From:
daneedv
Date: 2002-02-05 14:17:00 UTC
Subject: Re: ADV/Marshall Farms
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., "ad_ferrets" <kctom@w...> wrote:
>
> HI Charleen,
> I'm the mom. And she hasn't had any vaccines since 1/16/2001 at
> least .
> --- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., CFERRETTAILS@a... wrote:
> > Hi Everyone,
> >
> > One of the things no one has mentioned here is that if the kit
had
> just been
> > vaccinated recently, that sometimes the test comes back positive
> and its not
The question of whether or not vaccines will cause an ADV test to
test positive have been discussed before. Most of the experts, like
Dr. Marshall Bloom, who helped develope the CEP test, say vaccines
will not affect the outcome of the test. Some months ago, I cross
posted his remarks to this list, so if someone wants to find it they
can search the archives on my name. However, even if you believe
that vacines will affect the outcome of the CEP, one of the selling
points for Avecon's ELISA test is that is will definitely not be
affected by vaccines.
Now, as to the MF connection to ADV...
It is far more likely that if MF kits are showing up in pet shops
already with ADV that they picked it up from the distributor. We
already know of an animal distributor on the East Coast that has an
ADV problem and has probably been responsible for infecting kits that
are coming from Petcos ADV+. Unfortunately, the distributor does not
seem to care, and the problem has continued.
Kits rarely are sent from the farm that produced them directly to a
pet store. Instead, they are bought by a distributor in the area,
and housed until a pet shop orders some kits. These distributors may
buy from several different sources, and sometimes even from small
scale breeders. They usually also deal in many different kinds of
animals. These distributors are the most likely source of disease
contamination.
I personally do not like MF and I do not approve of their practices.
However, I do believe they are probably very careful when it comes to
contagious diseases. Their main source of income is from providing
animals for laboratory use. Those animals must be disease free. MF
is not going to risk losing that income source.
While the pet shops do not usually tell customers who the distributor
that they deal with is, they do know, and can provide that
information. I would suggest anyone that has gotten a kit that
immediately tests positive contact the pet shop and ask for the name
and address of the distributor. That is a good place to start in
tracking down where the infection occurred.
Danee