In response to Linda [log in to unmask]:
 
Thanks for responding to my Aleutian post.
 
However, you *did* imply that Aleutian disease in ferrets is rare:
 
>...it's rare for ferrets to get the disease unless they have been hanging
>around a mink ranch."
 
I am sure you didn't mean to imply it, but for people who are not very
"medically minded", you have just told them that unless their ferrets
came in contact with mink, there is practically no way for them to get
Aleutian disease.  Now, unless Marshall Farms and Path Valley also run
mink ranches, I have no other way to explain how these ferrets are coming
in contact with it.
 
Dr. Williams said that signs of the disease *may* not show up for two years
after exposure.  Well, I know of ferrets that have been Aleutian positive,
but asymptomatic (as far as we know) for more than two years (I guess this
is why he used the word "may").  At the moment, I am not sure if I should
tell these people.  Do I tell them that their ferrets are doomed to die a
horrible death, "but it might take a while", or what?  I get really
confused when I think about it.  I have informed them that they should not
adopt and more ferrets because they will more than likely become
Aleutian-positive.
 
The shelter I know of that closed down to the high incidence of Aleutian
is not in Alabama, luckily (I guess).  The director has seperated all of
the "negatives" from the "positives" and disinfects herself and changes
clothes after playing with any of the positives to minimize the chance of
spreading it.
 
You are right about it killing ferrets much more slowly than in mink.  I
am not sure how I feel about that.  (That's yet another reason why I am so
terrified of this stuff.)  If it killed ferrets as quickly as it kills mink,
then the possibility of owners unknowingly spreading it to shelters and/or
to other ferrets in their household would be minimized.  All it takes is
one infected ferret taken into a shelter, then adopted out that can really
cause some damage.  Maybe this is the way that it is being transmitted
throughout the country.  I still believe that if everyone who posts to the
FML tested their ferrets, a large number of Aleutian- positive ferrets
would be found.
 
Argh! ;-p  Sometimes I hate running a shelter! ;-)
 
As far as for the vaccine companies, Dr. Williams informed me that the
companies have known about this for a while but have not considered it to
be a priority.  I guess when thousands of ferrets start dying, THEN it will
be a priority.  Maybe all of us should write the vaccine companies.
 
What do we as a "community" do about this?
 
-Mark Zmyewski
 Cloud Nine Ferrets
 Huntsville, Alabama
[Posted in FML issue 2790]