I was really sad to hear about the poor little ferret in VA who had rabies.
If it makes the people involved feel better, euthanizing him so that his
head could be tested for rabies was a very kind thing.
 
Ferrets do contract rabies.  Very easily, in fact.  That's why it's
important to get them vaccinated, and also why it's important to use the
correct vaccine; most cases of ferret rabies have been due to the use of
modified live virus vaccines.
 
Ferrets do not readily transmit rabies, however.  They're so suceptible
that most will die from the disease before they even start shedding the
virus in their saliva.  There has never been a single case of ferret to
human rabies transmission.  (Get the post-exposure vaccine series, though.
You don't want to be the first.) Make sure all the animals you've had
contact with are vaccinated too.  But the odds that the rabid ferret
transmitted the disease to anyone are quite slim.
 
Eric A. Schwartz
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[Posted in FML issue 3130]