From Bruce Williams: [with permission. BIG] >Regarding the questions raised by this person (and Sukie, feel free >to post any of this or forward it to the person in question). If >there is a direct post to the list by this person, I would be happy >to answer it directly. > >1) The reason the vector is canary pox is that it is a recombinant >vaccine. That means that this particular strain of canary pox >(which is of no virulence to ferrets or mammals - remember we have >always looked for distemper vaccines that are passaged in duck eggs) >has had a small amount of the genome of the distemper virus put in >it. The canary pox virus now exhibits some of the non-infectious >envelope proteins of distemper, so the body can mount a response >against the virus, without having been exposed to the infectious >particle itself. The key here is that you are not putting any >infectious (or attentuated) distemper viruses into the animal, only >some of the easily recognized proteins (or antigens). Recombinant >vaccines are the new wave of vaccines and herald a whole new era in >safe and effective vaccine production, and canarypox is a common >vector for mammalian vaccines, as mammals are not susceptible to >canary pox. > >2) Sukie, you are correct in that large zoo felids can get canine >distemper (which housecats apparently do not - at least not yet.) >There have been large die offs of lions in the Serengeti, and >smaller die-offs of felines in zoos in the U.S. and Europe. Other >zoo animals susceptible to distemper would be lesser pandas, >kinkajous, any canids such as wolves and foxes, and of course >all mustelids, just to name a few. Distemper is an extremely >devastating problem in zoos, as well as to ferret owners. > >3) The idea of the letter campaign is to convince Merial to >actually test the vaccine in ferrets and market it FOR ferrets. >Remember, Merial has tested other vaccines in ferrets (Imrab). >Since they obviously cannot test in rare mustelids or large cats, >the most logical way to bring this particular vaccine onto the >market is in ferrets. This way, everyone (ferret owners and zoos) >win. Without the ferret owners mobilizing, however, there is no way >that this particular vaccine will ever come to market. > >We have a unique opportunity here with a company who does recognize >a peripheral ferret market, and possibly, with the right push, may >bring an effective vaccine to market. I don't think there is any >way that American Home Products will resurrect Galaxy-D, and test it >for a market that they don't recognize. > >The whole idea of this campaign is to get another canine-distemper >vaccine specifically approved for ferrets, and one that does not >have significant risks associated with it.. So, now you have the run-down right from Bruce! Sukie P.S. the reason I knew about CD in large cats in because when I was studying primates a grad student from another university whom I knew a bit was attacked by one (a lion) in the field; the big cat was insane from CD. Have personally been around a dog which was insane from it and it's terrible. (Have not yet heard of ferrets going insane --aggressive-- with it --though I am not a vet so it could be that it can happen-- but it's still a horrible way to die with a huge amount of suffering, so if there can be a new way to prevent the illness while getting rid of the reaction risk it's worth writing a letter (and getting your vets to write letters) urging marketing of the product to Dr. Zack Mills, Director of Marketing, Merial Ltd., 115 Transtech Drive, Athens, GA 30601. [Posted in FML issue 2734]