Not saying it was scientific evidence....there is no research on kennel cough in pregnant bitches to my knowledge. A lot of what is known on pregnant bitches or in breeding situations comes from breeders. Yes it is anectodatal evidence, but in many cases, it's all we got!
I was merely passing on my experience (which was documented by ultrasounds), and the experience of another breeder who I related this experience to, and she had a similar experience.
How do you know it was from "another cause"? BTW, you mention high fever (she had none) and other medications (there were none---I am "Ms. Natural" when it comes to myself and my dogs, and I was a licensed veterinary tech in California for over 8 years!). I can think of no other cause, can you?
My experience and my gut tells me that the reason my bitch reabsorbed the litter was because of the kennel cough. As I stated in my post, it was either the virus itself that caused the body to reabsorb, or the coughing caused the reabsorbtion. There was no other reason for the reabsorbtion. In fact, I worked with a repro vet on this case, and the next breeding, she recommended doing progesterone levels on her, just in case THAT was the cause of reabsorbtion. Progesterone levels on that subsequent litter were normal, and as I stated, she had a litter of 12.

I would just like to suggest you be prepared to deal with herpes in your newborn pups.
Read up on the current treatment. The whelping area must be kept in the 90 degree range..Check out what drugs are effective.
I had this experience many years ago and unfortunately lost the whole litter (6).
Best of luck to you.

It's not always bad news. I had a girl that was 2 weeks into her pregnancy get a severe case of kennel cough and had to be put on antibiotics (safe for pregnancy of course), and ended up having a litter of normal healthy puppies and didn't have any with complications or issues of any type. It's not always doom and gloom and bad news! I hope that your girl and litter are just fine and I'm sure they will be!

Best of luck!

Implantation does not take place until 14-16 days, to my recollection, so early exposure to viruses may be a non-issue. It's after implantation, where the feti are trying to grab ahold of the uterine lining, where the coughing and the virus may affect them. You might just be okay. Best of luck with your girl's pregnancy.