Assessment of canine distemper virus infection in vaccinated and unvaccinated dogs

Canine distemper is the most prevalent viral disease of dogs, which has high mortality rate. Vaccination of dogs against canine distemper is the only measure to control the disease. The aim of the present study was to find out the effect of commercial live attenuated vaccines in the control of distemper and the importance of the annual vaccination against distemper based on the occurrence of infection. One hundred and sixty conjunctival samples, collected from dogs with clinical symptoms suggestive of canine distemper, were screened by Dot-Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (DotELISA) for the presence of canine distemper virus. The application of Dot-ELISA in screening the samples was validated using Indirect Immunofluorescence assay as the standard technique. Out of the 160 samples tested by Dot-ELISA, 112 (70%) were positive for canine distemper. The results of Dot-ELISA used for epidemiological study based on sex, age and vaccination status showed that dogs of both the sexes and 1-5 years of age were more susceptible to Canine distemper virus infection and there is a lack of regular annual vaccination of dogs which results in the high incidence of distemper in dogs of 1-5 years of age. The present study suggests that vaccination followed by regular annual boosters against distemper would effectively protect the dogs from the disease.