The person with the E. coli problem had the ferrets get it from
chickens (which is why I went into the nuances of pre-slaughter
fattening up in some farms since E. coli can be transmitted from
cattle slaughter debris given the chickens).

As happens with shiga toxin producing E. coli the person's ferrets
who are infected are anemic with bloody diarrhea and kidney problems.
Horrible disease...

Sometimes it can be prevented by getting alerts from the FDA and USDA
and then not feeding the things being recalled but sometimes the
problem isn't yet known about.

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events/2008_news_releases/index.asp

http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/default.htm

Sukie (not a vet)

Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/
http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
all ferret topics:
http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/archives/ferret-search.html
"All hail the procrastinators for they shall rule the world tomorrow."
(2010, Steve Crandall)

[Posted in FML 6785]