From:
dr_bruce_williams
Date: 2002-04-14 18:04:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Questions for vets re: Aleutian disease - I am totally
mystified, please HELP
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., Outlaw50@a... wrote:
The results came back at over 40% ratio of
> gamma globulins to total protein. Brenna's other globulins were
not
> elevated. I have been told, and have been telling people, that the
> electrophoresis is a definitive test for Aleutian disease. I did
the home
> saliva test on Brenna today and it was also negative. Has anyone
heard of
> IBD causing hypergammaglobulinemia?
The chronic inflammation in the gut of ferrets with IBD can indeed
cause hypergammaglobulinemia - IBD is an unrelenting inflammatory
disease with excessive antibody production, among other things.
However, that does seem a little high.
Would that every case was a textbook one, but you are encountering a
case here that is neither black nor white. There are exceptions to
every rule, and probably no test is definitive for ADV - that's why
we generally do a range.
This may be a good case for Dr. Stevenson to look at with her PCR.
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, DVM