Edward, I gave you the resources to begin learning about ECE. If the articles don't make sense to you then I think that it simply makes sense for you to not put the cart before the horse, but instead to spend time looking up virology and viral genetics before hoping that someone will be careless enough to send infectious materials to you. Never too old to learn, Edward! The internet is great and there are certainly textbooks. Some additional resources so that you can learn to crawl before you try to run a viral marathon: http://www.virology.net/ http://virology-online.com/ http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00426822 I don't have the time to do more for you, but anyone who is capable of writing to the FML in such profusion is also capable of looking things up and reading, and reading, and reading, and reading , and reading, and reading, and reading, and reading, and reading, and reading , and reading, and reading, and reading which is what it sounds like you need to do first. Sukie (not a vet) Recommended ferret health links: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/ http://ferrethealth.org/archive/ http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/ http://www.ferretcongress.org/ http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html [Posted in FML 6206]