Ferret distemper outbreak

Re: Ferret distemper outbreak

Utlendigur — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 20:56:31 GMT

Thanks

Re: Ferret distemper outbreak

Noweia — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 14:56:39 GMT

Also from Intervet:

[quote]Nobivac DHP vaccination in ferrets is off license, but the information we can provide is that ferrets should be a minimum of 12 weeks of age and they should also receive one annual injection (mix with solvent or 1ml sterile water).[/quote]

Re: Ferret distemper outbreak

Mark Rowland — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 13:47:13 GMT

I had a chat with my vacc company when I set up my practice. They have no reported problems in 10+ years with the following protocol:

Virbac DHPPi, add 1ml diluent or wfi, NOT the lepto component

1 Inj at no less than 12w as primary course

Boosters depend on ferret:

House ferret with no contacts every 2 years

Working ferret or lots of contact yearly.

I have used this protocol again with no problems that I have seen (apart from they dont like the inj.)

Checked with them again today for you, no changes to this protocol or adverse reports

Goodluck

Re: Ferret distemper outbreak

Utlendigur — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 13:31:00 GMT

Just bumping this back up. To echo - does anyone have any vaccination recommendations (brand, dose, frequency)? - as we've just had a client with multiple ferrets asking us about vaccinating the lot.

Re: Ferret distemper outbreak

Hannah Wynne Richards — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 09:14:08 GMT

Does anyone know of a safe vaccine for ferrets I always understood that live attenuated could cause the disease

Wynne

Re: Ferret distemper outbreak

Alex Allen — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 09:10:25 GMT

[quote user="Martin Atkinson"]

I haven't seen a case of distemper in dog in many a year let alone a ferret. I wonder if Virbagen Omega might help, certainly speeds up the recovery of canine CPV cases, but I would think a bit too expensive for 109 ferrets!

[/quote]

Yes there have been success stories in dogs with distemper when treated with Virbagen Omega off label. The key to successful treatment is to start VO before clinical signs have progressed too far. Early signs are often missed but as the hyperthermia and loss of appetite persists then the upper respiratory and GIT develop. After 14 days the virus will have reached the neurological tissue and prognosis significantly deteriorates.

Ferret dose would be 1MU per kg every other day for 3 doses or in the peracute cases daily for 3-5 doses.

NB General Distemper info - The virus is a single stranded RNA enveloped virus. Sensitive to dessication and heat. It is transferred via close contact droplet spread (infected epithelial cells sneezed out etc). The virus can survive well in cold environments (0 - 4C) but warmer temperatures can dry it and kill it. Initial infection is in the URT lymphoid tissue then it spreads to epithelial cells in URT and GIT. Prognosis and the differentiation between acute and chronic forms is based on the animal's immune response - strong response equals recovery, mediocre response => chronic forms such as hard pad, old encephalitis and poor to no immunity leads to acute form with high mortality rates.

Be careful with recovering cases as the virus can be shed in droplets for several weeks (anything up to 3mths even).

Re: Ferret distemper outbreak

Martin Atkinson — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 19:22:16 GMT

Re: Ferret distemper outbreak

Marie Kubiak — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 10:36:29 GMT

Have come across another new cluster of cases just North of the Midlands... having spoken to a few people involved it seems that many of the ferrets dying actually have been vaccinated which is concerning.

Cat, the ferret that survived was on baytril, orally I believe, and gentamicin eye drops from referring vet and was put on azithromycin here and slowly improved. It never developed the neurological form though. There are reports of recovery in others but this is the first I've seen.

Marie

Re: Ferret distemper outbreak

James Allsop — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 13:27:59 GMT

had 2 cases approx 4 months ago in S.Wales

Re: Ferret distemper outbreak

Mark Rowland — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 08:53:45 GMT

here is some info that may help.

Disease manifestations of canine distemper virus infection in ferrets are modulated by vitamin A status.

Rodeheffer C, von Messling V, Milot S, Lepine F, Manges AR, Ward BJ.

Source

McGill University Health Centre Research Institute, Faculty of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Montreal General Hospital, Montreal, QC, Canada.

Abstract

The measles virus (MV) causes half a million childhood deaths annually. Vitamin A supplements significantly reduce measles-associated mortality and morbidity. The mechanisms whereby vitamin A acts against MV are not understood and currently there is no satisfactory small animal model for MV infection. We report on the development of a ferret model to study antiviral activity of vitamin A against canine distemper virus (CDV). CDV is closely related to MV at the molecular level and distemperin ferrets mimics measles in humans. We infected vitamin A-replete (control) and vitamin A-depleted ferrets with CDV and assessed the ability of high-dose vitamin A supplements to influence CDV disease. In control ferrets, CDV infection caused fever, rash, conjunctivitis, cough, coryza, and diarrhea. In contrast, control ferrets that were given 30 mg of vitamin A did not develop typical distemper after infection and exhibited only a mild rash. The supplement did not negatively affect ferret health and resulted in a 100% increase in serum and liver vitamin A concentrations. We also found that profound vitamin A deficiency is inducible in ferrets and can be rapidly reversed upon high-dose vitamin A supplementation. Vitamin A deficiency caused anorexia, diarrhea, cataracts, behavioral abnormalities, and ultimately death, with or without CDV infection. All ferrets that received vitamin A supplements, however, recovered uneventfully from CDV infection. These results replicate many aspects of the observations of vitamin A therapy in humans with measles and suggest that CDV infection in ferrets is an appropriate model for the study of the antiviral mechanism of vitamin A.

Goodluck

Re: Ferret distemper outbreak

Cat Henstridge — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 21:13:17 GMT

Thanks!

No, it is my colleague who is primarily involved with the rescue, I don't envy her at all. I am just the vetsurgeon, information gathering, go-between!

Re: Ferret distemper outbreak

Marie Kubiak — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 20:58:30 GMT

Azithromycin for the 2ndry respiratory disease but will check what else when back at work tomorrow. I suspect it was a good immune system (but no known prior vaccs) and luck rather than therapy curing her.

Are you dealing with the ferret rescue? Very sad situation there

Marie

Re: Ferret distemper outbreak

Cat Henstridge — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 18:58:34 GMT

[quote user="Marie Kubiak"]

Seen another case in a ferret in the Midlands, fortunately she recovered which is very unusual in my experience.

Marie

[/quote]

Hi Marie,

What did you treat this ferret with to help her survive? We would love to know!

Thanks

Cat

Re: Ferret distemper outbreak

Noweia — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 20:55:53 GMT

Thanks Cat and Marie, do you know if the ferrets affected were vaccinated or not?

Re: Ferret distemper outbreak

Marie Kubiak — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 16:15:05 GMT

Seen another case in a ferret in the Midlands, fortunately she recovered which is very unusual in my experience.

Marie

Re: Ferret distemper outbreak

Cat Henstridge — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 15:44:58 GMT

We are having an outbreak here in the West Midlands, in the Dudley area. A local ferret rescue has contracted it (106 ferrets and several skunks) and it looks like it might take the lot :-( There has also been another couple of possible cases in other pet ferrets and a couple of suspicious cases in dogs according to the practices local to us.

Re: Ferret distemper outbreak

Helen Wallace — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 20:10:26 GMT

I'm in South Yorkshire and we haven't seen any for ages. Haven't heard any rumours myself but you've got me worried now...