Asymptomatic bacteriuria in puppies with canine parvovirus infection: a cohort study.

This study aimed to investigate the possible association between canine parvoviral enteritis and asymptomatic bacteriuria. Forty-three puppies that were admitted to the outpatient service of the Animal Medical Clinic with clinical signs compatible with parvoviral enteritis formed the exposed group. The clinical diagnosis was subsequently confirmed by a positive fecal ELISA test (CITE test: IDDEX Lab., Westbrook, ME). Twenty-three (53.5%) of these puppies were males and 20 (46.5%) were females. Their age ranged from 1.5 to 5.5 months. Forty-eight clinically normal and age-matched puppies, that had been admitted to the clinic for vaccinations and had a negative result in the aforementioned ELISA test, were randomly selected to form the unexposed group. Urine samples were collected by antebupic cystocentesis from all puppies and submitted for bacterial culture. In the parvovirus exposed group, 11 of 43 puppies had detectable bacteriuria. The isolates were Escherichia coli alone (8/11-72.7%) Staphylococcus aureus alone (1/11-9.1%) and mixed cultures of E. coli and S. epidermitis (2/11-18.2%). In the unexposed group there were three puppies with detectable bacteriuria, one isolate each of E. coli, Enterococcus durans and Corynebacterium spp. Puppies with parvoviral enteritis had five (95% CI: 1.3-19.8) times higher odds of developing asymptomatic bacteriuria than puppies without the disease. The observed increased risk of asymptomatic bacteriuria among puppies with parvoviral enteritis was probably due to the fecal contamination of the external genitalia and the neutropenia these puppies exhibited.