From:
Chelsey Baker-Hauck
Date: 2007-04-09 16:38:13 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re:Ferret Death after Distemper Shot
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Although I know the studies show Purvax is supposed to be "safer," I
never saw reactions in my ferrets with Fervac, but with Purevax, all
but one of my ferrets has had a severe reaction. One nearly died of
an allergic reaction, then developed a benign skin tumor at the
injection site. Another developed a cancerous tumor (a very rare
tumor, the vet said--I can't remember the name) at the injection
site. Yet another developed a lupus-like autoimmune disease within a
month of receiving his vaccine, and another developed a series of odd
autoimmune problems within a month of vaccination, and that turned
into lymphoma more than a year later. All of these ferrets were young
(2-3 years at time of reaction) and otherwise healthy. One of my
friend's ferrets died from a severe and sudden autoimmune problem
within a couple of months of vaccination. These vaccines all came
from different batches, so that's not the cause. This was all too
coincidental for me, and my vet. We had already stopped vaccinating
the ferrets once they reached @5 years, mostly because they were
developing other medical issues by that time. But with the problems
the vet is seeing now with my ferrets and many others, he's now
reluctant to vaccinate beyond the initial set for kits. We have GOT
to have some independent research done on vaccination
protocols...there's something really wrong here, not necessarily with
the vaccine itself, but with how the immune system is impacted. And
it's especially scary, because I think we all want/need to have our
ferrets vaccinated, but to me right now there doesn't seem to be a
safe, reliable way to do that. I'm not doing rescue any more and my
ferrets are never in contact with other animals or people outside the
family, so their risk is low...there are so many others out there who
still have to vaccinate despite the risks. Is there any way we can
prompt some sort of research into this problem, beyond what drug
companies do? Has there been any longitudinal research into
occurrence of lymphoma/lymphosarcoma in vaccinated ferrets versus
unvaccinated ferrets?
--Chelsey, Rocky (lupus ferret), Patches (allergic ferret), Merlin
(injection-site cancer), and Zuzy (so far, the ONLY one without a
problem)--and in memory of Elmo, who we believe died b/c of vaccine-
related autoimmune disease
[Moderator's Note:
Never forget that a month in a ferret's life is equivalent to about a year in human life spans. so not only do things that occur over weeks apart less likely to be connected, but for ferrets a month is a longer time in relation to life span than it would be for us.
You will find the info about tumors at injection sites in the Archives interesting. Studies show that they can even happen in response to pricks without injections of vaccine for example:
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/SG16198
including
>Yes, Very, Very rarely they can. I had a case report
>of a vaccine injection site sarcoma in a pet ferret
>published in JAVMA (213:955) back in 1998.
and
>Some cats are genetically prone to sarcomas after an injection
>(vaccines and several other products) produces inflammation
>under the skin. The inflammation eventually leads to tumor formation.
>Researchers at Colorado State's vet school also produced a sarcoma
>with just the needle going thru the cat's skin without an injection.
>The needle brought a small amount of hair under the skin which
>caused the inflammation. This same problem has also been
>documented in some lab animals (rodents).
>Unfortunately there is no way of knowing for sure if his tumor
>was produced by previous injections (ie vaccines, antibiotics,
>SQ fluids, melatonin implant) or if it was a fibrosarcoma that had
>nothing to do with an injection without a lot of specific testing.
This is not to say that the vaccine may not be involved, but that proof
is needed for anything, and especially for things which happen far later
there is more reason to wonder if it truly is connected.]
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