From:
AFERRETVET@cs.com
Date: 2005-05-12 23:44:23 UTC
Subject: Fatal Fervac Reaction x 2
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <201.1798fd3.2fb51a9b@cs.com>
Hi jj
It is heard to say for sure about the prognosis in your case.
Was an ultrasound of the heart done recently?
This will help determine how bad the heart is.
What meds are you using to treat the heart?
Hard to make suggestion without knowing what meds
are being used and what doses you are using.
Send us more info,
Jerry Murray, DVM
To: ferretbreedersnetwork@yahoogroups.com, PlannedFerrethood@yahoogroups.com,
trferretcouncil@yahoogroups.com, hcf-alums@yahoogroups.com,
RNFerrets@yahoogroups.com, AFAHealthAffairsCommittee@yahoogroups.com,
ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
From: Ferrethealer@aol.com
Message-ID: <c4.2736e87f.2fb54457@aol.com>
This is cross-posted, so my apologies to those who get it more than once.
Today I had my second ever fatal vaccine reaction - fatal despite immediate
and aggressive treatment. The reaction was very similar to the first fatal
reaction I saw in October 2004, in that it began within two to three minutes
after vaccination, and was characterized by severe and catastrophic respiratory
collapse followed by cardiac arrest (classic anaphylaxis). This was a MF spayed
jill, four years old, who had been my patient from time of purchase as a kit
and who was completely healthy. The previous fatal reaction had been in a
privately bred two year old intact male, my own ferret, in fact, and also
completely healthy.
The October 2004 reaction was in a ferret with no history of vaccine
reaction, this one had no history of reaction to distemper vaccine, and a very mild
reaction to rabies vaccination last year. He was pre-treated with Benadryl, she
was not.
On review of the October 2004 reaction, I found that both vaccines were from
the same lot - despite my having received a new shipment less than two weeks
ago. I attempted to contact United Vaccines today, but was told that their
customer service representative was out of the office - I will be calling again
tomorrow.
In the meantime, I will not be using any vaccines from this lot number again,
and thought I'd get this information out there in case this is *not* simply
the horrible coincidence that I hope it is. I'd hate for this to be due to
something in the lot - and since I've used other doses, hopefully it is just an
awful coincidence. But in many years of vaccinating ferrets, I've never before
had fatalities from reactions, and the fact that both involved the same lot
of vaccine concerns me greatly.
The vaccine is Fervac-D, the lot number is FH01B, the diluent number was
different between the two.
Feel free to disseminate the above information to any interested parties.
Dr. Ruth
********************************************
Puppies kiss better than most people.