WASHINGTON – The Fairfax County Animal Shelter has reopened its doors to new dogs after a mysterious illness swept through.

“At the beginning of last week, we had about nine to 12 dogs on any given day that were showing symptoms,” says spokeswoman Kristen Auerbach.

“We moved all of the dogs that had been exposed into one area, and we made that our isolation unit.”

The upper respiratory illness forced the shelter to stop accepting surrendered dogs on Friday. It is now once again taking dogs from owners who can no longer care for them.

According to Auerbach, all the affected animals are recovering and should be OK.

One dog died, but officials say it was from an unrelated illness that did not spread.

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