Xii. Vaccination of Non-domestic Carnivores: a Review

Since the introduction of vaccinia by Jenner 200 years ago, vaccines have been the first line of defense in controlling infectious diseases in man and domestic animals. Large scale domestic dog vaccination programmes against canine distemper virus (CDV) and canine adenovirus (CAV) became possible in the late 1940’s, when egg-adapted vaccines became available on a commercial basis, followed by tissue culture adapted vaccines in the late 1950’s (Piercy 1961). Before this time these devastating diseases had to be controlled through quarantine and vigilance in capturing feral domestic animals (Dolensek et al. 1977).