Hi, Dick! Long time!
Ferrets and cats get the bird flu complete with the more serious problem
it comes with: cyokine storms. Feral and farm dogs in Indonesia have
had antibodies so they may have the potential to be silent carriers, or
perhaps those were just the survivors.
The best thing will be to keep all pet animals inside, and probably to
keep one's shoes outside when bird flu appears here, too, since guano is
under study for a possible route to infection. (I am waiting to hear
more about that.) Certainly, handling infected birds is a route to
infection.
At this point there is not casual infection.
When there are vaccines the manufacturing capacity is low enough that
there won't be enough vaccines for people, UNLESS two things happen. The
first is having it take many years before casual infection occurs (and it
might because there are two ways the virus needs to modify for that, but
then again it could happen any day...), and the second would be to have
the general influenza vaccine under study actually pan out because if
memory serves that is not one which needs to be grown in eggs. It will
be cool if that works because it seems at this point in study (still
early days) to tackle multiple strains of influenza so there would not
be problem of figuring out which strain is the one that gets the bad
mutations and then playing catch-up (which would introduce a currently
estimated 6 month lag). There are currently something like 28 vaccines
under development worldwide to reduce the lag risk -- opps, no, found a
news article from yesterday: 31 with 22 of them for the H5N1 strains.
One of the vaccines passed a small human test hurtle as per yesterday's
announcement but it is one that requires 2 vaccinations for immunity
which would further reduce the numbers who can get it. There has also
been pre-existing research on minimizing cytokine storms (the immune
system over-response that is so dangerous, the same reason the flu in
the late 19-teens killed disproportionately large large numbers of young
people because their immune systems responded too strongly), and I am
sure that area of research is expanding. Furthermore, there has been
research going on into delivery mechanisms, finding that for some other
types of vaccines smaller amounts can be used with a rare injection
technique that most people don't learn which puts the vaccine between
skin layers, and finding that nasal vaccine might be the way to go (but
it will depend on what vaccine(s) ultimately work since nasal vaccine
seems to offer earlier protection in infection than traditional injection
in some past studies of different vaccines, and some recent studies have
increased the range of people for whom it can be considered safe and
effective.
Currently, avoiding things that could lead to exposure is the way to go.
I sent some past posts to the FML w updates over time and a lot more
info.
---
Now, adrenal disease info is a lot more easily come by for those who
look for it.
Recommended: the articles by Dr. Deborah Kemmerer Cottrell and the
ones by Mike Janke at miamiferret.org/fhc (Link in my addy.) and ones
on Lupron Depot, melatonin, deslorelin/Suprelorin Depot (currently
experimental status only in the U.S. but the application was made for
approval by the USDA) in the FHL archives and FML archives. The first is
in my addy and the second is in the header of each day's FML. Usually I
place the FML Archives first when here since like all but one of us I am
guest here in Bill's list, but the FHL has more info on these, I think,
so I placed it first this time, though I know I sent a post on the topic
to the FML on the 26th which you may want to seek out, and here are some
links from a post I sent just 2 days before that:
> http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/adrenal.htm
> http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/24hr_lupron.htm
> (why to not use the 24 Lupron)
> http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/melatonin.htm to start off.
> Some complications info you hopefully won't need:
> http://ferrethealth.org/archive/browse.php?msg=SG15827
> http://ferrethealth.org/archive/browse.php?msg=SG5436
> http://ferrethealth.org/archive/browse.php?msg=SG2049
-- Sukie (not a vet, and not speaking for any of the below in my
private posts)
Recommended health resources to help ferrets and the people who love
them:
Ferret Health List
http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth
FHL Archives
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
AFIP Ferret Pathology
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
Miamiferrets
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
International Ferret Congress Critical References
http://www.ferretcongress.org
[Posted in FML issue 5240]
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