From:
AFERRETVET@cs.com
Date: 2001-07-24 16:44:00 UTC
Subject: Re: [Ferret-Health-list] Re: ADV Home Tests From Avecon
Hi MC
Sounds like there is some confusion about what ADV means.
ADV stands for Aleutian Disease Virus. Yes, if the CEP or ELISA
test is positive then the ferret has been exposed to this virus.
Neither test will produce a false positive from the canine parvo
vaccine or the mink parvo vaccine (mink enteritis). They are both
specific for just the Aleutian Disease Virus. I do not believe there
are false positives with either test; however, there may be some
false negative tests with the ELISA test from Avecon. The ELISA
test is design to test for a specific protein that is only produced
when the virus is actually replicating. Sometimes the virus is not
replicating even though the ferret is still positive for the virus.
There
may also be a slightly longer lag phase for the virus to start
replicating.
Thus the CEP test may pick up a positive before the ELISA test does.
Remember in this disease it is not the virus itself that is causing
the damage (except in young kits), it is the ferrets immune response
to
the virus that is causing the damage and death. That is why some
ferrets
can be positive and have no signs of the disease or only mild signs
of
the disease and others will have major signs of the disease and die
from it.
Hope that helps clear up the confusion,
Jerry Murray, DVM