Baldwin Park shelter resumes normal operations after strep zoo

The Baldwin Park Animal Care Center resumed normal operations on Friday following a strep zoo outbreak, Los Angeles County animal control officials announced.

Strep zoo is a bacterium normally found in horses, cattle and pigs that rarely causes disease, but it can cause severe pneumonia in immunocompromised dogs such as those in living stressful shelters. The disease shows few warning signs, and no vaccine exists.

Eleven dogs tested positive in early August for strep zoo at the Baldwin Park facility, an animal control spokeswoman told the Whittier Daily News.

After officials from the the LA County Department of Animal Care and Control identified the outbreak, to stop the spread of disease they did extensive deep cleaning of the facility, “rigorous testing and treatment” and diverted new animal “intakes” to the county’s Carson and Downey shelters.

All dogs at the Baldwin Park facility have been treated with antibiotics, and deep cleaning has been completed, officials said. No new positive strep zoo infections were reported in the last seven days as of Thursday.

“By reaching these benchmarks, the Care Center was cleared to resume intakes,” according to a county statement.

Pet adoptions and other community services continued at the shelter during the outbreak, with shelter personnel offering additional counseling to adopters on strep zoo signs, symptoms and treatment options.

Another strep zoo outbreak at LA County shelters occurred in April at the Downey Animal Care Center.