From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2005-03-09 22:50:41 UTC
Subject: Re: DIM question
To: ferretface@aol.com, ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-id: <d2ac735ccfde7343a11bc729df082432@mac.com>
>My question is now-a-days w/ DIM how do we go about integrating
ferrets?
That is non-applicable. DIM does not appear to involve a ferret to
ferret contagion.
>I mean, from what I understand it can just happen out of the blue.
It always happens right out of the blue. The ferrets have sudden
extreme symptoms. It isn't something which begins gradually.
>wait long enough to introduce him/her to the others but we don't even
know how long long enogh is--do we?
Confirmed cases of this disease have been around for about 2 years but
there is no instance of a known multi-case household. It clumps
regionally and temporally but that POSSIBLY could also be due to it
being noticed more in such situations.
> Also, is it like ECE in the way that they can be carriers but
asymptomatic?
At this point you would expect multiple cases in multiple households if
contagion were a problem but that isn't seen.
>I know it seems to be in young ferrets, does this mean older ones
can't get it?
No one knows. There ARE non-kits who have gotten it, but the ones I
have heard of have been kits and older ones in the prime of life. That
means that the worst cases may not be because of the disease but
because of how the body responds to it. One thing I have discussed
with one of the researchers into this disease with whom I am in contact
is cytokine storms. In humans cytokine storms result in those whose
immune systems are at their very strongest being at greatest risk
because the real danger is an over-response of the body. (Think of the
influenza that ravaged much of Europe and U.S. in the 19teens, for an
example.) We do NOT know if this is what is occurring in these ferrets
but has been added to the current list of things which haven't yet been
eliminated from consideration.
>Oh, one more...is it only in mass bred ferrets?
Nope. It is showing up in ferrets from a range of breeders and types
of breeders, private and farm.