Hi Everyone- I am a long time reader, but I have never posted up until now. Since I am a research tech in an immunology laboratory with a good background in the field, I thought that maybe I could give some insight into this distemper information. I don't know specifics on distemper, but I am well versed in antibody responses. First of all, after consulting with my boss who is an MD-PhD in Immunology, we cannot figure out why an animal would require another distemper shot if it was infected with distemper. Not only should an infection with distemper give a very complete antibody response to the virus (if the animal was fighting it off and not immunocompromised), but it would also seem that an additional vaccination would make the animal sicker by taxing the immune system further. If it was an infection other than distemper, it would make sense to get another vaccination, since the immune system would be preoccupied with the new infection and therefore not mounting a response to the vaccination. However, this should probably be done after the animal has recovered from infection so as not to interfere with its immune system response to the active pathogen. Basically, the body will respond to vaccination by making cells that remember the disease and will make antibodies to it. However, in order to make these antibodies, (using distemper as an example) distemper proteins need to be present to provoke the cells to make antibodies. This is a very simplified version of what happens, and I would be happy to give a more detailed response to anyone who has any biology knowledge. As for the person who wrote in about their allergy shots, this is not the same kind of antibody response at all and no comparison should be made. When you have allergy shots, what the doctor is trying to do is switch your body from making an allergic antibody response to something into a less harmful antibody response that would not cause an allergic reaction. It is difficult thing to get your body to do and does not always work. It is not the same response you would make to a virus. I hope that this helps more than confuses. Hello to all the fuzzies out there. -Alison Cornelius ("how can you resist the cuteness?") Seven ("biting is my pasttime") [Posted in FML issue 2526]