<http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/2010/05/28/fatal-virus=-threatens-coventry-ferret-rescue-charity-92746-26541760/>

It's very hard to look after many ferret with ECE. I know of a Florida
shelter than managed to keep over a 100 ferrets with ECE alive but did
so with many volunteers who kept clothing there that was only for that
use, used shoe covers that never left the sick room, and changed and
showered immediately before leaving in a different section of the same
building, and even then most would leave their shoes outside when they
arrived home, then shower again at home and toss their clothing
immediately into the washing machine. That worked to protect their
ferrets, too, so was worth every bit of care.

There are two forms of ECE. Both forms exist in Europe and the U.S. The
really bad systemic mutant, which does not have a cure so far, looks
like FIP in the way that it presents but if a mutant of ECE. Luckily,
that form is rare.

The enteric version is the classic ECE.

ECE remains contagious for as long as EIGHT MONTHS and it appears that
it can be carried on clothing or shoes.

Reputable sources of information:

This first one is the Ferret Health Group at Michigan State which
has already greatly advanced knowledge of ferret diseases (which
has already saved a number of lives) but which badly needs funding
to continue its work:
http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/

and for the info on both forms of ECE specifically go to

http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/Diseases/Gastrointestinal.pdf
with the ECE sections beginning about 1/3 of the way down.
There are necropsy photos in there, too.

This one is a classic and remains the best read on caring for ferrets
with ECE:

http://www.afip.org/consultation/vetpath/ferrets/ECE/ECE.html

(There is one tiny necropsy photo and very helpful text plus live links
on things like feeding tips.)

The newer mutant (the one that present like FIP, but is actually is an
ECE mutation) and ECE itself are coronaviruses so very few places, even
university research labs, lack the needed equipment and expertise to
say exactly what coronavirus is being seen. The Michigan State Ferret
Health Group does have the ability to do those tests (and recently
was searching for new specimens). In fact, the ability to tell one
coronavirus from another is so rare that European and Canadian vets
also send specimens there.

There is a much less specific test which can say that SOME TYPE of
coronavirus is present. That is quite widely available. You can read
about that in

http://ferrethealth.org/archive/FHL9546
which includes
>To diagnose this disease histopath and immunohistochemistry staining
>is needed. Sounds like your pathologist did these 2 tests. Most vet
>labs can do these 2 tests.They use the same monoclonal antibody (FIP
>V3-70) for cats and ferrets with the IHC staining. Now what Michigan
>State can do that most labs cannot do is to sequence the coronavirus.
>This is to test for what strain of coronavirus is causing the problem
>and may help them develop a PCR or other test that can be used for
>this disease.

Using the monoclonal antibody with IHC staining says that some form of
coronavirus is present but not what type. The people at Michigan State
can say which type and are working toward developing easier testing and
hopefully eventually a vaccine so that nastier ECE mutant can stopped
and huge problems like the British shelter has can ended.

Here are some of the journal publications on regular (enteric) ECE, and
one the ECE mutant (systemic) which presents in FIP-like symptoms:
Go to
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez
use the search terms
coronavirus ferrets Kiupel
and then you will be able to click open any of the following:

>1. Comparative sequence analysis of the distal one-third of the
>genomes of a systemic and an enteric ferret coronavirus. Wise AG,
>Kiupel M, Garner MM, Clark AK, Maes RK. Virus Res. 2010
>Apr;149(1):42-50. Epub 2010 Jan 15.PMID: 20079778
> [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]Related citations
>2. Clinicopathologic features of a systemic coronavirus-associated
>disease resembling feline infectious peritonitis in the domestic
>ferret (Mustela putorius). Garner MM, Ramsell K, Morera N, Juan-Sallés
>C, Jiménez J, Ardiaca M, Montesinos A, Teifke JP, Löhr CV, Evermann
>JF, Baszler TV, Nordhausen RW, Wise AG, Maes RK, Kiupel M. Vet Pathol.
>2008 Mar;45(2):236-46. Erratum in: Vet Pathol. 2008 Jul;
>45(4):598.PMID: 18424841
> [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] Free>ArticleRelated citations
>3. Molecular characterization of a novel coronavirus associated with
>epizootic catarrhal enteritis (ECE) in ferrets. Wise AG, Kiupel M,
>Maes RK. Virology. 2006 May 25;349(1):164-74. Epub 2006 Feb 24.PMID:
>16499943 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]Related citations
>4. Coronavirus-associated epizootic catarrhal enteritis in ferrets.
>Williams BH, Kiupel M, West KH, Raymond JT, Grant CK, Glickman LT. J
>Am Vet Med Assoc. 2000 Aug 15;217(4):526-30.PMID: 10953717 [PubMed
>- indexed for MEDLINE]Related citations

(BTW, some early work on SARS that was done on ferrets and on cats
wound up useless because the human health researchers did not know
that ferrets can have ECE and cats can have FIP then they only used
monoclonal antibody testing and figured that the cats and ferrets had
SARS when they had other coronaviruses. Many later SARS researchers
learned from that and looked at the genomes of the coronaviruses, too,
for SARS markers which is really essential.)

[Posted in FML 6712]