Bill and Diane Killian (and Rudy): I feel terrible about what has happened to Rudy's babies. Yes, it is a horrible and devastating situation to be in. I'd like to comment on something you said, Bill. I bought a ferret from a MD last summer. Stupid me never asked about the greenies. I should have known better going thru what I had the previous year, but I erroneously assumed that a good breeder would also INFORM. Well, about a month after I got her, I had another greenie outbreak. Since my guys were isolated and at the time no-one with previous greenies was coming into my house, I thought it might be the new ferret. I called the breeder and asked about the greenies and she told me this ferret had been "exposed" to the greenies but didn't have them. So, was this ferret a carrier? She didn't get the greenies at the time, but then she was a kit and kits seem to have some sort of built-in immunity. It took almost a month for my guys to get sick again, which is longer than the usual 36 to 48 hours - although 36 seems to be right on the money, but is it possible the delay was due to my guys having had ECE the year before? I don't know. Periodically, I've had people in my house who have ferrets with previous ECE. In instances where I have let this person handle my ferrets, I have a mild outbreak a few days after the visits. Nothing like the past 2 years, but definitely there. Now it's happened again. I have never mentioned it to this person because I did not want to cause hard feelings and I wasn't really sure. But it has happened too many times for this to be just a "coincidence" So what do I do? Ban this person from my house and lose a friend? Tell her she can come over but can't touch my ferrets? Her outbreaks have been mild, so she has a tendency to blow off this disease as an inconveneince rather than a serious illness. I have decided to curtail breeding practices for the time being. Maybe it's a blessing that my jills haven't come into season yet this year. I feel like I have to start all over again with my isolation period since I apparently have ECE again, mild as it is. Dick Bossart raised some really good questions. I wish I had answers. How do you regular ferret people feel about this - those of you not involved with breeding/clubs/shelters? Do you want to risk to find out if your ferret falls in the 95% category of mild symptoms or the 5% category of severe symptoms and death? Our Shelter Director is scared to death.....her household is free of diseae and her 6 ferrets are all healthy. She would just flip if a shelter ferret brought ECE into her house.....does anybody else have thoughts on this? Debbie Riccio WNYFLFA Rochester, NY [Posted in FML issue 1246]