From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2011-06-20 16:21:07 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: distemper vaccine ??
To: fhl <ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com>, FML List <ferret-l@LISTSERV.FERRETMAILINGLIST.ORG>
Kevin has an excellent post in the FML today after an anonymous rumor, and great recent posts in the FHL:
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/FHL13453
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/message/15065
This vet post is ESSENTIAL for ferrets with an undocumented vaccine history and the following non-vet one with vet refs may also prove helpful:
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/FHL13457
(What to do to improve safety -- very, very important for adoptive homes and shelters.)
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/message/15085
(CDV survival outside body, human subclinical infections of CDV when there has not been a measles vaccine or a previous case of measles, and more)
So, working from Kevin's figures:
72 total ferrets
45 ferrets did not get sick
27 got sick.
3 of those did not have vaccines on board due to serious health problems.
That takes it down to 24.
8 more arrived at the same time as the infected ferret so had not been vaccinated; and 24 - 8 = 16.
So, now the figures are down to only 16 of 72 with vaccines on board who got ill which is about 22%. Now if my memory serves, something around 98% effectiveness is the expected vaccine effectiveness for any CDV (canine distemper virus) vaccine, so 2% of that might be in the noise, leaving about 20% (14.4 individuals) to explain and for which a common factor was found.
What did those 16 ferrets have in common? They did not have documentation of having the complete kit series of distemper vaccines and at least some were known for certain to NOT have the kit series past the one original farm vaccine.
It's very upsetting when people send around rumors based on speculation, especially when they are kicking people who are already "down" (in fight parlance) due to dealing with difficult circumstances. I want to congratulate Kevin for having the morals, courage, and fortitude to take this public so that others can learn despite there being some people who appear to *perhaps* care more about rumors than about getting info out there which can save other ferrets.
Sukie (not a vet)
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/
http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
all ferret topics:
http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/archives/ferret-search.html
"All hail the procrastinators for they shall rule the world tomorrow."
(2010, Steve Crandall)
On change for its own sake: "You can go really fast if you just jump off the cliff."
(2010, Steve Crandall)
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