I'm sure everyone was alarmed to read about the mysterious and fatal illness
Michael Curry described in Australia.
 
First, this does NOT sound like what has been described as "ECE" in North
America.  Michael's illness had a sudden onset in kits at just about the
time that maternal immunity is fading.  I agree with him that this is *not*
caused by a genetic defect, especially since his older ferrets developed it,
too.  This is infectious, but exactly what it is needs to be determined, or
ferrets and possibly other animals could catch it, too.  (There are some
infections that don't normally infect humans but will happily wreak havoc on
a human body that gets a big enough dose--cryptosporidia and the "Four
Corners" Hanta virus are examples.  So, never chuckle smugly and say, "Oh,
humans don't get that." Mother Nature will hear you and make an example of
you.)
 
The postmortems that revealed nothing complicate the mystery.  Did the PMs
include a microscopic (or electron microscopy) examination of the gut?  You
don't get tarry stools without having *something* to show for it: gastritis,
ulcers, ascites, erosion of the intestinal lining, etc.
 
Was there any abnormality in the ferrets' blood?  Elevated immunoglobulin?
White cells?  Etc?
 
Without more to go on, it's difficult to suggest what the organism might
have been.  I assume the vets looked for and ruled out parasitic or
bacterial infections?  Even still, there are lots of intestinal viruses,
including coronavirus, rotavirus, and caliciviruses.  If your local vets
don't have the facilities to look further, you might want to track down the
research institutions in Australia that can do the virology.  (I'm sending
Michael some suggestions by private e-mail.)
 
On a related thread, Margaret Zick asked about ECE:
 
>Since corona viruses are notoriously difficult to isolate is it reasonable
>to expect a good easy test for ece?
 
Yes.  It IS reasonable to expect a good test...eventually.  There's a lot of
legwork that needs to be done initially to determine first that ECE *is* a
coronavirus.  (A technique called polymerase chain reaction is being used to
accurately detect coronaviruses...I can only assume that no one has done it
yet in ferrets with ECE.) If ECE is a coronavirus, the results from PCR can
be used to determine how closely related it is to similar viruses and to
begin to develop easier and cheaper tests for it, possibly like the ones
used in home pregnancy tests now.
 
IF ECE is a coronavirus, I'd be interested in knowing whether it is a new
virus or whether it is a ferret-adapted version of one of the existing
coronaviruses such as feline infectious peritonitis virus, feline enteric
coronavirus or canine coronavirus.  Even if we don't have a quick and easy
test, knowing more about the virus itself can give us lots of information
about how it is spread, how long it survives in the environment, how long it
is shed, whether it can become latent and thus possibly lead to various
cancers, etc.  etc.
 
I have an offer that still stands.  A researcher at UNC-Chapel Hill
specializes in coronaviruses.  He can do PCR for the little monsters to
detect them and then determine the genetic sequence the virus if it is a
coronavirus.  He's told me he's willing to test samples from a RECENT, NEW
outbreak of ECE.  If anyone finds themselves in such an unhappy situation
and wants to contribute to finding an answer to all of this, e-mail me at
[log in to unmask] and I'll get the details on how to take samples and
ship them.  This is not a cheap procedure, but it's a feather in the hat of
any researcher to identify a new virus, and he gets a crack at naming it.
It would certainly tell ferret owners once and for all whether ECE *is* a
coronavirus.
 
--Jeff Johnston
[Posted in FML issue 1674]