Some years ago I met an American virologist who was visiting Stockholm. When I told him that I was studying the relation between measles and distemper he said: "Oh, really, and on what side are you? Do you belong to the East or the West Coast school?"
Even if there have appeared some contradictory reports from different laboratories concerning serological cross reactions between these viruses, it must be considered justified today to claim that measles, canine distemper, and rinderpest viruses are related agents.
The question of interrelations between measles and canine distemper was raised for the first time in 1945 on histopathological grounds.1 In 1957, during an outbreak of measles in Stockholm, evidence of an immunological relation between measles and canine distemper viruses2 was presented, and later additional comparative Swedish studies along this line were reported.3-5 Likewise in 1957, corresponding results were published from the United States