>The only thing I can say is that people should start considering using
>GalaxyD.  (I have been using it since 1998.) It may not be USDA
>LISCENCED" for ferrets, but it was tested on them and proven to be
>effective to guard our ferrets against the CANINE Distemper Virus.
 
We personally have used Galaxy but there are some IMPORTANT notes to
know:
 
1. The longer study was the vaccine which led to Galaxy-D that was
tested, not Galaxy-D.  The tested vaccine was Fromm-D.  I used to
like Fromm-D and have no idea why they changed it.
 
Note for any newcomers: don't let the name starting with "F" cause
confusion.  Fromm-D was from a decent amount of time ago and is NOT
the same as the recently discontinued Fervac-D.
 
There are differences of opinion -- among the experts -- whether this
should be used an an indication of a possible similar time frame of
effectiveness, both because the test was with a different species, and
because the vaccine changed.
 
2. Test was for effectiveness of Galaxy-D was for only a matter of
weeks so whether it works for a year or longer is still an unknown:
 
 >examination were drawn prior to each inoculation, before challenge
 >exposure, and 10, 15, and 21 days after exposure.
 
and the test was limited to 16 male kits.
 
3. It IS important to notice that Fromm-D used an old manufacturing
process where it was grown in eggs.  Almost no vaccines of any type are
any longer made this way.  It was much more expensive and more likely to
cause reactions BUT there had been some excellent studies of other CDV
vaccines grown that way (Noted in _Biology and Diseases of the Ferret_
which conferred much longer immunity than vaccines made today to CDV
back when ferrets were used as a model animal before dogs were tested.
The reason that some current CDV vaccine longer-time frame info exists is
because some families stopped vaccinating and ferrets contracted Canine
Distemper so...
 
4. If something like 75% to 80% of the animals in a household are
vaccinated there is some protection for animals who have not been
vaccinated because the disease can not spread easily.  That is also
info from a set of studies mentioned in the vet text above.
 
5. Leaving shoes outside if that is possible helps decrease the risk
of spreading CDV and some other diseases to unvaccinated animals.
 
Personally, I wish that company would do the needed testing on Galaxy.
 
Here are some intriguing posts and references on vaccines:
1. http://ferrethealth.org/archive/browse.php?msg=YG1406
(but when the actual article was looked up it was Fromm-D.  Quoting
Pam Sessoms on how to read that article in full (which hopefully still
works):
>The full-text of the article about the study appears to be freely
>available. If you'd like it, you can go here:
> http://highwire.stanford.edu/
>and search the "anywhere in the text" field for:
> vaccination of black-footed ferrets
>The article should be the first hit (the one from Journal of Wildlife
>Diseases from 1996). The PDF for the full article is available.
 
It may be that now
2.  http://www.jwildlifedis.org/cgi/reprint/32/3/417
will work as a direct link to that article.
3.  http://ferrethealth.org/archive/SG16947
4.  http://ferrethealth.org/archive/SG16940
which carries ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND CORRECTIONS TO:
5. http://ferrethealth.org/archive/SG16939
6. http://ferrethealth.org/archive/SG16938
7. http://ferrethealth.org/archive/SG16932
8. http://ferrethealth.org/archive/SG14452
9. http://ferrethealth.org/archive/SG13899
10. http://ferrethealth.org/archive/SG8161
 
There is more info in the Archives there and also in the FML Archives
(URL in the header of each day's FML)
 
-- Sukie (not a vet, and not speaking for any of the below in my
private posts)
Recommended health resources to help ferrets and the people who love
them:
Ferret Health List
http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth
FHL Archives
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
AFIP Ferret Pathology
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
Miamiferrets
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
International Ferret Congress Critical References
http://www.ferretcongress.org
[Posted in FML issue 5326]