I'm posting this for you, P. I've taken out your names... but I wanted to get this posted ASAP in case someone has heard of this before. [Moderator's note: This was forwarded with the permission of original author. BIG] ____ I received this from a friend. I've never heard of this in ferrets before. Date: Thu, 05 Feb 1998 20:47:30 -0800 From: <[log in to unmask]> On Superbowl sunday, just a couple of weeks ago, my husband and I adopted Sasha, a 2 year old shelter rescue . The day after we brought her home, we took her to the vet to get a check-up, as we were concerned about her raspy breathing. The vet checked her over and, after feeling a large lump in her thorasic area, asked to do xrays, which we approved. The xrays, which we looked over with the vet, showed a large mass directly above her heart, between her lungs and laying on her laryx. The vet was concerned and sent the xrays to a radiologist specializing in ferrets. The radiologist called back the next day and recommended an ultrasound and a biopsy, which we approved. The concern being that the lump/mass was lympoma, an abcess or a cyst. The ultrasound and biopsy were done yesterday and upon calling for the results today, the vet informed us that no cancer cells were found in the biopsy but that a micro bacterium was found in a smaller mass found near her stomach. (Biopsies were taken from both masses, the liver and the spleen - spleen showed up enlarged on the xrays). The results indicate that the bacterium may be of the tuberculosis family and the vet is highly concerned that it may be the form transmittable to people. The vet is scheduling surgery with a ferret-specialized vet for removal of the masses and culturing of the tissues to determine if it is TB and, if so, the form transmittable to humans. Since human-type TB is transmittable via the air, the vet is highly concerned because if the cultures come back as human-type TB, many, many people will have to be tested for it . We're talking *hundreds* of potential exposures. Now, we won't know for sure until after the cultures are done and I won't know until tommorrow when the surgery can be done. The vet was optimistic and said it may be simply a ferret-type form of TB or a form of TB only applicable to Sasha, or it may not be TB at all, BUT, he was terribly concerned about getting the cultures done ASAP. In the meantime, we are just loving Sasha to death and doing everything in our power to make her comfortable and happy. Aside from all these medical checks, she has been very active, playful, curious, loving and sweet. She eats and drinks well (we spoil her and only give Sasha and Jacob only Totally Ferret and Britta-filtered water). I'd appreciate any healthy-ferret, non-human TB vibes anyone can spare. Thanks- [log in to unmask] cc: [log in to unmask] [Posted in FML issue 2212]