From:
katharine
Date: 2002-02-03 19:22:00 UTC
Subject: ADV Testing
I have to comment on what appears to be quickly
becoming mass hysteria about the possibility of a
MF baby testing postive for ADV.
My suggestion would be to have your vet draw blood
and send it to Avecon for testing. Even though
the saliva sample was sent, there is no guarantee
that the sample was taken properly.
I spoke with Dr. Stephon some months ago about
testing my crew. I do the "point of contact" test
on every ferret before it enters my house. In our
discussion, we talked about what to do if one
tested positive. We agreed the best thing was to
board the ferret in a quarantined area of my vets
office, to have my vet draw blood, and send it to
Avecon for testing. At that point, we would have
to decide what course to take if it was indeed
positive.
I'm not saying that the baby doesn't have ADV. I
just think it would be prudent to re-test at the
vet and the Avecon lab before publicly implying
that MF has ADV in its facility. As Sukie pointed
out, even if it is positive, there is no proof
where it originated at this time.
I hope and pray a mistake has been made.
Katharine
P.S. You might want to notify MF, the distributor,
the pet store, etc. of the POSSIBILITY of ADV
exposure so they can take proper precautions.