Message Number: SG13045 | New FHL Archives Search
From: sukiec@optonline.net
Date: 2005-03-09 03:36:14 UTC
Subject: RE: Mystery Disease
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <6668975.1110339374961.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>

Just a quick FYI: I have communicated with the treating vet and this ferret is a POSSIBLE survivor of the disease, but not a definite one because the specific confirming pathology work wasn't known about to be done at the time. So, the ferret may have had the disease or may have had a different severe but survivable disease such as sepsis from a different cause, or meningitis. (There are several things which have been mistaken for this disease, not all of those survivable such as Juvenile Lymphoma or Canine Distemper.)

The treating vet had already been sent contact info for all vets who are researching this illness and the treating vet is in communication about treatment design with one of those vets (who also has a doctorate in pharmacology), and is kindly sharing what treatment was used so that if it does have answers for this disease then those answers will have the best chance of being verified by helping other ferrets.

Here are some markers of this disease: extreme fevers (105'F and above) which are on and off, usually extreme white count which can even get far higher than is seen with lympho. extreme weakness (it attacks muscles), typically willingness to eat if assisted, sometimes skin sores (thought to perhaps be from the disease targeting piloerector muscles, acute onset. sometimes one or two nodes which go from fine to so huge that the limb is forced outward within as little as an hour after having been perfect.

There have not been multiple cases in a given household, but it often tends to clump regionally and temporally.

There have been non-kits with the problem and the ferrets have also been from a range of sources.

Some origin hypotheses have been eliminated and others severely weakened as research continues.

So far there are not definite survivors, though there have been ferrets with a hiatus or with pretty long survival, but if this one possible case ferret had it then we could soon see other ferrets helped, and even if not perhaps some of the other approaches being tried will pan out. The more that is known, the closer we get to an answer to help all.