In a pers com Dr. Kiupel informed me that porcine circovirus is also
found in healthy pigs with no disease, and that may also be the case
with dogs. Plus, some of the dogs dying with the same symptoms have
not had circovirus. (He is not only a respected veterinary pathology
expert, but was one of the people who first discovered porcine
circovirus.)
That does not mean that people who have flu symptoms should not be
careful around ferrets. They should. Ferrets catch influenza from
people. That is a known fact.
Nor does it mean that ferrets might or might not also get this syndrome
that the dogs have been getting -- just that it is too early in the
investigation to blame circovirus for what is occurring. Basically:
more needs to be known and people need to avoid jumping to conclusions
prematurely (MY words).
Remember when people jumped to conclusions prematurely on ECE (and
decades later some people STILL incorrectly blame influenza instead of
knowing that it is a coronavirus)? Remember when people incorrectly
blamed FIP for the FIP-like coronavirus infections in ferrets (which
is ferret systemic coronavirus) even though it is a mutant of ECE?
Remember when all sorts of incorrect possibilities were suggested
by many (including me) for the fasciitis syndrome that killed so
horribly -- but luckily by then most people had figured out that
suggestions are only suggestions just as hypotheses are only
hypotheses?
Resources on some of these illnesses:
http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/Publications.phphttps://www.avma.org/KB/Resources/Pages/Circovirus-in-Dogs-Frequently-Asked-Questions.aspx
Googling
circovirus Kiupel
will get you somewhere over a dozen separate refs and he studied pigeon
circovirus in pigeons, too.
So, use that boulder of salt and know that some may be jumping to
conclusions before enough data is in, AND that this syndrome needs more
study so if the symptoms appear DO get the dog to the veterinarian
immediately, AND just in case this MIGHT be another illness that dogs
and ferrets can share DO keep the ferrets away from infected dogs.
Sukie (not a vet) Ferrets make the world a game.
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/http://ferrethealth.org/archive/http://www.miamiferret.org/http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/
all ferret topics:
http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/archives/ferret-search.html
"All hail the procrastinators for they shall rule the world tomorrow."
(2010, Steve Crandall)
A nation is as free as the least within it.
[Posted in FML 7928]
