Charles Trammell voiced his concerns about ECE mutating and becoming
airborne, a la Outbreak (the movie).
 
>I've read the post that ECE is (currently) not airborne...<snip>...but isn't
>it true that each carrier of a virus provides a new possibility for that
>virus to mutate.  What if one of those ferrets which is intentionally
>exposed is carrying the catalyst which would cause ECE to mutate and BECOME
>airborne.
 
First off, let's continue with the supposition that what most folks in North
American have been referring to is a coronavirus.  (That's not proved 100%,
but it's the leading suspect.) Coronaviruses come in two "flavors"--one
infects the oronasal-respiratory tract, the other infects the
gastrointestinal tract.  The respiratory type can be transmitted by air or
by aerosol droplets (e.g., sneezing) since one type of coronavirus causes
the common cold in humans.  The intestinal type, which we're concerned with,
usually gets passed from host to host by ingesting contaminated food or some
other oral route.
 
"Ah ha!" you say.  The only thing needed for ECE to become airborne is for
one of those respiratory coronaviruses to swap a few genes or for the ECE
version to mutate into an airborne form.
 
Those *are* possible scenarios, and viruses and other infectious critters
are known to swap genes now and then.  But, even if this happens, the
end-result would not be a form of intestinal virus now transmitted by air,
but a new type of respiratory virus transmitted by air.  Once airborne, a
virus is most likely to enter the body through the mouth, nose or lungs.  To
get into the body through those places, the virus must have a mechanism for
infecting the cells specific to *that* part of the body since viruses can't
migrate to the place where they want to be since they aren't mobile like
many parasites.  Airborne viruses don't cause intestinal infections...
so-called "stomach flu" has to be ingested.  So, it is theoretically
possible for ECE to acquire all of the genes it needs to be transmitted by
air, but if it did that, the new virus would have to be able to infect its
hosts' airways because it would never reach the gut in sufficient quantities
to cause GI infection.
 
BTW, "Outbreak" was not exactly the most factual portrayal of epidemiology.
The CDC offices in Atlanta do not look like a high-tech suburban office
park, we do not all fly helicopters like stunt pilots, and one cannot get a
bathtub full of antisera from a 3-kg monkey overnight.  (I went to see it
with a bunch of epidemiologists from the university here and *we* thought it
was a comedy.  :)
 
Finally, Hal described his rescue of coconut, who had been dehydrated and
treated with Gatorade.  I am happy that Coconut recovered with your TLC, but
everyone should be aware that Gatorade and the other sport drinks partially
mislead the public when they claim to be able to replenish lost
electrolytes.  Gatorade et al. can indeed replace the electrolytes lost in
perspiration but they are not intended for anyone (or any ferret) who is
severely dehydrated because the high concentration of sugar in these drinks
actually pulls water *from* the gut before the body can absorb it.  An
animal that is close to death from dehydration might be killed by drinking a
solution extremely high in sugar.  If you've ever tasted Pedialyte or the
other rehydrating solutions, they taste like barely-sweet tears.  For a
ferret that is extremely dehydrated, plain water may be safer than a highly
sweet liquid like Gatorade.
 
--Jeff Johnston ([log in to unmask])
[Posted in FML issue 1681]