From Bruce Williams:  [with permission.  BIG]
>Regarding the questions raised by this person  (and Sukie, feel free
>to post any of this or forward it to the person in question).  If
>there is a direct post to the list by this person, I would be happy
>to answer it directly.
>
>1)  The reason the vector is canary pox is that it is a recombinant
>vaccine.  That means that this particular strain of canary pox
>(which is of no virulence to ferrets or mammals - remember we have
>always looked for distemper vaccines that are passaged in duck eggs)
>has had a small amount of the genome of the distemper virus put in
>it.  The canary pox virus now exhibits some of the non-infectious
>envelope proteins of distemper, so the body can mount a response
>against the virus, without having been exposed to the infectious
>particle itself.  The key here is that you are not putting any
>infectious (or attentuated) distemper viruses into the animal, only
>some of the easily recognized proteins (or antigens).  Recombinant
>vaccines are the new wave of vaccines and herald a whole new era in
>safe and effective vaccine production, and canarypox is a common
>vector for mammalian vaccines, as mammals are not susceptible to
>canary pox.
>
>2)  Sukie, you are correct in that large zoo felids can get canine
>distemper (which housecats apparently do not - at least not yet.)
>There have been large die offs of lions in the Serengeti, and
>smaller die-offs of felines in zoos in the U.S. and Europe.  Other
>zoo animals susceptible to distemper would be lesser pandas,
>kinkajous, any canids such as wolves and foxes, and of course
>all mustelids, just to name a few.  Distemper is an extremely
>devastating problem in zoos, as well as to ferret owners.
>
>3)  The idea of the letter campaign is to convince Merial to
>actually test the vaccine in ferrets and market it FOR ferrets.
>Remember, Merial has tested other vaccines in ferrets (Imrab).
>Since they obviously cannot test in rare mustelids or large cats,
>the most logical way to bring this particular vaccine onto the
>market is in ferrets.  This way, everyone (ferret owners and zoos)
>win.  Without the ferret owners mobilizing, however, there is no way
>that this particular vaccine will ever come to market.
>
>We have a unique opportunity here with a company who does recognize
>a peripheral ferret market, and possibly, with the right push, may
>bring an effective vaccine to market.  I don't think there is any
>way that American Home Products will resurrect Galaxy-D, and test it
>for a market that they don't recognize.
>
>The whole idea of this campaign is to get another canine-distemper
>vaccine specifically approved for ferrets, and one that does not
>have significant risks associated with it..
 
So, now you have the run-down right from Bruce!
 
Sukie
P.S. the reason I knew about CD in large cats in because when I was
studying primates a grad student from another university whom I knew
a bit was attacked by one (a lion) in the field; the big cat was
insane from CD.  Have personally been around a dog which was insane
from it and it's terrible.  (Have not yet heard of ferrets going
insane --aggressive-- with it --though I am not a vet so it could be
that it can happen-- but it's still a horrible way to die with a huge
amount of suffering, so if there can be a new way to prevent the
illness while getting rid of the reaction risk it's worth writing a
letter (and getting your vets to write letters) urging marketing of
the product  to Dr. Zack Mills, Director of Marketing, Merial Ltd.,
115 Transtech Drive, Athens, GA 30601.
[Posted in FML issue 2734]