Canine distemper (febris catarrhalis contagiosa et nervosa, vulpium et mustelarium) is one of the most dangerous viral diseases in animals, affecting mostly foxes and minks. The disease is caused by the virus member of the genus Morbilliviruses of the family Paramyxoviridae. The following animal families are susceptible to the virus: Canidae, Mustelidae, Procyonidae, Hyaenidae, Viverridae, Felidae, Ursidae and Phocidae. The symptoms of the disease may develop in the digestive, respiratory, nervous or urinary system. The disease may also manifest itself in conjunctivitis, skin lesions, and abortion. Infected animals become the reservoir of the virus, dangerous to other susceptible individuals and species. Diagnosis is based on the epizootiological history, clinical symptoms and laboratory examinations: IF and PCR. Post mortem diagnosis is based on the histopathological examination of the samples of the lungs, brain, stomach and urinary bladder mucous membrane. A direct virus isolation is of no practical importance, because the procedure is too time-consuming and the cytopathic effect occurs after several or a dozen days. In uncertain cases a very useful method, though rarely used nowadays, is a biological test on young animals susceptible to the distemper virus. Fur-bearing carnivores kept on farms and non-domestic animals living in national parks must not be treated, euthanasia should be performed instead. In exceptional cases, if the infected animal is very valuable and does not pose a threat to other animals, individual treatment may be administered. The most efficient way of avoiding the disease in animals is a specific prophylaxis based on vaccination. Controlling the distemper in the marine and non-domestic mammals is very difficult and practically not established. There are some clinical tests on using oral vaccines, similar to those used in wild foxes against rabies. However, the vaccines based on the living, modified distemper virus can be dangerous for zoological animals, especially for large cats and wild carnivores.
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