Message Number: SG12094 | New FHL Archives SearchFrom: colburns@comcast.net
Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2005 08:52:16 +0000 (GMT)
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Subject: Help With Unknown Deadly Virus
Message-ID: <2168821.1104655936662.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
Dear FHL Folks-
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I talked to my Mom the person doctor about the horrible animal disease repo=
rted in yesterday's FML and she has several interesting things to say about=
it. One being that there are so many untested assertions in the statement=
that the lady gave (Not calling anyone a liar, saying that there are a lot=
of variables floating around in that statement, only one of which can be t=
ested at any given time.That is how a true hypothesis is nailed down.) that=
it is not really a case hsitory. A large amount of it may simply be anecdo=
tal, information passed down the grapevine, and not true eye-witness testim=
ony..She would *never* take this unexamined as a person's disease history, =
she says. For example, she sees no evidence at all that what the people are=
getting and what the animals are getting is the same at all. The people ar=
e getting a G.I. upset, which is pretty common for us, and easily spread a=
round, especially this time of year. That's the simplest explanation, and t=
hose are usually the best.
The animals appear to be getting something hemmoragic (the people aren't), =
and the easiest way to test for that would be to do a coagulation battery a=
nd platelet count on them on day one, follow it up on days two and three, s=
ee if it changes. Have they lost their clotting factor? Is their liver gone=
? Bone marrow gone? Did they eat Warfarin baits, etc.? All those things ne=
ed to be looked at.
If nobody has been able to determine what is killing the animals, what agen=
t (bacteria, virus, toxin, etc.), then you can't truly say that the "diseas=
e" is 100% fatal. If the disease can't be found, how can you be sure that =
it is uniformly fatal? You can't *find* it yet to rule this out one way or =
the other. You do know that the animals who show certain symptoms (days 1-3=
) are doomed. That doesn't mean that their cagemates don't shrug "it" off,=
and never show the first day 1 symptoms.
Antibiotics, of course, that may have been given to these animals won't tou=
ch a virus except under the strangest of conditions. (Antibiotics kill bact=
eria, not virus. Doctors know this, but dispense them anyway to human patie=
nts like candy because patients expect to be 'given' something.). So far th=
ere is no evidence that this is a virus, that's just how the poster conciev=
es of the problem. Obviously, she's got to call it *something*, but calling=
it so doesn't make it so.
Obviously, Mom is not a Vet, but she does have more than 30 years of clini=
cal experience in having people come to her with odd stories, and having to=
sort the "wheat" facts from among the "chaff" to decide what is relevant i=
n their story of "what went wrong when", what is coincidence in that story,=
and what is just plain noise to be ignored. Vets do the same thing, good =
ones, anyway.
Alexandra in MA
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Send comments to Pam at pjdutche@email.unc.edu. Please note that this address is only useful for questions about the FHL archive. Questions about ferret health, or those intended for the FHL, should be sent to the Ferret Health List.