Elizabeth (and others),
 
If this is the same disease I am thinking of, there is some information
on it.
 
There was an extremely well written article about that disease in a back
issue of Modern Ferret.  Anyone who wants a copy, please email me with your
snail mail and I will xerox it and mail you a copy.
 
The disease will remain and thrive unless strict cleaning guidelines are
met.  From what I remember offhand, the woman whose ferrets got it had it
from drinking fish tank water that had the bacteria in it due to the fish
feces.  She had to quarantine her ferrets, wipe everything they touched
down with bleach EVERY time they were let out of the cage, and aggressively
treat them with medicine at the same time.  It took her weeks to get rid of
it, because the slightest germ left from it would re-infect the ferrets.
 
Which brings me to this:
 
Point blank, ferrets should never ever drink tap water unless your
home/apartment/what ever has a water filter system.  After we read that
article, Phil immediately went out and bought a small water filter system
that cleans the water through reverse osmosis and deionization.  We make
water jugs (the big kind, like water fountain sized) at a time because he
also uses it for our salt water tank.  The water is kept in the
refrigerator in an old milk jug with Weasel Water written on it!
 
I wouldn't even trust bottled water on store shelves after all of the
studies shown about how it's not a Hell of a lot safer.
 
So, even if this wasn't the disease I was thinking of, you should still
consider getting/using some sort of purified water for your babies.  We
carry jugs with us when we take the ferrets visiting, too, so they have
their same water.
 
I use it to take medicine for my sinus' and trust me, there is a HUGE
difference between taking an Alka-Seltzer cold medicine with clean water
and then with tap water.  It even fizzes different.
 
Hope this helped,
Julie
[Posted in FML issue 2511]