Scourge's End

Rare is the dog-owner who has not seen one of his animals grow dull, lose appetite, begin to cough, vomit, twitch, discharge from nose and eyes, or show some other of distemper's dismal symptoms. He has watched despairingly, knowing his dog would probably die or be permanently marked by this worst danger to dogs. Until three years ago, distemper seemed an inevitable part of almost every dog's life. Uncertain of its cause, veterinarians were helpless to cure or prevent it.

In 1923 The Field, British sporting weekly, organized a movement to seek the cause and cure of distemper, began soliciting funds in Britain, Canada and the U. S. Headed by the Duke of Portland, the Field Distemper Council was adorned by the Duke of Buccleugh, the Duke of Beaufort, Lord Chesterfield, Lord Mildmay of Flete and many another noble & sporting name. Dr. Patrick Playfair Laidlaw, pathologist, and Major George William Dunkin, veterinarian, were given charge of research. Now, after nearly a decade, the Council has felt justified in disbanding, placing the crown of unqualified success upon its work. Its final report is published by the American Kennel Club's Veterinarian Edwin Reginald Blarney in the January American Kennel Gazette.

Comparable to the human scourges of influenza and infantile paralysis is canine distemper. An ancient disease, it has been endemic, occasionally epidemic, wherever dogs are found. It is both contagious and infectious. Young dogs are more susceptible to it than old, purebreds more than mongrels. Distemper kills about half its victims. Many of those recovering are permanently afflicted with twitching, partial paralysis, palsy, or a condition resembling sleeping sickness.

In 1905 Carre announced but did not prove that distemper is caused by a filterable virus. Only animals which have never been exposed to disease are useful in experiment. Researchers Laidlaw & Dunkin bred their own pups, kept them in a rigidly sanitary compound. When, by inoculation, they could produce distemper in these dogs, they knew they had isolated its virus. It was easy then to prepare a protective vaccine. From the blood of dogs hyperimmunized by repeated injections of vaccine and virus, they developed a curative serum.

To keep a healthy dog from ever having distemper it is now necessary only to inject in it (preferably at the age of three months) two doses of Laidlaw-Dunkin vaccine, followed fortnight later by a dose of living virus. Preferred by some dog-owners because it involves only one trip to the veterinarian is a simultaneous inoculation with serum and virus. Theoretically sound, the practical worth of the simultaneous method has not yet been established. To cure sick dogs, an injection of serum during the early stages of the disease has proven effective.

Three years ago the Lederle Laboratories began producing Laidlaw-Dunkin preparations in the U. S. Use and success have been widespread. Inoculating 163 purebred pups, Cornell's Dr. Charles Rupert Stockard found 92% immune on exposure to infection, 4% exhibiting only slight symptoms of the disease. Only three were severely affected by inoculation.

Ready to join dog-owners in fervent gratitude to the Field Council and its researchers is many a fur-breeder. Distemper has often wiped out stocks of silver fox, ferret, fitch, mink, fisher. Preliminary experiments indicate that the Laidlaw-Dunkin treatment will be effective for these animals too.

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