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Distemper
It must be stated at the outset
that if, at any time, the owner
suspects that his animal has distemper, no effort at home treatment or
nursing should be made. The animal should immediately be taken to a
veterinarian and should be put under strict veterinary supervision
during the entire course of the disease.
Distemper is by far the worst disease of dogs. Of all the dogs that die
during the first two years of life, probably ninety-five per cent will
die of distemper alone. Among domestic animals, distemper is
exclusively a disease of dogs. It is caused by an extremely potent
filterable virus, and the extent of the disease is world-wide. The
disease may be transmitted by direct contact with infected dogs or
indirectly by contact with dogs, persons, or places that have been
exposed to the infection. It is not transmissible to man. The virus is
everywhere. It is in the air, on the ground, on people's clothes; it
is truly omnipresent. No dog is safe from its ravages.
When distemper first strikes, the primary manifestations are
depression, loss of appetite, and high temperature. These symptoms are
often overlooked by the owner, and the general feeling usually is that
the animal is somehow indisposed. These symptoms last only about two
days. Then the virus causes a breakdown of the resistance of the
various systems of the body, and a burst of complicating infections
results, which give rise to a large variety of secondary symptoms. It
is by these secondary symptoms that distemper is commonly
characterized. Only the major ones will be considered here because
these are the
ones that will generally be recognized by the owner.
The most prominent and constant secondary symptom of distemper is a
discharge from the eyes which usually starts as a watery exudation and
changes in a few days to a dense, whitish, mucous-like accumulation.
Often the discharge is so copious that the eyelids stick together, and
after the discharge is wiped away the eye membranes appear to have an
angry, red aspect.
There may be occasional vomiting. A very common symptom is diarrhea,
which may become increasingly severe and bloody as the disease
progresses. A watery and, later, a mucous or pus-like nasal discharge
is also very characteristic, and this will often be accompanied by
rubbing of the nose. Very commonly, too, there is a cough;
characteristically this is steady and mild, but there may be occasional
paroxysms which often end up in gagging and vomiting.
Where the nervous system is involved, there may be twitch-ings of the
face, head, and neck, but most often in the limbs. In severe cases
there may be intermittent convulsions, characterized by champing of
the teeth, foaming at the mouth, falling on the side, violent shaking
movements all over the body, involuntary passage of stool, urine, or
both and hysterical running and barking. These convulsions may lead to
partial or complete paralysis, but more often they gradually increase
in frequency and lead to coma and death.
The skin may also show various manifestations. There may appear small,
red spots around the face, eyes, internal surface of the ears or
thighs, or on the abdomen. These red spots may become further
irritated, swell, and fill with pus and rupture, thereby giving the
animal an offensive odor and a scabby form of skin irritation.
Along with these specific symptoms, the animal may show marked
temperature variations, variable appetite, intermittent seizures of
depression, and any or most of the general signs of disease that were
described earlier.
In treating a dog with distemper, the most potent drugs and expert
nursing are required—strictly a veterinary problem. Where only the
digestive or respiratory systems are primarily affected, about fifty
per cent of the cases survive. Where the nervous system is involved,
and especially where convulsions have appeared, ninety-nine per cent of
the cases will die. The entire course of the disease usually lasts from
six to ten weeks.
To combat this frightful scourge, the veterinary profession has
devised a very effective method of immunization. This protection should
be the first concern of the new dog owner. If he chooses to do nothing
more, his dog should at least be afforded the benefit of protection
against distemper.
The dog acquires a certain amount of protection from its mother. This
protection usually lasts until the animal is about nine weeks old. At
this age, some veterinarians proceed directly with the permanent
immunization. Other veterinarians prefer a later age at which to give
the permanent vaccinations, and in the meantime advise injecting
puppies with distemper serum, which consists of secretory and excretory
products of the distemper virus and confers a temporary immunity of
from one to two weeks (though veterinarians in general place less
confidence in serum than they used to.) The distemper-serum injections
are given every one or two weeks until the animal is four months of age
or older. Then the animal is given three injections of distemper
vaccine, each two weeks apart. Distemper vaccine consists of dead
distemper germ. When these three injections are completed, the animal
is considered to be protected against the disease for life. The
efficiency of this protection is very high and is generally
considered to be in the neighborhood of ninety-five per cent.
There are many modifications of this procedure. Some veterinarians
prefer to give two injections of distemper vaccine and one of live
distemper virus. Others prefer variants of this method. But, as a
general rule, most veterinarians use the three-distemper-vaccine
method. It is a safe, cautious and proven method of immunization.
Recently, a new method has been devised whereby very young puppies (as
young as nine weeks of age) may be given a single vaccination that
confers immunity for life. The material injected consists of a form of
live virus from which the disease-producing power has been eliminated
by various means. This method is quickly winning favor among
impressive numbers of veterinarians. When it was first produced, it
was not without its shortcomings. Considerable caution had to be
exercised in its use and disastrous results were occasionally reported
in the literature. However, rapid progress has been made and the
shortcomings of this single-injection method have been almost entirely
eliminated. It is already apparent that if the current wave of
popularity continues at its present rate, it will become officially
recognized as the best method in the eradication of dogdom's worst
affliction.
The Distemper
Complex
In recent years, veterinarians have come
to recognize a whole series of
diseases that are closely related to and scarcely distinguishable from
distemper itself. These are the diseases of the distemper complex.
Their detailed discussion would be useless here. However it is well to
interpolate this note because the subtlety of distinction has been
such as occasionally to confuse the dog owner. This is nothing strange
since the status of our knowledge on this point is also confused. One
veterinarian will call a particular disease distemper while another
will disagree. This is not the place to say which one is correct. They
may both be right. But it is unlikely that they are both wrong. In the
face of such complexity, the owner should permit free and open
consultation among veterinarians concerning this problem and not
consider any difference of opinion as a proper reason for mistrust in
the profession.
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