[log in to unmask] wrote:
>In the absence of better scientific evidence, I am not persuaded that
>Aleutian mink disease is especially common in ferrets or that its
>occurrence cannot be traced to having come into contact with mink.
 
How common it is, in different parts of the world, I can't say.  But it's
far too common in the UK for all those ferrets to have gotten it from mink
and not from each other.
 
There has also been studies made, here in Europe, which showed
ferret-ferret transmission and airborne at that.  (Risk zone estimated to
be 5 km.) We also have at least one case, here in Sweden, when a infected
[mink] farm was desinfected and left abandoned for two years, but as soon
as mink were reintroduced they got the disease.  Take that into account and
you realise how hard it is to trace where it might have come from.
 
(When testing here in Sweden, the blood is tested against three different
samples [ferret, not mink], UK, US and one I've forgotten.)
--
 Urban Fredriksson  [log in to unmask]       Ferret diary, info, photos:
                               http://www.canit.se/%7Egriffon/ferrets/
 No longer waiting for Carina!
 Photos added Aug 31:st (also of her siblings).
[Posted in FML issue 2792]