From:
dr_bruce_williams
Date: 2002-02-12 07:07:00 UTC
Subject: Re: ADV [Ferret-Health-list] Digest Number 603
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., "sukieferret" <sukiecrandall@t...>
wrote:
> > The only thing I know of is Dr. Susan Brown wrote in Dr.
> Purcell's book
> > that she had tested over 500 ferrets in one shelter and found
> 13%
> > positives and only two of those animals developed clinical
> signs of ADV
> > over 3 years.
>
> But wasn't that a very old study? I seem to recall that there were
> also some questions about a testing method used then, too, but
> i couldbe completely wrong on that score so don't hold me to it.
> In adddition, aren't there thought to possibly be multiple strains
> so some maybe less likely to express and others more so --
> again, I don't know but it's an impression I have had.
Yes, I think that those figures are getting a bit out of date - these
were cited long before we started seeing outbreaks with large numbers
of infected animals in them, and they also represent one practice,
and should not be considered to be representative of the country as a
whole, especially today.
It is very difficult to get accurate numbers on this disease, as AD
is not a reportable disease, and testing is so very patchy even
today. In reportable diseases in which the government tests for as
part of an eradication program, like tuberculosis, brucellosis, and
some other diseases like rabies, published numbers represent a
concerted effort to retrieve accurate data.
Unfortunately, there is no such data availabe on most comon diseases
ofhe dog and cat. Most "statistics" represent data collection from
very localized studies whcih are often not representative as a whole.
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, dVM