>> The only thing I know of is Dr. Susan Brown wrote in Dr. Purcell's book
>>that she had tested over 500 ferrets in one shelter and found
>> 13% positives and only two of those animals developed clinical
>>signs of ADV over 3 years.
 
>But wasn't that a very old study?  I seem to recall that there were
>also some questions about a testing method used then, too, but
>could be completely wrong on that score so don't hold me to it.
>In adddition, aren't there thought to possibly be multiple strains
>so some may be less likely to express and others more so --
>again, I don't know but it's an impression I have had.
 
Yes, I think that those figures are getting a bit out of date - these were
cited long before we started seeing outbreaks with large numbers of
infected animals in them, and they also represent one practice, and should
not be considered to be representative of the country as a whole,
especially today.
 
It is very difficult to get accurate numbers on this disease, as AD is
not a reportable disease, and testing is so very patchy even today.  In
reportable diseases in which the government tests for as part of an
eradication program, like tuberculosis, brucellosis, and some other
diseases like rabies, published numbers represent a concerted effort to
retrieve accurate data.
 
Unfortunately, there is no such data available on most common diseases of
the dog and cat, either.  Most "statistics" represent data collection from
very localized studies which are often not representative as a whole.
 
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, DVM
 
[Sukie note: had a slew of requests for joining info for the FHL today
following yesterday's posts.  To do so just go to
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ferret-Health-list/ and join from there.]
[Posted in FML issue 3692]