A while back I wrote to Dr. Ritchie and asked him about immediate and
long term plans for the ADV Research at the U of GA.  I let him know that
I would post his reply to several online ferret lists, so that as many
people as possible would see it.
 
Here is the reply that I received.  As you can see, progress, while slow,
is being made.  Also, as with so many things, money talks.  The more
money that can be raised, the sooner we will have more options in dealing
with the problems of ADV.
 
He mentions sending both donations and blood and tissue samples to Kate,
the complete address for sending things is:
 
      Kate Pennick
      Vet Med Bldg.
      Dept. of Small Animal Medicine
      UGA College of Vet Med
      Athens, GA 30602-7390
Danee
ADV - If your ferret hasn't been tested, you don't know!
For more information visit  http://www.geocities.com/russiansmom
 
7-29-02
Dear Danee,
 
Sorry it has taken me so long to respond but I have been involved with an
NIH and Navy grant that required an enormous amount of time and I have
several graduate students that have been completing their dissertations
and defense.
 
Our ultimate goal for any infectious disease would be development of an
effective vaccine and the same would be true for ADV.  Our group does
have the capabilities to develop a vaccine for testing but such an
endeavor would require sufficient financial support to see the project
to completion.  At this point, our funding has been limited to small but
important contributions, many of which are the direct result of your
input.
 
Samples for diagnostic purposes do help us learn more about trends and
variation in the virus/host interaction.  We plan to transfer the assays
we have been using at a research level to the Infectious Diseases
Laboratory at the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine.
This not for profit laboratory provides diagnostic services on a cost
recovery basis and this would free up more time and resources for
investigative rather than diagnostic research.  Please send samples and
donations care of Kate.
 
I understand your frustration with gathering the masses to improve the
health of companion ferrets but I am confident that you will achieve your
goal.  It is wonderful to hear that fund raising efforts are slowly but
surely intensifying.  Please feel free to contact me at any time.  I
usually have an opportunity to respond to phone calls within days, mail
within 3 to 4 weeks
 
Thank you for your interest in helping us help ferrets.
 
Sincerely, Branson W. Ritchie DVM, PhD, Diplomate ABVP and ECAMS
Distinguished Research Professor
Departments of Small Animal Medicine and Medical Microbiology
[Posted in FML issue 3860]