From:
"Sukie Crandall"
Date: 2009-08-01 14:50:42 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: distemper photos and GIVE THEM VITAMIN A
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Having gotten a note asking how much D to give...
It says the amounts used in the study in both the abstract
given and in the article. An amount found to protect well is
in both. In the abstract given, notice on re-reading:
BEGIN QUOTE
In contrast, control ferrets that were given 30 mg of vitamin A
did not develop typical distemper after infection and exhibited
only a mild rash. The supplement did not negatively affect ferret
health and resulted in a 100% increase in serum and liver vitamin
A concentrations.
END QUOTE
Vitamin A is less likely to be ingested at toxic levels by ferrets than
by humans, with ferrets preadapted to higher doses by being
descended from animals who ate livers pretty well each day.
Humans don't have that sort of ancestry so for us A is easier to
overdose. On the other hand it pretty hard to overdose D for
humans -- actually most people don't get enough -- and we are
descended from ancestors who got a lot of sunlight exposure.
Ferrets, on the other hand, are descended from ancestors who had
crepuscular (dawn and dusk) optimal activity and lived in burrows
so can develop hypercalcemia if they get too much D.
See below and in the links given as well as in the FHL Archives which
are very easy to use for more info, please.
>
> > J Nutr. 2007 Aug;137(8):1916-22.
> > Disease manifestations of canine distemper virus infection in
> > ferrets are modulated by vitamin A status.
> > Rodeheffer C, von Messling V, Milot S, Lepine F, Manges AR, Ward BJ.
> > McGill University Health Centre Research Institute, Faculty of
> > Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Montreal General
> > Hospital, Montreal, QC, Canada.
> >
> > The measles virus (MV) causes half a million childhood deaths
> > annually. Vitamin A supplements significantly reduce measles-
> > associated mortality and morbidity. The mechanisms whereby vitamin A
> > acts against MV are not understood and currently there is no
> > satisfactory small animal model for MV infection. We report on the
> > development of a ferret model to study antiviral activity of vitamin
> > A against canine distemper virus (CDV). CDV is closely related to MV
> > at the molecular level and distemper in ferrets mimics measles in
> > humans. We infected vitamin A-replete (control) and vitamin A-
> > depleted ferrets with CDV and assessed the ability of high-dose
> > vitamin A supplements to influence CDV disease. In control ferrets,
> > CDV infection caused fever, rash, conjunctivitis, cough, coryza, and
> > diarrhea. In contrast, control ferrets that were given 30 mg of
> > vitamin A did not develop typical distemper after infection and
> > exhibited only a mild rash. The supplement did not negatively affect
> > ferret health and resulted in a 100% increase in serum and liver
> > vitamin A concentrations. We also found that profound vitamin A
> > deficiency is inducible in ferrets and can be rapidly reversed upon
> > high-dose vitamin A supplementation. Vitamin A deficiency caused
> > anorexia, diarrhea, cataracts, behavioral abnormalities, and
> > ultimately death, with or without CDV infection. All ferrets that
> > received vitamin A supplements, however, recovered uneventfully from
> > CDV infection. These results replicate many aspects of the
> > observations of vitamin A therapy in humans with measles and suggest
> > that CDV infection in ferrets is an appropriate model for the study
> > of the antiviral mechanism of vitamin A.
> >
> > PMID: 17634264
> >
>
> The full article is HERE:
>
> http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/reprint/137/8/1916
The FHL Archives are here:
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
>
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