Degenerative Cardiomyopathy in Experimental Beagles Following Parvovirus Exposure

Abstract

Three apparently healthy beagle dogs (6-8 months old) from a commercial supplier were found to have electrocardiographic abnormalities on routine screening. At postmortem, areas of ventricular myocardial thinning and/or fine gray streaks were present in both ventricles. Histologically, areas of multifocal fibrosis, degenerating myocytes, and sparse mononuclear cell infiltrates were present. Serum titers from these dogs were indicative of natural infection with parvovirus. These findings are significant in drug safety studies where underlying disease must be differentiated from compound-induced lesions.