From:
sukiec@optonline.net
Date: 2005-01-24 00:39:53 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] Mystery Infection
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <3422618.1106527193096.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
I think that there are some thing which contribute to the confusion about this disease. Here are what I think are the five main contributors to confusion:
The first is that it simply is so new that we are all still learning.
The second is that since it is new there can be confusions in nomenclature.
Because people don't always notice the follow-ups on disease reports they don't hear or aren't aware of the end results at times so there are some reports of survivors who weren't, either because they did pass away or because they actually turned out ot have different diseases.
Since it is impossible to test for the disease there is difficulty at times knowing what is being encountered. This has also led to some false reports. Even with a disease as well known as ECE not being able to test for it has led some people to at times not know that they were encountering something else. With a disease that is so new that those researching it judge possible inclusion by symptoms, pathology reports, progression, and exclusion of other diseases which can look similar for some of the symptoms (like other causes of sepsis, CDV, meningitis, JL, etc. depending on what symptoms have been seen) it can be even harder to know what is going on.
Not all ferrets have all symptoms. For instance, not all develop cellulitis despite the sepsis involved, but there still is decent rate of cellulitis mentioned in past reports, ditto one or two swollen nodes. So, it is more a situation where if enough of the symptoms fit for the syndrome then the case becomes a *possible* case of the mystery disease while the vets watch more and test more to know how well it really fits.
So, basically, it simply is confusing for everyone right now, and hopefully having two talented teams working from different directions to try to understand it will result at some point in some answers, but this particular disease is anything but an easy conundrum so don't expect answers fast.
People have been able to build the data base of what helps by workign from past cases, though, and some intriguing directions for treatment have arisen, so maybe (like ECE) there will be a treatment before the illness cause itself is found.