A world-first parvovirus disease surveillance and alerting system has been launched, with the ‘Parvo ALERT’ tool designed for veterinary clinics to be able to quickly and easily log any parvovirus cases. From this reporting, the initiative will track parvovirus outbreaks down to street level, send email alerts, provide outbreak alerts for the media, and monitor vaccination programs, plus much more on the epidemiology research side.

Both dogs and cats can be infected with parvovirus. It is estimated that 20,000 puppies and dogs every year are infected with canine parvovirus in Australia, and many thousands will die as a result. The number of cats and kittens infected with feline parvovirus annually across Australia is currently unknown, however, cases are regularly reported in several capital cities and fatality rates can be 100%. ‘Parvo ALERT’ is a national canine and feline parvovirus monitoring system run by the social enterprise charity, Paws for A Purpose. Read more