Dear Regina:
Glad to hear that Paleface is doing better - he's really been through the
ringer, hasn't he?
>With everyone's collective help, and especially that of my vet, Dr.
>Williams, and Dr. Bell, we decided that Paleface was still fighting the
>helicobacter virus.
Helicobacter mustelae is a bacteria, not a virus. That's why antibiotics
work. Remember, there really isn't a lot we can do about most viruses, but
we can use antibiotics against bacteria....
>As you may have read in Dr. Williams' post about ulcers, a new treatment is
>available for this problem (two weeks of Amoxy and Biaxin). A few days ago,
>we finished up the treatment, and Paleface seems to be doing much better.
That's great. Luckily for ferrets, humans get a type of Helicobacter also
(H. pylori, rather than H. mustelae). Becuase there is so much research
going on in the area of human Helicobacter, a lot of it may be applicable to
ferrets.
The study on this new protocol is scheduled to be published in
Gastroenterology Journal in the next three months. Luckily, I have a friend
who was working on this study, and gave me an advance heads up.....
Bruce Williams, DVM, DACVP Chief Pathologist, AccuPath
Dept. of Veterinary Pathology [log in to unmask]
Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
[log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 1700]
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