Ok so I'm looking for any advice at all on how to manage distemper cases as outpatients from a clinic.
Back story is that I work at a charity clinic in the poorest part of South Africa, we've been seeing a lot of "kennel cough" recently but I suspect theres been a distemper outbreak too as some of the dogs are getting sicker and sicker and dying. We offer vaccinaiton but most dogs will only recieve one vaccine without a folow up booster unfortunately so their immunity is iffy at best.
We're getting a lot of dogs with real nasty green purulent nasal discharge and ocular discharge and a fair number presenting in respiratory distress too, a lot of huffing rather than coughing, hence the suspicion of distemper. We have bedside antigen tests available but the cost of them essentially means I can't really use them and lab testing like PCR is not available here.
We don't have enough facilities to admit these dogs for treatment, if they look like theyre on deaths door then we will euthanase instead as the clinic is small and usually filled with animals awaiting sterilisation!
If any one has any advice at all about how best to manage these suspect distemper cases I would be incredibly grateful. I''m from the UK and we don't have distemper there anymore so I feel very underprepared for life here! Should I be euthanasing them on suspicion of the disease as I know they will likely go home and continue to spread the infection? Or should I be loading them up with antibiotics for the secondary infections and instructing guardians on syringe/force feeding?
Thanks so much!
#Medicine,SurgeryandSterilization