From:
cjansa99
Date: 2002-02-23 20:16:00 UTC
Subject: Pathology Results from Wyoming
Hello Gang,
The Pathology report is back on one of my 3 ferrets that all died
last month. I don't pretend to understand any of it, and my vet has
been unavailable to sit down with me and explain the findings in
detail. From the looks of it I guess it was ECE that killed them.
I still dont understand why the kit succumbed to the virus and died.
I thought the little guys were supposed to come through it with
flying colors. I am attaching the pathology report in hopes of
getting the opinions of those professionals here on the list as to
what the 4 diagnoses given mean. Since ECE seems to be the case
here how long is it safe to wait before bringing any new ferrets
home? I've heard so many different things as to how long the virus
remains active that I'm not sure what to believe. The vet said the
bleach would kill everything I cleaned but what about the carpet and
furniture that they loved to crawl all over? I can't very well use
bleach on that stuff. Will the virus lurk in those fabrics, and if
so how long?
Thanks for your time,
Cindy & The Wyoming Ferrets
PATHOLOGY REPORT ATTACHED:
HISTORY:
This 5-year-old, female, captive bred ferret had an eight day history
of mucoid enteritis that included melena over the last three days of
the disease course. The ferret died. Necropsy showed severe
inflammation of the duodenum and pancreas.
CLINICAL DIAGNOSIS: Open.
GROSS:
Received in formalin are seven tissues to 3 cm. in greatest dimension
that are processed in one block.
MICROSCOPIC:
Liver: Diffusely, hepatocytes have marked fatty change.
Centrilobular veins are congested. Pancreas: The interstitium and
the pancreatic parenchyma are suffused with extravasated blood.
Kidney: Low numbers of tubules are necrotic. Blood vessels are
congested, and extensive foci of hemorrhage are noted in the
parenchyma. Intestine: One section contains luminal digested blood
or bile. A separate section of intestine has superficial mucosal
necrosis with crypt and villous regeneration and mild infiltrates of
lymphocytes and plasma cells. Small foci of fibrin deposition and
hemorrhage are also noted in the mucosa. Spleen: Small foci of
hemorrhage are noted in the red pulp, and some of the macrophages
contain hemosiderin. The following tissues are histologically within
normal limits: stomach (autolyzed), adipose.
DIAGNOSIS:
1. Severe hepatic lipidosis.
2. Acute segmental necrotizing enteritis, intestine.
3. Acute hemorrhage, pancreas, kidney, spleen.
4. Mild renal tubular necrosis.
COMMENT:
Hepatic lipidosis in this case was severe and likely associated with
significant hepatic insufficiency. The extensive hemorrhage in a
number of tissues may be due to coagulopathy associated with this
process. This ferret also had segmental acute necrotizing
enteritis. This lesion may have been due to stress-related erosion,
bacterial overgrowth, or viral infection. The tissue is otherwise
too autolyzed to further characterize. The melena detected in a
separate section of intestine is likely due to the previously
described intestinal lesion. The gastric mucosa was completely
autolyzed, but there did not appear to be a significant inflammatory
cell infiltrate in the stomach. The cause for the mucoid diarrhea
described clinically could not be determined, but the clinical
presentation is similar to that of enteric coronavirus infection of
ferrets. This ferret did not appear to have the chronic form of
inflammatory bowel disease that is commonly seen in ferrets. With
the exception of autolysis and melena in the lumen of the intestine,
this section of intestine was judged to be histologically within
normal limits.