Hi, John,
I have been in touch with multiple vets over a matter of weeks and asked
if this disease has been seen in ferrets, and so far none know of any
cases.  That doesn't mean that it can't happen or that it might not
mutate further allowing it to happen, but so far it hasn't so maybe no
ferrets will ever get it.  This is an equine (horse) influenza type which
mutated and was first seen in racing dogs that lived in close proximity
to horses.  One of the major routes for novel diseases for which animals
have no ready antibodies is mutation of a disease normally found in
other animals.  That is why an easily mutating bird influenza scares
epidemiologists, of course.  Did you know that it is thought that one
reason that there was more exchange of diseases to Native Americans
instead of the other way around during the incursions by Europeans is
because Europeans lived in close association with so many animals so had
more disease exposures?  (It didn't help that when the major European
incursions on the east coast or North America occurred was right after a
major native disease outbreak had killed the majority of Native Americans
from much of the coast according to some new research -- which is like
the disease and drought-famine that make much of Africa vulnerable just
before colonization.)
 
Anyway, according the talk of Corrie Brown at this year's Western
Veterinary Conference among humans -- of about 1,400 known infectious
diseases -- about 60% are zoonotics (from other species).  There is no
reason to assume that other species would not encounter similar
situations with diseases we or other species could pass in mutated form
to them.
 
So, ferrets might, or might at a future time with a mutated influenza
version, be able to get this alteration of equine influenza, but right
now I have been unable to find any known cases.
 
(I HAVE found that there are a lot of people insisting that their dogs
have this when they don't, though.  That is no great surprise; you would
be amazed how many people blamed even stress runs on ECE when that was
in the news more, though having almost lost 3 -- one of whom had her
preexisting disease worsen so greatly that her life was shortened, and
one of whom took kidney damage due to dehydration despite vet and home
rehydration daily, I can't figure out why anyone would ever want to claim
to be encountering that when not doing so.  Nowadays there are a lot of
unproven and some clearly false claims of ferrets with DIM (where even
their vets say they just have a a bit of another infection), and having
cared for Chiclet for 6 weeks with that and gone through all that
heartbreak I even more can not figure out why anyone would want to claim
that disease without having done everything to make sure it really is
that and having looked careful for other possible causes so that most
effective treatment can be used.  There are some possible cases that lack
pathology so no one knows, but if you want to be startled sometime read
up in reputable sources what that disease is like and then read some of
the reports that don't fit in pretty much any way or share only one or
two symptoms which can have a whole range of causes.  You will be
startled.
 
BTW, because Dr. Katrina Ramsell recently gave her talk on DIM and which
treatments have been tried and failed -- all of them on proven cases
though some of the very latest are doing better now so that lends hope
of progress -- at the AFA vet conference there will be an upcoming update
to the public notice about this disease.  Next Summer the cooperative
pathology work on this disease by Doctors Matti Kiupel (Michigan State)
and Mike Garner (Zoopath) will be one talk at the IFC Symposium in
Canada.  Doctors Ramsell, Garner, and Kiupel are in regular contact with
each other on this disease, and the IFC provided a grant last year to
help in this disease investigation.)
 
-- Sukie (not a vet)
Ferret Health List co-moderator
http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth
FHL Archives fan
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
replacing
http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org
International Ferret Congress advisor
http://www.ferretcongress.org
[Posted in FML issue 5034]