The virus causes immune complexes to form in the ferret’s blood, which can lodge in capillaries in various locations in the body, usually in highly vascular organs like the kidneys, eyes or liver. The symptoms shown will relate to the part of the body that is affected, and therefore can vary from ferret to ferret. The ferret’s immune system is not able to kill off the virus; instead immune complexes are formed when antibodies bind to virus particles. A blood test is available to see if your ferret is carrying the virus, but it cannot yet be vaccinated against since this would not prevent infection, and would actually increase the severity of the disease. Vaccinating a ferret for Aleutian’s disease would create more antibodies to bind to the virus which would create more of these immune complexes, which are responsible for causing the disease.

If you own a ferret that has tested positive for Aleutian’s disease, you should not expose him to other ferrets to prevent the spread of the virus. The virus can be carried on hands or clothes, but hand washing, and disinfecting surfaces with dilute bleach will minimize transmission.