From:
ferrethealer@aol.com
Date: 2008-12-19 01:06:05 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Lethal, Hot Strain of ECE
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
I initially posted this last night on the ferretbreeders network. Since then
I have spoken to a couple of pathologists, including the one who read the
histopathology and Dr. Matti Kuipel at MSU, both of whom are in agreement that
this seems like ECE. It is not yet confirmed 100%, but odds are high. We will
be sending confirmatory tests to MSU, but won't get results for at least
several days. Also, a few of the ferrets have had some green diarrhea, but it is
not the "green slime" that is characteristic of classic ECE.
This is a heads up - don't think it can't be ECE just because the stool isn't
green anymore. Make sure your vet considers ECE.
Dr. Ruth
Okay, folks, many of you are already aware of this, but quite a few of you
are not. In the past few weeks, we have had many, many ferrets get sick, and
we've lost eleven of them so far. Initially, I thought we had a nasty flu
virus, but as more and more ferrets got sick and didn't get better no matter what
we did, I started looking for other things.
Right now it looks like a mutated strain of ECE, although that has not yet
been confirmed by electron microscopy (I'm still looking for someone to do
that!). Histopathology (which I got back about half an hour ago) is consistent
with ECE. Stool cultures for bacterial infections are negative, repeated exams
for coccidia are negative. Post-mortem exams on these ferrets don't show all
that much other than gastrointestinal inflammation and some ulceration.
I have NO idea where this came from - I have not seen any ferrets with
similar signs in the hospital. But ECE is a coronavirus and they are known to
mutate on their own quite happily, so it could easily have simply done that. I
have heard of a couple of cases of ferrets with similar symptoms, but it's not
known yet whether it is truly the same thing.
Symptoms are:
-from happy, healthy, bouncy ferret to cold/flat/extremely dehydrated ferret
with or without bloody diarrhea in the span of less than eight hours
-it is extremely difficult to rehydrate these ferrets - some of them have
been getting 200 or more cc of fluids per day
-some of them will eat on their own, others will not
-copious diarrhea, liquid, progressing to bloody
-NO vomiting
-the diarrhea is NOT green
-death can be as rapid as eight hours after first onset of clinical signs
-some ferrets have broken with a bit of diarrhea, but have not shown the
other signs and have recovered uneventfully
We have gotten several severely affected ferrets through this to full
recovery.
<list of deceased, recovered, and ill ferrets deleted>
Dr. Ruth
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