Spatiotemporal patterns and agroecological risk factors for cutaneous and renal glomerular vasculopathy (Alabama Rot) in dogs in the UK.

The annual outbreaks of cutaneous and renal glomerular vasculopathy (CRGV) reported in UK dogs display a distinct seasonal pattern (November to May) suggesting possible climatic drivers of the disease. The objectives of this study were to explore disease clustering and identify associations between agroecological factors and CRGV occurrence. Kernel-smoothed maps were generated to show the annual reporting distribution of CRGV, Kuldorff's space-time permutation statistic used to identify significant spatiotemporal case clusters and a boosted regression tree model developed to quantify associations between CRGV case locations and a range of agroecological factors. The majority of diagnoses (92 per cent) were reported between November and May while the number of regions reporting the disease increased between 2012 and 2017. Two significant spatiotemporal clusters were identified-one in the New Forest during February and March 2013, and one adjacent to it (April 2015 to May 2017)-showing significantly higher and lower proportions of cases than the rest of the UK, respectively, for the indicated time periods. A moderately significant high-risk cluster (P=0.087) was also identified in the Manchester area of northern England between February and April 2014. Habitat was the predictor with the highest relative contribution to CRGV distribution (20.3 per cent). Cases were generally associated with woodlands, increasing mean maximum temperatures in winter, spring and autumn, increasing mean rainfall in winter and spring and decreasing cattle and sheep density. Understanding of such factors may help develop causal models for CRGV occurrence.

Signalment risk factors for cutaneous and renal glomerular vasculopathy (Alabama rot) in dogs in the UK.

Seasonal outbreaks of cutaneous and renal glomerular vasculopathy (CRGV) have been reported annually in UK dogs since 2012, yet the aetiology of the disease remains unknown. The objectives of this study were to explore whether any breeds had an increased or decreased risk of being diagnosed with CRGV, and to report on age and sex distributions of CRGV cases occurring in the UK. Multivariable logistic regression was used to compare 101 dogs diagnosed with CRGV between November 2012 and May 2017 with a denominator population of 446,453 dogs from the VetCompass database. Two Kennel Club breed groups-hounds (odds ratio (OR) 10.68) and gun dogs (OR 9.69)-had the highest risk of being diagnosed with CRGV compared with terriers, while toy dogs were absent from among CRGV cases. Females were more likely to be diagnosed with CRGV (OR 1.51) as were neutered dogs (OR 3.36). As well as helping veterinarians develop an index of suspicion for the disease, better understanding of the signalment risk factors may assist in the development of causal models for CRGV and help identify the aetiology of the disease.