From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2008-12-28 17:03:57 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: Succesful treatment of recent ECE outbreak with no losses
To: fhl <ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com>
Luckily, most strains of E. coli are not shiga toxin producers, and in
recalls this is most often mentioned in ground beef recalls. There
have been a LOT of ground beef recalls this year.
Cooking kills E. coli, but it does not disarm shiga toxin, so with
those strains how ill someone can get depends on how long the bacteria
have been active (how much toxin has accumulated). E. coli O157:H7
is the most common shiga toxin producing strain.
There are recalls announced when those strains are found. A person
can get on lists for recall announcements in the U.S. and it pays for
people to looks for the corresponding agencies in their nations. For
recalls in the U.S. there are two agencies to check out because each
covers different products:
http://www.fda.gov/opacom/7alerts.html
and
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events/2008_news_releases/index.asp
There are a range of bacteria found in raw foods at times from
Salmonella and Campylobacter being quite common in poultry, to E. coli
being more common in raw (esp. ground) beef, to listeria in raw milk
products, and more.
Normally, ferrets are pretty good at dealing with such ingested
bacteria, but if the numbers are high (larger exposure), if toxins
have been produced, or if the ferret's health is compromised by an
illness or a chronic condition then the infections can become serious
and even fatal. That is why even many people who normally feed raw
foods will go to cooked ones for the ill ferrets, and that is simply a
logical and loving thing for them to do.
Some of the infections, for example, Campylobacter and E. coli, can
have long term consequences:
http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/dfbmd/disease_listing/campylobacter_gi.html
and
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15583337
and
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11865409
and ferrets also could be sensitive to verocytotoxin produced by some
E. coli strains:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9467902
In BFFs:
http://www.jwildlifedis.org/cgi/reprint/37/3/617
so if those ferret had serious E. coli infections they will need to be
watched long term for possible kidney damage. It may not be a bad
idea to just assume the damage may be there and to long term be
careful that they drink a lot, get some extra omega 3 fatty acids, and
that the phosphorous in the diet is kept down. That care may be an
over-reaction, but if it helps then the person with these ferrets will
forever feel good about it.
Here are some other useful sites to learn from:
http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/dfbmd/disease_listing/stec_gi.html
http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/dfbmd/disease_listing/salmonellosis_gi.html
http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2007/NEW01576.html
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol9no1/02-0266.htm
There is a LOT more info in the very easily used FHL archives so I
advise reading there for people who want to see up and down sides, and
I believe you will find links that way, and also in the FHL links
section. URLs are in my sig lines.
So, it's just like anything else in that the downsides and upsides
need to both been known, and treating vets need full information from
the people, so that a person can jump fast enough in the right
direction when things go wrong. Nothing in life is perfect and very
few things are truly terrible. One thing that is mostly good, though,
is a balanced and complete self-education so that the right responses
happen in time.
Dr. Ruth said in the IFC Symposium last month that for the raw
portion of her food choices she knows the farms where the animals are
raised to better control the risk of disease exposure.
Sukie (not a vet)
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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