To Sheena Staples:
 
> Also...what are the statistics on ECE in Washington State???  I know
>it to be virtually non existant here in BC and I would *hate* to be
>responsible for importing it.  What are my chances of buying a baby with
>this problem lurking in it's system?  Is there any way to have it screened
>before I buy it???
 
        To my knowledge, no cases have been reported from Washington State
or B.C.
Your chances of buying a baby with ECEis low, but there are really no
guarantees any more.  The best chance you have of buying an ECE-free ferret
is to purchase one directly from Marshall Farms.  MF has a closed colony,
and has nto seen the problems.  Ferrets only go out of MF, not back in, so
it's pretty safe.
 
        Currently there is no way to have the animal screened.  Good news,
though - we have had some success with testing for the presence of virus in
ferret feces in the lab.  Before I get swamped with requests for tests -
don't send them.  The test is a PCR test which tests for the presence of
certain gene strands which are only seen in the family of viruses to which
the ECE agent belongs. It's a very expensive method, but we are refining it
to make it more sensitive.
 
        We still have to be able to grow the virus (which is proving quite a
problem) before we can hope to make a cost-effective diagnostic test.  But
as of last week, we just took a big step forward.
 
Bruce Williams, DVM, DACVP
Dept. of Vet Path, AFIP
[log in to unmask]  OR
Chief Pathologist, AccuPath
[log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 1269]