All,
I'm catching up on my reading....here are some tips regarding distemper
that may be helpful to shelters (late info is better than no info)

When I was working as a wildlife volunteer (before I was corrupted by
ferrets - LOL!), we followed some "best practices" to mitigate the risk
of spreading distemper.

One thing I an remember is that we had a shallow pan of diluted bleach
located outside each quarantine room. We had to step directly into the
pan from the room and stand there for a short period of time before
stepping anywhere else. We had smocks, , etc.

No, all this is not perfect, but it may help. You may want to consider
contacting a reputable wildlife rehab.organization to learn their best
practices for managing distemper since those organizations deal with
the disease more than most of us do. Distemper-infected animals are
generally euthanized ASAP because the the disease is horrendous, the
outcome is close to 100% fatal, and the risk to the healthy animals is
extremely high. As such, the lessons learned from wildlife rehabbers
will focus upon quarantine best practices - not saving lives.
-jennifer

[Posted in FML 7054]