To the FML (via Ed Atlee's post)
 
>Who is to say that, should Goose depart this Earth and I decide to expose
>Anastasia, that I might not turn out to be a jerk and abandon her, or
>circumstances force me to give her away, or I get hit by a car tomorrow...
>then she ends up sharing a cage with another older, previously ECE-free
>ferret, who would not survive?  Or infecting a whole shelter?  Or someone's
>10 or 20 pets?
 
Ed, I applaud your thinking.  I feel the exact same way.  While there is a
natural tendency to want to expose ferrets and "get the whole thing over
with", there are a lot of very compelling reasons NOT to.
 
First off, even young ferrets may rarely succumb to the initial ECE
infection.  While the numbers are low, occasionally you will see a young,
healthy ferret get hit so hard by the infection that it just doesn't make
it, or it undergoes the chronic wasting associated with about 20% of cases,
and may never regain their weight back ,even though they may recover from
the infection.  I'm not sure why selected young individuals are so hard hit,
but we do occasionally see it.
 
Also, once you have exposed your animals, they will become carriers, for at
least 4 months, probably six.  Worse than that, inapparent carriers.  You
are bound to the same regimen of washing clothes and showering as everyone
else, and if you are active on the show circuit, or in ferret clubs, you may
unknowingly spread the disease.  If you aren't active on these circuits,
then your ferrets are probably in the low-risk category anyway.
 
To knowingly infect a healthy animal with a disease is a very risky
situation.  If you are concerned that your pets are starting to get older,
and therefore be more at risk for severe complications associated with ECE,
then you should instead channel your energy into protecting them from the
disease rather than by knowingly exposing them and perhaps subsequently
spread this disease even farther and faster.
 
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 1672]