I think that I have managed minimal duplication of previously given references: > http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol11no12/05-0997.htm ">An updated literature survey identified 1,407 recognized species of >human pathogen, 58% of which are zoonotic. Of the total, 177 are >regarded as emerging or reemerging. Zoonotic pathogens are twice as >likely to be in this category as are nonzoonotic pathogens. Emerging >and reemerging pathogens are not strongly associated with particular >types of nonhuman hosts, but they are most likely to have the broadest >host ranges. Emerging and reemerging zoonoses are associated with a >wide range of drivers, but changes in land use and agriculture and >demographic and societal changes are most commonly cited. However, >although zoonotic pathogens do represent the most likely source of >emerging and reemerging infectious disease, only a small minority have >proved capable of causing major epidemics in the human population. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/list_zoonotic.htm http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/op/pets.htm http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/op/antibiotics.htm http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dpd/parasiticpathways/animals.htm http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/rabies/ http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/rabies/Introduction/intro.htm >Over the last 100 years, rabies in the United States has changed >dramatically. More than 90% of all animal cases reported annually >to CDC now occur in wildlife; before 1960 the majority were in >domestic animals. The principal rabies hosts today are wild >carnivores and bats.. The number of rabies-related human deaths in >the United States has declined from more than 100 annually at the >turn of the century to one or two per year in the1990's. Modern >day prophylaxis has proven nearly 100% successful. http://www.nasphv.org/83416/83301.html (The rabies compendium which can also be found at the AVMA site.) http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/rabies/Ques&Ans/q&a.htm http://www.cdc.gov/iceid/webcast/a-z_topics.htm http://www.cdc.gov/iceid/webcast/a-z_topics.htm#zoonotic_diseases http://www.doh.wa.gov/ehp/ts/ZOO.HTM http://www.nasphv.org/83416/84501.html http://www.cdc.gov/doc.do/id/0900f3ec802270e4 http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol5no1/grant.htm http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/index.htm -- Sukie (not a vet, and not speaking for any of the below in my private posts) Recommended health resources to help ferrets and the people who love them: Ferret Health List http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth FHL Archives http://ferrethealth.org/archive/ AFIP Ferret Pathology http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html Miamiferrets http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/ International Ferret Congress Critical References http://www.ferretcongress.org [Posted in FML issue 5238]