Some responses to posts from a few days back...
 
Linda Doran asked about acquiring rabies in caves.  It's not especially
common but cavers have gotten rabies from breathing in aerosolized bat
droppings contaminated with rabies.  This is probably the worst route
through which to acquire rabies since the virus would infect the olfactory
nerve and travel quickly to the brain.  There's a very good chance the post-
exposure prophylaxis would *not* have enough time to work in such a case.
Cavers who explore caves with large bat colonies should consider receiving
the rabies vaccine.
 
JodyLee Estrada Duek responded to Michael Curry's mystery illness by
suggesting that he investigate any sprays, fertilizers, hormones, chemicals,
illegal dumping, groundwater contamination and nuclear waste.  Did I leave
anything out?
 
Gosh.  Let's not go overboard here.  All of the exposures Jody Lee mentioned
can cause illness in some settings, but not all of them can cause the
symptoms Michael mentioned or produce the pattern of illness he described.
With most of the environmental exposures Jody Lee mentioned, *all* of
Michael's ferrets (and Michael himself) would have become ill.  Moreover,
most environmental hazards that result in illness take weeks or longer to
develop, not the rapid deterioration seen in his kits.
 
>Any genetic or infectious disease (unless *incredibly* virulent) would
>cause deaths over many hours or days.
 
That's almost certainly true of genetic defects (I could find an exception,
but it's essentially correct).  However, bacteria and viruses can act
amazingly fast or take a lifetime to show effects.  And the virulent ones
are not necessarily rare.  Lots of nasty bugs are out there waiting for the
right conditions so they can pounce.  (Do you know you probably have
Legionnella--the cause of Legionnaire's disease--in your shower head or air
conditioner right now?) Remember, too, that ferrets are stoic little guys
and often don't show the effects of an illness until they are very ill.  In
such a case, a ferret could appear to have a rapidly fatal illness when it
has actually been simmering for days or longer.
 
The Minamata tragedy that Jody Lee mentioned was due to industrial mercury
poisoning.  Mercury toxicity is agonizingly slow, and causes symptoms very
unlike those David described.  The symptoms he describes in Australia
closely fit the pattern of an infectious agent, one to which the adult
ferrets had already been exposed in the past.
 
Regarding pigment cells and health problems, Bruce Williams wrote that in
color-diluted ferrets, part of the associated problems (deafness, blindness)
is due to the failure of pigment cells (melanocytes) to migrate to the
proper place during embryologic development.  Maybe someone else is into
developmental embryology and can clarify this.  (OK, let's not see the same
hands as last time... ;) Most albinos lack color because they have a defect
in the gene for an enzyme called tyrosinase, which is upstream in the
chemical pathway leading to melanin production.  However, I haven't seen any
mention of whether true albinism causes the pigment cells to migrate any
differently compared with the effect seen in blazes, pandas, and DEWs.  In
other words, do albinos have all of the same problems as blazes/pandas/DEWs?
(I realize that albinos do have eye problems and many do go blind
eventually, but I've haven't heard of true albinism associated with
deafness.) Then again, if albinos do experience problems with peregrinating
pigment cells, then I wonder if color-dilution could be associated with
neurologic problems since there are melanocytes in the brain, too.  Hmmm,
curious stuff.
 
--Jeff Johnston ([log in to unmask])
[Posted in FML issue 1677]