From:
AFERRETVET@cs.com
Date: 2009-07-25 01:26:41 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re:Confirmed case of FIP
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Hi Nanci,
Thanks for sharing the info on your case of ferret
FIP-like disease. Yes, older ferrets can also get this
disease. Dr Garner's article in Vet Pathology describes
23 case with the age range of 2 to 36 months. The average
age was only 11 months. Thus it has been reported in older
ferrets too ( 5 of the 23 were 18 months or older). FIP in cats
is also more common in young kittens and in old cats.
To diagnose this disease histopath and immunohistochemistry
staining is needed. Sounds like your pathologist did these 2 tests.
Most vet labs can do these 2 tests.They use the same monoclonal
antibody (FIP V3-70) for cats and ferrets with the IHC staining.
Now what Michigan State can do that most labs cannot do is to
sequence the coronavirus. This is to test for what strain of coronavirus
is causing the problem and may help them develop a PCR or other
test that can be used for this disease. Thus if your pathologist still has
frozen tissue or formalin tissue, the folks at Michigan State will likely
be
interested in them.
Your question about how contagious is this FIP-like disease is a good one.
Unfortunately no one knows the answer to that one yet. One of my 3 cases
was
also a shelter ferret, but no other cases developed at the shelter or
foster mom's
house (that I know of). Likewise another case was from a multiple ferret
home,
and the other ferrets in the house have had no FIP problem.
BTW the question about how contagious FIP is in cats is still debatable,
and how
the virus mutates in cats is still not well understood, and they have been
studying
FIP in cats for more than 20 years now.
Hope that helps,
Jerry Murray, DVM
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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