As many of you know, ferrets, like humans, can get E.coli poisoning, and they also have died from that while others have suffered permanent kidney damage, again just as happens with humans. Those who do not know this can look in the separate FHL and FML archives and if you want to save time then use the URLs in my sig lines. A number of you also will know that studies of rates of E. coli in foodstuffs like eggs and chicken have varied in results (again in archives). In some cases the cause is obvious. Unless a poisoning is so severe it is usually not reported, and even then in many vulnerable individuals who have other health problem such as many of the elderly, people tend to figure the individuals passed for other reasons. Now, it may be known why some tests of the actual items do not show E. coli even when it is present. For those of you who get access (since I am not sure if this one is generally open to non-subscribers or not), here is a Science News article <http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/336725/title/E._coli_evade_detection_by_going_dormant> which cites and uses as references: P. Aurass, R. Prager and A. Flieger. EHEC/EAEC O104:H4 strain linked with the 2011 German outbreak of haemolytic uremic syndrome enters into the viable but non-culturable state in response to various stresses and resuscitates upon stress relief. Environmental Microbiology, Vol. 12, December 2011, p. 3139. DOI: 10.1111/j.1462-2920.2011.02604-x. <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1462-2920.2011.02604.x/abstract> A. Buck and J.D. Oliver. Survival of spinach-associated Helicobacter pylori in the viable but nonculturable state. Food Control, Vol. 21, August 2010, p. 1150. doi: 10.1016/j.foodcont.2010.01.010. <http://journals1.scholarsportal.info/details.xqy?uri=/09567135/v21i0008/1150_soshpitvbns.xml> L.-D. Dinu and S. Bach. Induction of viable but nonculturable Escherichia coli O157:H7 in the phyllosphere of lettuce: a food safety risk factor. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Vol. 77, December 2011, p. 8295 doi: 10.1128/AEM.05020-11 J.D. Oliver. Recent findings on the viable but nonculturable state in pathogenic bacteria. FEMS Microbiology Review, Vol. 34, July 2010, p. 415. doi: 10.111/j.1574-6976.2009.00200.x. <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1574-6976.2009.00200.x/abstract> J.D. Oliver. The viable but nonculturable state in bacteria. The Journal of Microbiology, Vol. 43, February 2005, p. 93 http://www.msk.or.kr/jsp/view_old_journalD.jsp?paperSeq=2134 National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases. Frequently asked questions about Escherichia coli O157:H7 and other Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. <http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/divisions/dfbmd/diseases/ecoli_o157h7/index.html#germany> D.A. Rasko, et al. Origins of the E. coli strain causing an outbreak of hemolytic-uremic syndrome in Germany. New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 365, August 25, 2011, p. 709. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1106920. http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1106920 Rather than risk violating their copyright with a longer quote I will include just a few sentences: >Researchers think they now know why a particularly virulent form of E. >coli... was so hard to trace: The germs responsible eluded detection >by going into a self-induced deep sleep. >Two new studies show that when stressed, E. coli can turn off most >signs of life... [Food inspectors'] germ-screening techniques rely >on germs reproducing to establish the presence of live bacteria. >That is because to detect the presence of E. coli food inspections >use the technique of culturing the bacteria, so bacteria which is not >reproducing will not appear to be present. The term for when this >happens in the lab is VBNC (viable but nonculturable) so, yes, these >bacteria will reproduce in ferrets and people and cause illness, in >some cases severe and even fatal illness. Note: >Once resuscitated, the germs still had all of the features needed to >be infective... they had retained the genes to produce their lethal >toxin and to make the sticky hairlike features that foster gut >attachment. So, now a little bit more of the puzzle is known. This one can be a killer for ferrets and often also for humans. Sukie (not a vet) Recommended ferret health links: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/ http://ferrethealth.org/archive/ 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) On change for its own sake: "You can go really fast if you just jump off the cliff." (2010, Steve Crandall) [Posted in FML 7267]