From:
sukiec@optonline.net
Date: 2004-12-11 04:54:34 UTC
Subject: RE: Questions
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <3961677.1102740874021.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
> It is suggested that a ferret can pass on ECE for six months or more. I don't know how long it would be a concern if there was not a ferret there that had ECE. I believe it would be best to assume it is always lurking.
> mike
Boy, is Mike ever right. There can be silent shedders of the virus. That's how it came home to us with a couple of kits years ago. If there are noviral shedders added later then something like 6 to 8 months after the infection the viral shedding stops, but a shelter has so much flux of individuals that the chances of a new silent carrier arriving are always present, same as for many other locations (stores, shows, playfests, etc.)
This is a wonderful write-up on ECE:
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/ECE/ECE.html
There is a dissection photo on the reader's upper left side of the page so if those bother you just hang a bit of paper over that edge of your monitor.
There has for some time been on-going work with hopes of having an affordable and readily available test in the future and hopefully even eventually a vaccine; it's a difficult set of problems, though, so we'll all have a lot of hard work to be grateful for when it happens.