Canine distemper
| canine distemper virus (CDV) | |
|---|---|
| Virus classification | |
| Group: | Group V ((-)ssRNA) |
| Order: | Mononegavirales |
| Family: | Paramyxoviridae |
| Genus: | Morbillivirus |
| Species: | Canine distemper virus |
Canine distemper (sometimes termed hardpad disease in canine) is a viral disease that affects a wide variety of animal families, including domestic and wild species of dogs, coyotes, foxes, pandas, wolves, ferrets, skunks, raccoons, and large cats, as well as pinnipeds, some primates, and a variety of other species. It was long believed that animals in the family Felidae, including many species of large cat as well as domestic cats, were resistant to canine distemper, until some researchers reported the prevalence of CDV infection in large felids. It is now known that both large Felidae and domestic cats can be infected, usually through close housing with dogs or possibly blood transfusion from infected cats, but such infections appear to be self-limiting and largely without symptoms.
In canines, distemper impacts several body systems, including the gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts and the spinal cord and brain, with common symptoms that include high fever, eye inflammation and eye/nose discharge, labored breathing and coughing, vomiting and diarrhea, loss of appetite and lethargy, and hardening of nose and footpads. The viral infection can be accompanied by secondary bacterial infections and can present eventual serious neurological symptoms.
Canine distemper is caused by a single-stranded RNA virus of the family Paramyxoviridae (the same family of the viruses that causes measles, mumps, and bronchiolitis in humans). The disease is highly contagious via inhalation and fatal 50% of the time. Despite extensive vaccination in many regions, it remains a major disease of dogs, and is the leading cause of infectious disease death in dogs.
The origin of the word distemper is from the Middle English distemperen, meaning to upset the balance of the humors, which is from the Old French destemprer, meaning to disturb, which is from the Vulgar Latin distemperare: Latin dis- and Latin temperare, meaning to not mix properly.
Distemper is caused by a single-stranded RNA virus of the family Paramyxoviridae, which is a close relative of the viruses that cause measles in humans and rinderpest in animals.
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