Jazmyn wrote:
>About 1 ferret in 4-5 years has been found positive for rabies (nearly
>every case from giving the wrong vacine) out of (hard to estimate numbers
>of ferrets) maybe 800 million to 1 billion ferrets in the nation...
 
The numbers I have are a bit different.  21 ferrets confirmed positive with
rabies since 1958, as follows:
 
1958    Kentucky
1978    South Carolina
1981    North Dakota
1982    Kansas, Virginia
1983    Wisconsin
1985    California, Michigan
1986    DC, North Dakota, South Carolina
1987    DC, Iowa
1992    South Carolina, Virginia
1993    Virginia
1994    Maryland
1995    Connecticut, New York
1996    Florida, Arkansas
 
So the *recent* statistic, which is what we should be looking at, is about
1-2 ferrets annually in the US are being confirmed positive with rabies.  I
haven't heard about any confirmed positives for 1997.
 
Of the cases I was able to get info on (only a few), the indication was that
the ferret was unvaccinated and exposed to rabies while loose/ran away.  Not
from the 'wrong vaccine'.  I am curious to know where/which cases you heard
the wrong vaccine was indicated as the cause (as I said I only have info on
a few cases).  I'm interpreting what you wrote as meaning that they were
infected from the vaccine itself (this should never happen from a killed
virus vaccine such as Imrab 3), and not that the wrong vaccine (e.g., parvo
instead of rabies), failed to protect them.
 
>Roughly between 500 to 1500 dogs a year in the US are found positive for
>rabies...out of posibly 3+ billion dogs
 
Your numbers are way off here...confirmed positives for dogs from the JAVMA
Rabies Surveillance in the US for the years indicated are:
 
1994   153
1993   130
1992   182
 
For more stats (with references) , see Dick Bossarts paper online at:
http://www.acmeferret.com/infobank/research.html
 
Earlier years are similar for dogs.  I don't have the 'official' population
stats for dogs handy, but I'm tempted to question that too.  Troy Lynn
Eckart had used a population estimate of 50 million in her paper on rabies.
(Send email with GET RABIES TLESTUFF FERRET as the message to
[log in to unmask] to get a copy emailed to you.)
 
>out of (hard to estimate numbers of ferrets) maybe 800 million to 1 billion
>ferrets in the nation...>
 
The ferret population estimates for the USA I usually see tossed around
range from 4-12 million.  I've never seen any estimate anywhere near what
you are stateing for the USA.  So I'm curious as to where you got those
numbers.
 
Please, always verify your stats before stating them as facts.  If they are
likely to be questioned/challenged, include your source.  Otherwise, when a
health dept official spots errors in those, they will, IMO likely question
whether *anything* you said is true.  The good info will get tossed out with
the bad.
 
-Ilena Ayala
Rabies Resources for Ferret Lovers are at:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ilena/rabies.htm
[Posted in FML issue 2044]