From:
dr_bruce_williams
Date: 2002-02-07 22:23:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Lulu isADVpositivePLS HELP
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., wolfie2689@a... wrote:
> Hey everyone
> I am writing very quickly to get some feedback---I am
getting 2
> different views i guess i will take a consensise---lulu 6 mos just
joined my
> 2 yr old boys 3 weeks ago. idiscovered 1 week after purchasing that
this
> store had a poistive boy die 2 weeks ago. i spoke to the treating
vet and the
> owner is a personal friend of mine
> Lulu was just tested blood and cams back mild positive BUT the
boys are of
> right now tested negative. ok so heres my question
> do I find a place for lulu whatever I can do to get the poor
sweetheart out
> of my home and away from my boys?????
> OR is it too late for that and if the boys have it they have it???
Dear Mary Ann:
The Aleutian Disease parvovirus is not extremely contagious, and
there is much we do not know about this disease in ferrets. There is
certainly a chance that the boys have not contracted AD, especially
as she is only a mild positive on the blood test - it may mean that
she is not shedding high levels of virus at this point.
One thing that we are all forgetting at this time is that other
confirmatory tests are available - the CIEP test at United Vaccines,
the PCR through Dr. Stevenson at the University of Georgia, even a
routine CBC and protein with analysis of the globulins.
If the boys are the priority, I think that it is incumbent that you
find a place for her at another home - either an ADV+ shelter or a
home with no other ferrets. There she can be monitored (and so can
your boys.)
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, dVM