>From:    Sukie Crandall <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: "the bug"

>Specimens are being studied by a team headed by Dr. Matti Kiupel at
>Michigan State who is an ace with coronaviruses, and did work on
>the original ECE (along with Bruce Williams for some of it), on the
>earlier announced ECE mutant which behaves like dry FIP as part of
>an international investigation, and now on this possible ECE mutant.

Hi Sukie Crandall, Edward Velcro Lipinski here with a question(s) for
you, namely,

1.) Has ECE ever been inoculated into an otherwise certified healthy
ferret OUTSIDE of a population of already infected ferrets?

2.) For example, send me a vial of ECE organisms, properly protected as
a bio-hazard, and let me inoculate one or more of my ferrets way out
here in Washington by injecting the ECE fluidic substance into the
rectum through the anus with a plastic, round-bulbed needle/syringe.
Will my inoculated ferrets display symptoms of ECE as a consequence?

3.) My current understanding is that the virus allegedly causative
of ECE will not, I say, will not cause ECE symptoms in an otherwise
healthy ferret when that ferret is REMOTE from the infected population.
Further, no researcher to date has confirmed the ability of the
so-called coronaform virus particle to infect an otherwise healthy
ferret by direct inoculation.

4.) Can it be said that no proof exists that the currently identified
coronaform viral particle is simply non-infective in all ferrets
everywhere?

5.) Can it be said that the cause of ECE is actually unknown and that
the treatments are directed at the symptoms rather than at the cause,
simply because the cause is as yet unknown?

6.) Can it be said that identifiable conditions are known to exist in
the GI tract that predict EC Enteritis?

7.) Can it be said that the entire GI tract is affected or only the
terminus is involved?

8.) How, when and where is the pinpoint of entry into the GI tract of
the causative ECE agent?

I believe all readers of the FML would greatly appreciate your attempts
to answer/discuss these questions and current thoughts relative to ECE.
Please write in layman terms so that the least of us, the lesser
brained such as I, can get a full understanding of your textual report
with no obscurity. Perhaps we'll read you in a couple of days, Yes?

Edward Velcro Lipinski,
Ferret Endowment for Research, Rehab, Education & Training Society,
North West Foundation. Seattle WA 98040 Phone:
206.232.1228. 24/7

[Posted in FML 6198]