A deadly virus which claimed the lives of two of China's
beloved giant pandas, Chengcheng and Dabao, since early December has left a third, Feng Feng, in critical condition.
The five-year-old Feng Feng, after medical tests showed serious damage to the panda's heart, liver, kidney and lungs caused Canine Distemper Virus.
Canine distemper (sometimes termed hardpad disease in canine) is a viral disease that affects a wide variety of animal families, including domestic and wild species of dogs, coyotes, foxes, wolves, ferrets, skunks, raccoons, and large cats—though not domestic cats — as well as pinnipeds, some primates, and a variety of other species.
Canine distemper is caused by a single-stranded RNA virus of the family paramyxovirus (the same family of the distinct virus that causes measles in man).
The disease is highly contagious via inhalation and fatal 50% of the time. The virus is often fatal for pandas, killing up to 80% of those infected. The research center says it does not know how the infections occurred.
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