Cyndi, that is wonderful news about Blaze!  All of us who lost ferrets
to DIM are so happy for you and for Blaze!
 
Through the time when treatments were being developed there was some
confusion because there were cases which were being called DIM but for
which no pathology work was done -- ever -- and DIM absolutely requires
pathology work to be told apart from several things which can look the
same.  Sadly, when tried on ferrets with proven cases those approaches
failed.  So, who knows what was going on with them: perhaps other causes,
perhaps mild cases of DIM when compared to the norm -- there is not way
to know since the pathology wasn't done but the treatments did not work
for others.
 
One of the big pieces of news that people heard at the Ferret Aid IFC
Symposium was that an approach has now been devised by Doctor Katrina
Ramsell of Southwest Animal Hospital in Beaverton, OR, who has been
working on this for quite some time and who has doctorates both in
veterinary medicine and pharmacology, and this new approach has gotten
multiple ferrets long enough time that it could be a cure.  Another is
that there is good reason to think that cause has at least been narrowed
down, possibly found, but details on that will come out after the release
of a journal article by Doctors Mike Garner of NW Zoopath, and Matti
Kiupel of Michigan State who runs the ferret pathology project there.
Both have been involved since very early in the disease and Michigan
State is where the most unusual aspects of the testing were done,
including some that were funded by a grant from the IFC.  I so hope
to get a reprint of that article.  At this point in time I do not know
which journal has the article.
 
If Dr. Garner's name sounds familiar he spoke at the Ferret Aid IFC
Symposium and he is an excellent pathologist.  He's the one Dr. Bruce
Williams so often used for non-involved opinions on his own ferrets,
as have many of us.
 
If Dr. Kiupel's name sounds familiar he is the expert who independently
verified the cause of ECE and his team has recently come up with the
genome for the causative coronavirus which opens possibilities of more
affordable testing and maybe even a vaccine.  ECE is thought to be a
cause of later IBD which itself appears to be able to sometimes set the
stage for GI malignancy through chronic inflammation, damage, and
irritation.  Some recent abstracts:
 
START QUOTES
 
Virology. 2006 May 25;349(1):164-74. Epub 2006 Feb 24.
Molecular characterization of a novel coronavirus associated with
epizootic catarrhal enteritis (ECE) in ferrets.
Wise AG, Kiupel M, Maes RK.
Diagnostic Center for Population and Animal Health, Lansing, MI
48909, USA. [log in to unmask]
 
A novel coronavirus, designated as ferret enteric coronavirus (FECV),
was identified in feces of domestic ferrets clinically diagnosed with
epizootic catarrhal enteritis (ECE).  Initially, partial sequences of
the polymerase, spike, membrane protein, and nucleocapsid genes were
generated using coronavirus consensus PCR assays.  Subsequently, the
complete sequences of the nucleocapsid gene and the last two open
reading frames at the 3' terminus of the FECV genome were obtained.
Phylogenetic analyses based on predicted partial amino acid sequences
of the polymerase, spike, and membrane proteins, and full sequence of
the nucleocapsid protein showed that FECV is genetically most closely
related to group 1 coronaviruses.  FECV is more similar to feline
coronavirus, porcine transmissible gastroenteritis virus, and canine
coronavirus than to porcine epidemic diarrhea virus and human
coronavirus 229E.  Molecular data presented in this study provide the
first genetic evidence for a new coronavirus associated with clinical
cases of ECE.
PMID: 16499943 [PubMed - in process]
 
and
 
J Vet Diagn Invest. 2006 Mar;18(2):228-31.
Peliod hepatocellular carcinoma in a domesticated ferret (Mustela
putorius furo).
Jones Y, Wise A, Maes R, Kiupel M.
Department of Pathobiology and Diagnostic Investigation, Michigan
State University, East Lansing, USA.
 
Peliod hepatocellular carcinoma was diagnosed in a domesticated
ferret (Mustela putorius furo).  The diagnosis was made using
immunohistochemical analysis, histologic examination, and the accepted
classification schemes based on histomorphologic features.  Bilateral,
adrenocortical hyperplasia also was evident.  Speculation about a
possible association between the variant of hepatocellular neoplasia
diagnosed in this animal and its adrenal pathologic changes was done.
 
Publication Types:
Case Reports
PMID: 16617711 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
 
END QUOTES
 
Obviously, all of these three experts have done truly wonderful jobs and
we can all be grateful that they are helping increase ferret veterinary
knowledge!
 
-- 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 5291]