the vet here. Lepto, whatever that is.


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## Lee H Sternberg (Jan 27, 2008)

David Frost said:


> Lepto? I would think it might be a worthwhile immunization over there.
> 
> Dfrost


David - You are right. What is Lepto?


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## David Frost (Mar 29, 2006)

Leptospirosis is a bacterial disease that affects humans and animals. It is caused by bacteria of the genus Leptospira. In humans it causes a wide range of symptoms, and some infected persons may have no symptoms at all. Symptoms of leptospirosis include high fever, severe headache, chills, muscle aches, and vomiting, and may include jaundice (yellow skin and eyes), red eyes, abdominal pain, diarrhea, or a rash. If the disease is not treated, the patient could develop kidney damage, meningitis (inflammation of the membrane around the brain and spinal cord), liver failure, and respiratory distress. In rare cases death occurs.

It is generally spread by infected urine. Most commonly by rats and mice. I've lost one dog to it due to a slow diagnosis. In their defense, it is rare and the dog was immunized for Lepto. Notice, it is a zoonotic, meaning humans can catch it. 

DFrost


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## Lee H Sternberg (Jan 27, 2008)

David Frost said:


> Leptospirosis is a bacterial disease that affects humans and animals. It is caused by bacteria of the genus Leptospira. In humans it causes a wide range of symptoms, and some infected persons may have no symptoms at all. Symptoms of leptospirosis include high fever, severe headache, chills, muscle aches, and vomiting, and may include jaundice (yellow skin and eyes), red eyes, abdominal pain, diarrhea, or a rash. If the disease is not treated, the patient could develop kidney damage, meningitis (inflammation of the membrane around the brain and spinal cord), liver failure, and respiratory distress. In rare cases death occurs.
> 
> It is generally spread by infected urine. Most commonly by rats and mice. I've lost one dog to it due to a slow diagnosis. In their defense, it is rare and the dog was immunized for Lepto. Notice, it is a zoonotic, meaning humans can catch it.
> 
> DFrost


Is that a common dog vaccine in the States? I don't recall seeing it before but maybe I wasn't paying attention.


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## Kristen Cabe (Mar 27, 2006)

The lepto vaccine has a very high incidence of adverse reactions, so is not generally recommended, though I do know of several vet offices that routinely administer 7-way vaccines, even to puppies. :-o 8-[


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## Cesar A. Flores Dueñas (Oct 1, 2009)

I didn't read all previous posts, probably another Veterinarian already give you a recommendation

I would recommend to give to your adult dogs a Boost every year

1 Rabbies Vaccine, 1 Polivalent vaccine (Parvovirus, Distemper, Adenovirus,Coronavirus,Parainfluenza, Leptospirosis) each Year.

And deworking every 4 months, if you have acces to any kind of monthly heartworm medication , do it and i would recommend Preventick collar from virbac, we have common problems with ectoparasits and is the best item to prevent it.

Leptospirosis vaccine Adverse reactions are not common (not only in my country, i performed an internship on UC davis and we use lepto on our vaccination regimen, also on puppies).

On the US the rabies regimen is each 3 years but on sudamerica we use yearly boosts, is safe for the dog anyway.

Cesar A. Flores Dueñas
DVM


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## Don Turnipseed (Oct 8, 2006)

Lee, how can you tell David he is right and then ask what it is?? #-o


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

David Frost said:


> Leptospirosis is a bacterial disease that affects humans and animals. It is caused by bacteria of the genus Leptospira. In humans it causes a wide range of symptoms, and some infected persons may have no symptoms at all. Symptoms of leptospirosis include high fever, severe headache, chills, muscle aches, and vomiting, and may include jaundice (yellow skin and eyes), red eyes, abdominal pain, diarrhea, or a rash. If the disease is not treated, the patient could develop kidney damage, meningitis (inflammation of the membrane around the brain and spinal cord), liver failure, and respiratory distress. In rare cases death occurs.
> 
> It is generally spread by infected urine. Most commonly by rats and mice. I've lost one dog to it due to a slow diagnosis. In their defense, it is rare and the dog was immunized for Lepto. Notice, it is a zoonotic, meaning humans can catch it.
> 
> DFrost


Not uncommon "back in the day" in humans that did a lot of rat catching with their terriers. 
In GB I think it's called Weils disease in humans.
When I was doing terrier work it was one of the shots I didn't avoid with the dogs. Rat catching was a blast!


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## Nicole Stark (Jul 22, 2009)

Ick. One of my pits did that once and of course without my knowledge (rat catch) - I found it in the yard. What a terrible looking creature a rat is. Blame it on a fever and a litter of puppies I guess...


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## Lee H Sternberg (Jan 27, 2008)

Don Turnipseed said:


> Lee, how can you tell David he is right and then ask what it is?? #-o


Don - Connie asked me what the etc. was when I was naming the vaccines my male was given. David said it was possibly Lepto. I went and looked at the shot records the vet gave me because I didn't know. David was correct. The vet gave him a Lepto vaccine.

I asked what was Lepto because I not familiar with that vaccine. My vet in the States never vaccinated Lepto.


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## David Frost (Mar 29, 2006)

Because of some of the areas PSD's have to work, combined with the very rural areas many of our dogs are assigned, it's an annual for us. For years it was simply known as DHL (distemper, hepatitis, Lepto.).

DFrost


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