DISTEMPER IN DOGS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18067, 19 April 1933, Page 2

DISTEMPER IN DOGS

PREVENTION AND CURE SUCCESS OF RESEARCH Researches promoted bv the Field Distemper Council in Britain into the cause, prevention and treatment of canine distemper have been successfully concluded, according to a quotation from the final report of the council contained in a circular issued by the New Zealand Department of Agriculture. Afjtor recalling the fact that, 10 years ago, distemper was regarded as of almost inevitable occurrence in every dog’s life, the report •states: —

“The position has now been completely changed as the result of the Work done by Dr, P. P. Laidlaw and Mr G. W. Dunkin, with the resources placed at their disposal from the field distemper fund and by the Medical Research Council. The cause of tho disease lias been clearly defined and its nature is better understood. Two ■methods of protective inoculation have been devised and trial on a large scale lias shown them to be successful. A usoful method of curative treatment has also been introduced. The subsequent work of commercial laboratories in Great Britain ami the United Stales ■has now made these results available to the veterinary profession, and so to the public for the benefit of dogs of every kind.” Proof was obtained that primary distemper is due to .an ultra-misc-ro.seopic filter-passing virus. This knowledgeprovided a rational basis ior new means of prevention and .treatment. Eventually it was found possible to produce a virus containing the living ■organisms of the disease and capable of severely infecting a susceptible animal; vaccine containing the killed organisms of the disease; and antiserum from the blood of an animal that had itself been made strongly immune by repeated administrations of virus. 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, and that au animal could -also be immunised by the simultaneous inoculation of anti-serum and virus. It was found that the anti-serum, used alone, was of value in lessening the severity of an attack of distemper when given early enough in the. disease. “These achievements may soon have a wider interest,” states the report. “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 available will .have immediate value where these animals are farmed. The work primarily undertaken for the protection of dogs .seems likely, therefore, to save mi important industry from losses which have hitherto been often disastrous.” The departmental circular states: — “The position as regards distemper treatment in New Zealand is that, while serum can be obtained by qualified veterinarians, the importation of ■virus for vaccine and virus treatment is still impossible owing to the. fact that the virus cannot be depended mpou to arrive alive. Until tho manufacturers can feel satisfied us to its ■safe carriage to New Zealand, dog owners will have to reply on the scrum inoculation.”