A recent remark on the FML:
 
>There have been ferrets successfully treated and cured of distemper.  BUT
>it is extremely expensive and not all survived with the treatment.  Some
>folks who don't know claim these ferrets are "carriers" but that is also
>untrue.  They've been tested.  Also extremely expensive.  ...
>Treatment is a transfusion of a serum made from the blood of well vaccinated
>ferrets.  The Armishaws of FURO provided ferrets for the treatments.
 
I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree with this statement and say that it
is ill-advised to even suggest a treatment for this disease.  As I was
peripherally involved in the incident, I would state that the overall
handling of the incident in question was certainly not of sufficient merit
to take any type of valid medical information from, especially not any
suggestion for treatment of this devastating disease.
 
We all want hope, especially in the face of this disease, but this is a
false hope.
 
Can ferrets survive distemper?  Probably, but the number is well below 1%.
We know that many dogs survive this disease and carry the virus, but never
shed it again.  A percentage of these dogs die of neurologic disease
attributable to the virus later in life.  Technically, these dogs are
"carriers", but they are not shedders - they do not shed the virus,nor are
they a danger to other animals.  However, ferret survivors of distemper are
so few we don't know what dangers they pose to other animals.
 
Distemper is the most important disease as far as ferrets is concerned, with
effects as devastating as an outbreak of Ebola would be to a human colony
(now that's not too inflammatory, is it?).  We don't know why the animals in
question got distemper, as they had supposedly been vaccinated properly with
a licensed vaccine.  However, we do know that a diagnosis of distemper was
reached early in the face of the outbreak, and more animals developed
disease later on.
 
In cases of distemper, there is only one acceptable course of action -
euthanize as soon as the diagnosis is made.  These animals, as has been
shown time and time again, will not only die, but will take others with
them.  Should one of my own ferrets develop distemper, the choice would
still be clear.  Spare them the suffering and protect the others.
 
So often we keep animals alive for selfish reasons.  No one says it's easy
to euthanize a sick animal.  In the case of distemper, it's the right thing
to do.
 
(P.S.  For the contentious souls out there.... This is not a flame, as I
have tremendous respect for the views of the original poster.  Call it a
simple difference in views....)
 
Bruce Williams, DVM, DACVP              Chief Pathologist, AccuPath
Dept. of Veterinary Pathology               [log in to unmask]
Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
[log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 1666]