Certainly ferrets often sniff food and that gets an infection in the
food into the nose, as can other normal actions, so that would not be a
surprise with the influenza infected poultry discussed in the abstract:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22362526

The first parts of the respiratory tract are the nose, the mouth, and
the upper esophagus and these are shared with the digestive tract so a
virus which is ferried through in food can later be inhaled.

This is a human image but it applies more widely in relation to that
anatomical aspect:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/images/image_popup/r7_croup.jpg

I have not had time to look up to see if there are influenza seasons in
birds as there are in humans. Certainly when locations with multiple
species that can trade influenzas (allowing for mutations) are studied
each year they are studied IN ADVANCE of our human flu season to know
which variants to include in each year's flu shot (a problem which will
be overcome if one or more of the generalized influenza vaccines now
under study makes enough progress). Many of the influenzas originate
in China because it is so common for small farms there to have the
conditions that can breed such cross-animal influenzas: birds
(especially ducks) and pigs as well as humans in close interactions. I
don't know the current lead time, though, nor whether the reservoir
bird species have longer times of vulnerability.

What interested me was that I did not recall influenza being among the
various diseases that are listed as being possible for ferrets to get
from raw foods even though possible mechanisms for that happening are
readily apparent. Ferrets do not chew food as long as we do before
swallowing (which we all know well since they often do not chew at all,
just slice and swallow) so the saliva exposure time would be much
shorter and less tissue would be exposed -- important IF saliva can
attack this particular virus.

The sniffing aspect was something I'd forgotten to consider and
provides a possible route.

I recently sent along a link to a paper on the behaviors of some recent
influenza strains in ferrets which may interest those who have not seen
it:

<http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0027512>

or

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3217968/

There is no perfect food choice, so it just pays to know the risks of
any of them and act accordingly. There are some influenzas in ferrets
which are gentle and mostly gone in about 5 days, but some others can
be fatal, so having the cooking option if or when there is reason to be
concerned about the poultry is a way of saving ferret lives and that is
a good thing.

Some people won't care, but others will, so the info is for them.

Sukie (not a vet)

Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.miamiferret.org/
http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
all ferret topics:
http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/archives/ferret-search.html

"All hail the procrastinators for they shall rule the world tomorrow."
(2010, Steve Crandall)
On change for its own sake: "You can go really fast if you just jump
off the cliff." (2010, Steve Crandall)

[Posted in FML 7361]