From:
sukiec@optonline.net
Date: 2005-06-28 20:04:35 UTC
Subject: RE: Lymphoma being passed from one to another
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <7878061.1119989075853.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
It is NOT the lympho they are sharing, but they very likely shared a causative virus as long as three years ago. In the MIT Div. of Comparative Med research the lympho broke two to three years after exposure. I remember when that research had to end due to not enough funding and time.
They began looking at lympho in ferrets there substantially before then, actually. They wanted to include one of our early ones in our first lympho clump here in their work but she would have had to move away from us and we just could not bring ourselves to go that far toward finding info. Specimens and even full cadaver at death were fine but Frit was someone who really needed her family in her last 9 months.
So, no, the lymphoma is not catching, but if these two don't have it by coincidence then they probably shared a virus 2 or more years ago which set the stage for these cases
In Dr. Bruce William's
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/PDF/Lymphoma_Ferrets.pdf
which I HIGHLY RECOMMEND TO ANYONE WANTING TO LEARN ABOUT LYMPHOMA/LYMPHOSARCOMA IN FERRETS note the section:
START QUOTE
The third and last common variant is the
immunoblastic-polymorphous variant (a
mouthful of a name based on the microscopic
appearance of the cells), a highly aggressive
form with rapid cell proliferation and no distinct
organ, node, or age predilection. For unknown
reasons, this form is most commonly seen in the
Midwestern United States. An interesting
finding in this form is the microscopic
similarities to virally-induced forms of
lymphoma in other species (including man and
rabbits.) In fact, in 1995, researchers at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology were able
to transmit lymphoma between ferrets with cell-
free extracts, suggesting a possible viral cause
for lymphoma, or at least some forms of it. The
development of lymphoma in this experiment
took several years in inoculated individuals, and
not all inoculated ferrets developed lymphoma,
but the results of this study are too intriguing to
ignore. To date, however, a virus has yet to be
identified or isolated from malignant lymphoma
in ferrets.
END QUOTE
We have twice had lympho clumps here in 24 years. The first took 3 ferrets and if memory serves the second one took something like 7. It was a lot. As Steve says, "too many".