So, why call it Project Carré?
Dr. Henri Carré was the French veterinarian who in 1905 determined that canine distemper was caused by a virus that could be found — among other places — in the nasal discharge of distemper dogs. His was a major breakthrough in the understanding of the disease that had long confounded vets about its cause. For many years after that, distemper was also known as the “Virus of Carré.” However, today the virus has been classified as a Paramyxovirus within the genus of the Morbillivirus. While we have no connection to Dr. Carré, we’ve named this project to honor him because identifying the cause of distemper was a first step towards stopping this disease. We are hopeful that 107 years after his discovery we will finally complete the work of Dr. Carré.
What does Project Carré hope to prove?
The central claim of Dr. Alson Sears is that dogs with distemper treated with the NDV-induced serum before going through the sixth day of showing symptoms can be cured of distemper and not go into the neurologic phase. Dr. Sears says that during his 40 years of practice, he treated more than 600 dogs for distemper and the survival rate was in the high 90s. A survey of vets conducted by Kind Hearts In Action in late 2010/early 2011, supports his claim, but we still need better data.
With all the photos, videos and statistics on your site, why is Project Carré necessary?
Because while some of this information comes from vets, most of it comes from the owners and rescuers of the dogs. We’re grateful for all the information people have shared with us, but to meet the standards of scientific publication, we need a fresh start. Typically, articles submitted to scientific journals must not include previously published data. It needs to follow exacting standards for recording data, establishing diagnosis, following standards for ethics and the formatting requirements of the publication. We need consistency in our methods.
Who will participate in this project?
We need additional vets to join our project. Vets who are skeptical but who can also be fair and open-minded about these treatments would be more than welcome. We will need to establish ground rules as to how these cases are to be treated, but we will report on the outcomes of all cases within this study whether the dog lives or dies. We are also setting up an advisory board to oversee this project and need retired veterinarians, academics or researchers to offer advice and guidance. If you know an active or retired vet or academic who can join us, please have them contact us at ed.bond.new.york@gmail.com.
I’m a dog lover/owner, how can I help?
The obvious way is by making a donation and by getting your friends to donate, but there’s plenty you can do besides giving money. You can share our links and our stories with friends, family and fellow dog lovers, as well as with veterinarians and other professionals who work with dogs. Join our efforts on Facebook, where we have a fan page and a cause page, and ask those you know to join too. If you have a dog that survived distemper or died of the disease, you could put up your own fan page about that on Facebook. Include the links to our pages and to our website. If you had a dog that was confirmed by a lab test to have had distemper and was successfully treated with the NDV-induced serum before the onset of seizures, please have your vet contact us with the details on the case. The other big way you could help is if your dog can be used as a blood-serum donor for these studies. These donor dogs are not harmed, but they are the heroes of this treatment.
When do you get started?
We’ve raised our first $5,000, and the project began on March 6, 2012. However, the results will not be made public until after publication in a veterinary journal.
Hey, how do I make that accent mark over the E in the name Carré?
On an Apple computer, press the Option and the E keys at the same time, then hit the E key one more time. On a Windows computer, type Alt+1+3+0.
