Here is a one sentence quote which says why you and your vets want to
read this paper:

>All ferrets that received vitamin A supplements, however, recovered
>uneventfully from CDV infection.

Abstract:

BEGIN QUOTED ABSTRACT

J Nutr. 2007 Aug;137(8):1916-22.
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.
McGill University Health Centre Research Institute, Faculty of
Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Montreal General Hospital,
Montreal, QC, Canada.

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
distemper in 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.

PMID: 17634264

and a related note from a post of my own (my own words):
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/FHL8279

>morbillavirus work designed to know more about measles but
>unfortunately involving CDV which hopefully will at least learn
>more about CDV and control:
>
> http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19203105
>
>On that note: I recently was asked about Vitamins D3 and A in ferrets
>vs. in humans. This is a topic I've discussed with a couple of people
>who have doctorates in veterinary nutrition. Humans, who are descended
>from diurnal (daytime) activity beings without a large amount of organ
>meat in the diet more easily can wind up with an overdose of A but
>too little D. Ferrets are the opposite. They are descended from
>crepuscular (dawn and dusk) activity burrow dwellers who were used
>to getting their fair share of livers and other high A level foods.
>Ferrets who get too much D3 are like dogs in that they can develop
>hypercalcemia problems as a result from what I have learned from those
>experts. ... enough dietary Vitamin A could prove useful for ferrets.

Sukie (not a vet)

Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/
http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
all ferret topics:
http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/archives/ferret-search.html

[Posted in FML 6388]