CONQUEST OF DISEASE

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 25, 31 January 1933, Page 3

CONQUEST OF DISEASE

DISTEMPER IN DOGS

PREVENTIVE'S AND CURE

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, 6th December. As the result of research instigated ten years ago by the Field Distemper Council, every puppy and dog can now be made immune from distemper. In the final report of the council, now issued, it is claimed that the cause of distemper has been clearly defined, and its nature : is better understood. Two methods of protective inoculation have been, devised, and trial on a large scale has proved them successful. A useful method of' curative treatment has also been introduced. The subsequent work of commerciallaboratories, in Great Britain . and the United States, has made these results available to the veterinary profession and so to the public for the benefit of dogs of every kind. . A virus, a vaccine, and an anti-serum were produced, and it was found that a healthy dog could be given lasting protection against distemper infection by the inoculation of vaccine, followed by inoculation of virus a fortnight later.. It was' found later that the antiserum, used alone, lessened the severity of an attack of distemper when given early enough in the disease. FOXHOUNDS TREATED. The experimental use of these different methods was extended to trials on a large scale with dogs under ordinary conditions. A subsequent survey of the results with the vaccinevirus method showed that, where exposure to infection was certain, the incidence of distemper among 650 foxhounds belonging to 23. hunting packs was only 1.4 per cent., and the deathrate from this cause 0.3 per cent.. Without inoculation the incidence among young foxhounds in this country is nearly 100 per cent., and the deathrate is frequently 50 per cent., and may exceed 85 per cent. ; "These achievements," states the repftrt, "may soon have a wider interest. True, distemper has recently been found to occur among fur-bearing animals related to the dog (silver fox) or ferret (fitch, mink, fisher), and preliminary experiments already show that the methods now a\-ailable will have immediate value where these animals are farmed. The report, which is signed by the Duke of Portland (the president), the Duke of Bucelcuch, the Duke of Beaufort, the Earl of Chesterfield, Lord Leconfield, Lord Southampton, Lord Knutsford, Lord Mildmay, and others, expresses warm appreciation of the work of the two investigators, Dr. P. P. Laidlaw and Mr. 6. W. Dunkin. Success is partly due to the use of the microscope specially fitted for the delicate task and invented by Mr. J. E. Barnard. To-day this success is recognised by medical experts . as an epoch-making event of the first importance, not only as regards distemper in dogs and other animals related to the dog or ferret, but also in connection with future- progress in research into influenza, measles, smallpox, and other virus diseases in man. of this industrial age. \Ve have decided to dedicate nur lives to our own children, and give them individual at- . tention." . - The revelation of the musical genius of Yehudi was, he declares, accidental. It demanded only ,that they should not interfere with the boy's natural development. " . •