A couple of years back, we attended a ferret function/olympics several
hours away without our ferrets.  We had just learned about ECE and were
cautious.  We spoke to a very knowledgable vet (who has since become the
vet we rely on for anything other than simple shots) who advised us to
expose our ferrets to ECE while they were still young enough (under 3) to
come through it easier.  So we handled ECE exposed babies and went home
with no precautions taken.  Nothing happened.
 
Over a year later, we brought home two new kits, who exposed the other 3
to The Dreaded disease.  One never had even one symptom, one had a "24
hour bug", and the big strong, strapping male suffered for over 3 months
and almost died (did eventually die due to a weakened immune system when
he contracted adrenal and then insulinoma tumors).  Simalarly, another
young ferret we rescued this last June only had a couple of days of mild
diarrehea.
 
Steve and I will be going to a city in a few weeks that has a shelter.  We
would dearly love to visit this shelter, but do not want to risk spreading
ECE as the last we heard, they were ECE free.  The vet had told us that if
we changed clothes and shoes and showered, there was no risk of exposure.
I have heard many stories of ECE being brought in the same way we did,
with an infected kit new from the store...........but has anyone spread
it through airborne particles that could remain on your clothes after 4-6
hours time away from the carrier?
 
I would love to visit this shelter, but no way will we put it at risk if
such a risk exists.  We will not even contact the shelter asking permission
to visit until we know it is totally safe to do so.  I ask for your
experience, dear fml readers.  Educate us, please?
 
Becky and Steve and four furry faces
[Posted in FML issue 2975]