Dear Carla:
 
>I had a ferret that suffered anaphylaxis from Fervac.  Less than 6
>months later, I noticed that he was not playing as much and was breathing
>heavily.  The vet discovered he had heart problems.  Could it be
>coincidental to the reaction?  Yup.  But please read this article from a
>well-respected ferret vet.  Perhaps Dr. Williams will comment on this.
>http://www.acmeferret.com/infobank/anaphyl.htm
 
First of all, there is no evidence that vaccine reactions lead to heart
disease.  Anaphylaxis is not the result of antigen-antibody interactions,
but the interaction of antigen and specialized receptors on histamine
containing cells that line blood vessels called mast cells.  When the
vaccine antigen (and we don't know what component in the vaccine is the
trigger for this reaction) gets into the tissue, it binds with special
receptors on mast cells locally, resulting in release of histamine.
The release of histamine causes other cells within the body to release
histamine, and the histamine causes an avalanche of occurrences in the
body, resulting in severe vascular impairment and shock.  This is the
basis of anaphylaxis - a rapid reaction usually within 30 minutes.
 
Antigen-antibody reaction, in contrast to what is written in this article -
is a much longer process, occurring after days to weeks.  Vaccines only
rarely result in tissue damaged due to deranged antigen-antibody reaction.
This type of reaction is far more common with Aleutian disease - where you
have high levels of antigen due to the virus's proliferation in the body,
over a long time, and the bodies reaction to it (by producing antibodies.)
The hallmark of aberrant antigen-antibody complex deposition in the body is
renal disease - where some of the most important blood vessels in the body
are located.  The heart is not really a major player in antigen-antibody
reactions (also known as Type III hypersensitivity) in animals.
(Anaphylaxis is called Type I hypersensitivity for people keeping score!)
 
Regarding cardiomyopathy - this is a common disease in American ferrets
which has a genetic component.  I believe that most likely in this case,
this ferret was in the early preclinical stages of the disease prior to
vaccination.
 
Let me also state that I hold Dr. Jean Wardell in the highest regard as
both a veterinarian and a friend.  However, in this 1997 article, she also
broaches the subject of skipping distemper vaccination, although only in
context of dealing with animals who have had previous reactions.  My
comments on this subject have been repeated over and over in the previous
two weeks, and do not bear repeating again.  Distemper vaccination is not
one that can or should be skipped, especially for ferrets who have no
history of reactions.  Even with reactors, the consequences of skipping
a distemper vaccine are grave, and should be the subject of conversation
with your personal vet, not simply skipped because a vet, or any vet, on
the Internet said so.
 
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, DVM
[Posted in FML issue 3245]