{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.022099447513812154, 'fraction_numerical': 0.008839779005524863, 'mean_word_length': 5.048997772828508, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Isolation of Campylobacter Coli from a Proliferative Intestinal Lesion in a Ferret

The domestic ferret (Mustela putorius furo) is commonly used in biomedical research and is becoming increasingly popular as a pet. An estimated 5 million ferrets are kept in 1 million homes in the United States. Therefore, it is likely that diagnostic laboratories are or will be involved in diagnosing ferret diseases. This report describes the clinical, histologic, and bacteriologic aspects of an intestinal disease that may cause significant morbidity and mortality in domestic ferrets. A live 1 16-week-old female ferret was presented to the Iowa State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory on September 9, 1988, for examination. The owner stated that it was one of approximately 50 animals out of a total population of 1,000 on his commercial ferret farm that were suffering from a “watery scour,” anorexia, and weight loss. The owner also stated that another 30 ferrets had died during the previous 3 weeks after exhibiting similar clinical signs. Some of those ferrets had a mucoid or mucohemorrhagic diarrhea. Observation of the ferret prior to euthanasia failed to disclose abnormal behavior. At necropsy, the gastointestinal tract was empty, and the large intestine was slightly thickened. The thickening was subtle and could have been easily overlooked. There were no lesions in the small intestine or in the other organs. A fecal sample collected by the owner approximately 4 hours prior to arrival at the laboratory was evaluated by routine sugar flotation technique and was negative for parasites. A fecal sample can also be utilized to obtain a quick, presumptive diagnosis of campylobacteriosis by microscopic examination of a Gram-stained (use carbol-fuchsin as the counterstain) fecal smear. Best results are obtained from a very fresh fecal sample collected from a ferret with acute diarrhea. This technique was not used in the present case. Sections of large and small intestine were placed in neutral buffered 10% formalin, embedded in paraffin, sectioned at 5 μm thickness, and stained with hematoxylin and eosin (HE) and War-thin-Starry stains. Histologically, there was a purulent exudate in the colon lumen and on segments of the colon mucosa. The majority of lamina propria was infiltrated with sheets of lymphocytes, but some focal areas also contained neutrophils, plasma cells, and macrophages. There was focal exfoliation of epithelium from the mucosal surface. The majority of mucosal glands were branching, irregular in shape, and lined by crowded and multilayered polymorphic epithelial cells (Fig. 1). Clusters of curved or S-shaped organisms were observed in the apical portions of many of