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Distemper:
Canine
distemper (CD) is a contagious viral disease of the Candidae
family (dog, dingo, fox, coyote, wolf, jackal), the Mustelidae family
(ferret, Mink, skunk, badger, marten, weasel, otter) and the
Procyonidae family (raccoon, panda, kinkajou, coati).
It has worldwide
distribution and an extremely high fatality rate.
Nearly every dog will
be exposed to the CD virus sometime during its life and it is still
considered to be the most serious disease of dogs.
It may occur as
an acute or subacute infection often causing death or permanent
disability.The disease has been controlled well in domestic and
caged carnivores by vaccination, but due to a wide range of
susceptible wild animal hosts and unvaccinated dogs, eradication of
the virus is essentially impossible.
Dogs of all ages are susceptible to CD virus with the
highest
incidence of the disease occurring in the young animals. Puppy between the ages
of 3 and 6 months are most susceptible to the
virus, but the disease may occur anytime after a young puppy loses its
maternal antibody protection. Loss of maternal antibody protection
usually occurs somewhere between 6 and 12 weeks of age.
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