Dear Regina:
 
Glad to hear that Paleface is doing better - he's really been through the
ringer, hasn't he?
 
>With everyone's collective help, and especially that of my vet, Dr.
>Williams, and Dr. Bell, we decided that Paleface was still fighting the
>helicobacter virus.
 
Helicobacter mustelae is a bacteria, not a virus.  That's why antibiotics
work.  Remember, there really isn't a lot we can do about most viruses, but
we can use antibiotics against bacteria....
 
 
>As you may have read in Dr. Williams' post about ulcers, a new treatment is
>available for this problem (two weeks of Amoxy and Biaxin).  A few days ago,
>we finished up the treatment, and Paleface seems to be doing much better.
 
That's great.  Luckily for ferrets, humans get a type of Helicobacter also
(H. pylori, rather than H. mustelae).  Becuase there is so much research
going on in the area of human Helicobacter, a lot of it may be applicable to
ferrets.
 
The study on this new protocol is scheduled to be published in
Gastroenterology Journal in the next three months.  Luckily, I have a friend
who was working on this study, and gave me an advance heads up.....
 
Bruce Williams, DVM, DACVP              Chief Pathologist, AccuPath
Dept. of Veterinary Pathology               [log in to unmask]
Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
[log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 1700]