From:
"Sukie Crandall"
Date: 2007-01-08 01:45:25 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: Plant-based virus?
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Find out what the symptoms were if you can, or have
the person call the hospital and ask that the records be read.
I have run the idea past a couple of ferret expert
veterinary pathologists and have heard from one,
Dr. Matti Kiupel, who thinks that probably there
probably was some confusion but adds,
"may be a prototheka, this is an algae, infection."
The references on that which I found were not in
English so i will try the alternative spelling of
prototheca. If this is a bluegreen "algae" then it
is actually a cyanobacter, a lifeform which is pretty
much between algae and bacteria. Some cyanobacter
types are safe but the types are hard to tell apart and
some are gradually toxic to the liver while others
appear to be able to set the stage for GI malignancies.
There was a marvelously in depth Sci Am article on
them in the past and I've seen references since.
Okay, after several tries I have some search results
coming up.
<http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/livestock/dairy/facts/danger.htm>
refers to Prototheca as a colorless algae, not a cyanobacter
and mentions it is sewage, water, and soil, esp. if sewage is
present.
The use of voriconazole, an anti-fungal, to treat this appears in
http://jcm.asm.org/cgi/content/full/43/5/2520
but i do not off-hand know if that is a reasonable med for ferrets.
It includes:
BEGIN QUOTE
Species of the genus Prototheca (family Chlorellaceae)
are ubiquitous, unicellular, achlorophyllic algae closely
related to the green algae Chlorella spp. (12). Prototheca
spp. have been isolated from tree sap, potato peel,
seawater, lakes, marshes, streams, and pond mud, as well
as from rivers and wastewater (2).
END QUOTE
It has been documented in dogs:
http://www.vetclinpathjournal.org/archive/author-r.html
Rizzi TE. More than meets the eye: subretinal aspirate from
an acutely blind dog [Prototheca]. 2006;35(1):111-113
The Google summary for
http://www.springerlink.com/content/y455m250436q7880/
looks possibly intriguing but it is not clear what animal had
that infection
NOTICE THAT THIS IS NOT A PLANT VIRUS, BUT THE PLANT ITSELF.
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