From:
jenniferlutton
Date: 2002-05-30 10:36:00 UTC
Subject: Sick Ferret - Sudden
In reference to:
I do have another question for those out there that have had ferrets
with
ECE, once they have it and get over it, can the catch it again, or
does their
system build up antibodies again any future ECE exposure?
Casper, my ferret who died of megaesophagus, was the only ferret I
had who had ECE symptoms. I can only guess that when I bought two new
kits at a pet show, one was an asymptomatic carrier. I quarantined
them, but they never got sick. Soon after integrating them, Casper
started showing all the ECE signs and was treated accordingly by the
vet. I found another FMLer who had bought a kit from the same source
as one of my new kits, and she had the same problem: the kit was
never sick, but one of her adults was diagnosed with ECE. There
really wasn't any other place Casper could have caught it, unless I
tracked it in on my shoes, if that's possible....
When Casper was finally diagnosed with megaesophagus, I thought aloud
to my vet that maybe that old ECE infection set him up somehow for
the megaesophagus problems later, sort of the way a childhood chicken
pox infection can result in a shingles (same virus) outbreak in later
life. He agreed that it was a possibility, but no one knows because
there weren't studies. Admittedly my sample is too small (4 ferrets,
one with both ECE and megaesophagus) to draw any conclusions.
If more anecdotes of ferrets with megaesophagus are appearing now,
which I suppose is 5-10 years after ECE became a well-known ferret
illness, there might be some relationship between the two ailments.
Has the etiology of ECE been determined? I'd be very interested in
seeing if any studies have explored this possiblity.
Jen