The causes of distemper
Distemper is an infectious and contagious disease that can affect dogs, especially young dogs, so it is sometimes called "young puppy disease" . Distemper was first described in 1905 by Henri Carré, the veterinarian after whom the disease is named.
It is caused by Morbillivirus, a virus from the same family as human measles and rinderpest, the Paramyxoviridae family.
Distemper, a crippling defect
Distemper is one of the diseases on the list of redhibitory defects in dogs.This means that in the event of the appearance of symptoms suggestive of the disease within 7 days of purchasing the animal from a breeder, you can ask your veterinarian to draw up a certificate of suspicion of the disease. If the illness is then confirmed, this certificate may allow you to cancel the sale.
How is distemper transmitted?
The virus is mainly transmitted by direct or indirect close contact between sick dogs and by exposure of the mucous membranes of the nose, mouth and eyes to bodily secretions containing the virus. It can be saliva, aerosols (small droplets of nasal spray projected into the air during a sneeze), urine or feces.
Bitches can also transmit the disease to their offspring through the placenta.
The virus however resists for a relatively short time in the environment because it is sensitive to heat and detergents.On the other hand, it cannot be eradicated because many non-vaccinable wild species can be affected. This is particularly the case for wild canids such as foxes and wolves or even mustelids such as ferrets, martens, polecats, badgers, etc. These animals are a reservoir for the virus.
Can distemper be transmitted to humans?
If distemper is very contagious for animals, it is not transmissible to humans.
What are the symptoms of distemper?
Formerly very common, distemper is now rarer in France, thanks to vaccine prevention. However, it remains a dreadful disease for dogs.
Sometimes the dog's immune response can completely eliminate the virus. The animal then recovers spontaneously after a feverish episode and a temporary drop in appetite.
But, when the dog's immune system is overwhelmed by the viral attack, the virus, inhaled through the respiratory tract, replicates in the lymph nodes and gradually reaches the digestive, respiratory, urinary and genital and nervous walls through the bloodstream.
The systemic attack of the animal is then manifested first by:
- a bout of fever within 3 to 6 days of infection,
- nasal and ocular flushing (the dog has a runny nose and eyes),
- appearance of a cough,
- deterioration in general condition and loss of appetite.
These first symptoms are then followed by:
- Diarrhea and vomiting, reflections of digestive disorders in dogs,
- a central nervous system attack in the form of seizures, myoclonus (involuntary and repeated muscle contraction of one or more muscles), ataxia (motor difficulties), paralysis and cervical rigidity,
- a thickening of the skin of the pads and nose called hyperkeratosis,
- ocular signs that can go as far as loss of vision,
- signs of dehydration.
In case of systemic involvement, the disease can progress to the death of the animal in 2 to 4 weeks after infection. The prognosis is generally poor in dogs that show nervous signs, which is the case for half of affected dogs.
Some animals can nevertheless recover but keep nervous, dermatological and/or dental sequelae.
Which dogs are at risk?
Distemper mainly affects young unvaccinated animals, beyond 3 months when immune protection by maternal antibodies is no longer effective.
More generally, all dogs not vaccinated against the disease are likely to declare it regardless of their age.
What treatment for distemper?
To date, there is no medical treatment to effectively treat a dog with the disease.
When an animal is affected, the veterinarian can only put in place treatments to relieve the animal's symptoms (antivomitives, antidiarrheals, anticonvulsants), avoid bacterial superinfections (broad-spectrum antibiotics) and correct dehydration (fluidotherapy).
How to prevent distemper?
The only way to prevent distemper in your dog is vaccination. Vaccine protection is all the more important because no treatment is really effective against this disease. If an unvaccinated dog is affected, the veterinarian can only treat the consequences of the symptoms to relieve the sick dog but cannot eradicate the virus from his body.
The initial vaccination includes two injections carried out 1 month apart in very young puppies from 7 to 8 weeks old. An annual booster is then required to maintain effective immunity.
Prevention also consists in not exposing a non-immune dog to its congeners who may be carriers of the disease without expressing the main symptoms described above. Thus, do not let an unvaccinated puppy grow up with dogs that are not vaccinated against the disease and avoid walks in the forest where he would have the possibility of sniffing the droppings of infected wild animals.