For more on this recent topic in just one URL (Click open posts there.): http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/message/19471 More is in the archives of the FML and the FHL as well as elsewhere, including information from shelters which have fought CD and veterinarians who have helped them do so. http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/archives/ferret-search.html http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/ http://ferrethealth.org/archive/ Why is this topic so important? It is important because on rare occasion vaccines do not work. It is important because shelters and some other rescuers get in ferrets with unknown vaccination histories. It is important because compromised ferrets sometimes are not vaccinated for health reasons. It is important because some compromised ferrets and ones getting certain medications can not develop good immunity even when vaccinated. It is important because some ferrets are too allergic to the vaccine or to the medium in which the vaccine is delivered to be vaccinated. It is important because the exact titer number for protection against CD is not known but is a currently a very educated guess. It is important because some people choose to not vaccinate even when it is possible. (Frankly, having personally seen Canine Distemper in few types of animals and rabies in one in my work and in more through my life I can tell you that almost anyone who has seen the disease itself is going to have a very different take than that. Having asked around I so far have not found one person who has encountered those diseases personally who does not vaccinate -- though some, like us, do titers.) It is important because there is research indicating that some pet ferrets do not get sufficient vitamin A in their diets to help fight off infection with CD (not a substitute for vaccinating but a help). It is important because CD infection is an absolutely horrible way to die, especially after it goes to the central nervous system. It is important because the cost of the vitamin A, antivirals, extra vaccines, and other needs in shelters which get CD is enormous. It is important because of the emotional and physical toll of caring for animals which are so ill. It is important because a home, store, or shelter with an infected animal can have people carry that disease to other homes, shelters, or stores. It has happened and the actual experts say it has happened. Just see the easily found references I have included in past posts then go on to find more on your own. It is important because not all ferrets have had the foundation series of CD vaccines as kits and without that (or the substitute of at least two CD vaccines two or three weeks apart) there is not sufficient resistance. Direct exposure which basically means the ferrets sneezing or coughing in each other's faces or grooming each other or sharing a litter pan is not only a way of delivering more virus but it is a more common way to spread the virus, BUT cases where the ONLY possibility was INdirect exposure exist and sadly are not all that rare. So, to be safe indirect exposure can not be discounted. Ferrets' lives can be lost in some homes and shelters and stores if they make that mistake since not all ferrets are protected from the virus. When indirect transfer of canine distemper (which happens to have been mentioned in the past as probably the most common, and in some cases only possible, cause of some cases of canine distemper in pet store ferrets and those kits are often not sufficiently protected by vaccines due to age and some bad practices) occurs it is hard to impossible to define the exact route, whether on shoes, clothing or what other surface.. Not knowing exactly which surface was involved veterinary pathologists and virologists -- the EXPERTS -- have put together most likely scenarios for that situation and for other situations -- as in home cases of CD and some of the shelter cases. The reason that those experts in this topic repeatedly mention -- including in educational gatherings attended in the past by multiple FML and FHL members -- being so concerned about shoes are: 1. The chances of stepping into infected material is higher than getting it on the rest of clothing for most people because Canine Distemper is so common among wild, feral, and unvaccinated animals in so many locations worldwide. (BTW, Grey County had an alert this week of very high levels: http://www.promedmail.org/direct.php?id=20130625.1790449 ). 2. On shoes it can be fecal matter which may be caught in areas like between treads. Protected like that under many home conditions the inner portion will not dry out sufficiently within the typical three hours for the virus on exposed surfaces in studies in home conditions. (Though a person living in certain conditions which are rare for most of the nation may be safer in that regard due to extreme dryness just as those living in some other extremes will be worse off than most due to higher humidity.) That is why one ferret veterinarian in her URL mentioned earlier this week specifically mentioned the timeframe of one day. 3. Ferrets and dogs find shoes attractive and mouth them often. 4. Ferrets and dogs also investigate novel scents like fecal ones on shoes. Further info on the disease itself: <http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/Diseases/Introduction_And_Neuropathology.pdf> about 1/3rd of the way down <http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/Presentations/Distemper_in_a_Ferret.pdf> These refs above are slightly old. For example, there are some treatment approaches now, using vitamin A (important) and antivirals, and some of the mentioned vaccines no longer exist though one related to Galaxy does and Purevax does (though it is too often in short supply due to not having enough and frequent enough dedicated production line time). So, it is combination of shoes being the portion of clothing most likely to encounter and trap waste material containing viable virus especially fecal material which will shield the virus from drying out and from being exposed to light, of knowing firmly that in the typical home setting even when exposed on surfaces rather than protected in feces in shoe treads the virus remains viably infective for three hours (so the stuff in shoe treads is a problem for longer), and of knowing that ferrets and dogs like to investigate novel smells (especially fecal ones) and play with shoes. Yes, indirect transfer is less common than direct, but it has happened and as list members saw in the many very easily found references on that which were already shared with the lists. This information is easily found by anyone who wants to look and the actual experts agree it is enough of the risk to repeatedly publicly warn about, in their websites and in their lectures. Many list members will have been present at such lectures for example, through the work of the IFC. The timeframe easily allows for transmission of infective virus, too. Rather than the 10 minutes for virus infective viability stated in one FML member's post (without references) several days ago you will see in the multiple expert references I provided for list members this week that under typical U.S. home conditions (which these days also exist in most vehicles) that three hours of the virus being viable on surfaces is typical but that under the wrong conditions it can be longer, and under optimal conditions the best case is still at least 30 minutes. (Frozen CD virus can remain viable for years, though.) For example, there have been list member shelters with *very* separate areas for new ferrets and ferrets known to be health which have had it get from the isolation room to the other areas by indirect transfer. (Remember that it does not travel long distances in air due to the friability of the fatty envelope around the virus in those conditions.) So, you can see why calculating the exact rate for indirect transmission from shoes is so impossible AND why the actual veterinary pathologists, virologists, public health veterinarians, epidemiologists, and the treating veterinarians who try so valiantly to help infected animals consider shoes to be a risk for indirect transmission and why a number of them have repeatedly said exactly that. Not having an exact rate does not mean that the rate is high, but it also DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE RATE IS LOW. It just means that it is not known, so imposing an interpretation of the level of risk is highly inaccurate and potentially could kill someone's treasured ferret or dog, an outcome that I think we all want to avoid. [Posted in FML 7832]