>Dr Williams,
>...I have a question about ECE (the green slime).  I am about to adopt
>another ferret (this makes two) and the local shelter said that right now
>they wouldn't let me adopt one if I already had a ferret because their
>ferrets had been exposed to ECE....  Do you have any information on the
>length of time a ferret can be a carrier of ECE?
 
Unfortunately, six months is our best estimate at the time, and this is not
definite.  Ferrets carry the lesion in the intestine for at least a year
after infection - ECE causes a pronounced inflammatory response in reaction
to the presence of the virus.  Other similar viruses in domestic animals can
have shedding times of up to a year.
 
>It has been about five months since they were all well, but I don't want to
>risk getting my ferret sick...
 
If your ferret has not had ECE, I wouldn't risk it either, especially if
your ferret it 4 years or over.  A normal healthy ferret probably wouldn't
have a lot of trouble with ECE, but then your ferret would be a source of
virus for other animals that it would contact.  My best suggestion would be
to find a place where ECE has not been a problem for adoption.  You may even
want to contact Marshall Farms for a direct purchase - they have not yet
seen ECE as a result of the closed facility procedures that they use.  To
the best of my knowledge, animals coming right out of MF should be free of
ECE.
 
Bruce Williams, DVM, DACVP              Chief Pathologist, AccuPath
Dept. of Veterinary Pathology               [log in to unmask]
Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
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[Posted in FML issue 1449]