ALBANY COUNTY — Several skunks and raccoons with distemper, a contagious and serious disease, have been found in Albany, according to the Albany Police Department, which is urging residents to make sure their dogs are up to date on their canine distemper vaccinations.

In the last few weeks, at least 25 wild animals have been captured by control officers that “displayed symptoms including circling behavior, muscle twitches, paralysis and other indicating that the animals were ill,” according to a release from the police. Several of the animals tested positive for canine distemper at a local laboratory.

“There is no threat to humans,” stressed Mary Rozak, spokeswoman for the Albany County Executive’s Office.

While canine distemper can be passed between animals, it can not pass to humans, she said. 

“Our health department didn’t know about it,” Rozak said of the Albany Police report on the influx of wild animals with distemper.

“There was no alert. It’s not reportable. There’s no follow-up or regulation,” Rozak told The Enterprise.

If a person has interacted with an animal who has behaviors like twitching or paralysis, Rozak said, “The health department would treat it as exposure to rabies until a test came back.”

If a person is exposed to rabies, treatment must begin right away. The treatment consists of a dose of immune globulin administered as soon as possible after being exposed.

The first five doses of rabies vaccine is given at the same time, with the remaining injections given one each on the third, seventh, and 14th day after the initial injection.

The series of shots, The Enterprise wrote in 2014, costs roughly $1,000. In Albany County, at that time, any cost not covered by the patient’s insurance was paid by the county.

Rozak speculated this week on why there would be so many affected wild animals in the city, saying, “Perhaps … [because] there’s closer concentration, it might spread more rapidly.”

Without specific lab testing, it’s hard to tell whether an animal has canine distemper or rabies. Anyone who sees a wildlife animal that may be sick is asked not to approach the animal but rather, if it’s in Albany, to call the Albany Police at 518-438-4000.

Rozak concluded of the county’s role, “In the case of a distemper question, we would also forward a person to their own veterinarian.”

Veterinary view

Danielle Pokorny, DVM, a veterinarian who practices at the Albany County Veterinary Hospital in Guilderland said that, in her 16-year career, she has only once treated a dog with distemper. It was a beagle, a rescued dog, who had come from the South.

“He came in with respiratory symptoms and ended up with seizures,” said Pokorny. The beagle could not be saved.

Although canine distemper is often fatal, it is also rare in this area, she said, because most dogs are vaccinated.

The mortality rate for adult dogs with distemper is 50 percent and for puppies is 80 percent, said Pokorny.

“That’s second only to rabies,” she said.

To prevent distemper, puppies are to be vaccinated every three to four weeks until they are 14 to 16 weeks old, Pokorny said. They are then to be vaccinated a year later and, after that, every three years.

That every-three-year schedule is the same as for a rabies vaccine, so most dog owners do them together, Pokorny said, although the canine distemper vaccination for dogs is not required by law as the rabies vaccination is.

“We don’t vaccinate cats, just dogs,” Pokorny said, explaining that a vaccination often referred to as being for “feline distemper” is actually a vaccination for two types of upper respiratory viruses and a gastrointestinal virus.

But canine distemper can infect large Felidae like lions, tigers, and leopards, she said.

“We do vaccinate ferrets,” said Pokorny since ferrets are susceptible to the virus as are foxes, wolves, coyotes, skunks, and raccoons. Some people keep ferrets as pets.

The distemper virus is robust. It survives in urine, saliva, feces, and respiratory secretion, Pokorny said. “It can live a very long time in the environment,” she said, explaining that it is an “enveloped virus.”

“That means it has a shell or outer protective barrier. It can even live frozen,” Pokorny said, noting that another virus that infects dogs, the parvovirus, “has been known to survive nine years.”

Signs that an animal’s nervous system is affected can be noticed 14 to 20 days after infection, Pokorny said. Seventy-five percent of cases can be subclinical. “That means you have no symptoms but can spread it,” said Pokorny.

There is no cure for the disease. A dog with a respiratory case is given “supportive care,” Pokorny said, which means it is given fluids and nutrition and antibiotics to ward off secondary infection.

She advised that, if a person were to suspect a dog or another animal had distemper, “Don’t contact the animal in case it’s rabies.” She advised, rather, calling the police or animal control to collect the animal.

Distemper can be tested for without killing the animal, through taking a swab, Pokorny said. To test for rabies, the animal has to be killed, she said, so the hippocampus of the brain can be examined.