indications that ferrets did NOT easily get another swine flu and may
not be a good animal model for studying this disease:
http://blogs.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2009/04/ferreting-out-t.html
Many thanks to Marylou for finding this!
A FEW QUOTED SEGMENTS BEGIN:
>a report last October of an outbreak of influenza in a ferret colony
>has led to questions about whether this animal model can help sort out
>a critical question about the current swine flu outbreak: What allows
>this particular virus to transmit so well between humans?
...
>No studies have ever tested swine flu viruses on ferrets... Iowa
>State University reported ... that an outbreak of influenza in a
>ferret colony on an Iowa farm infected 8% of about 1000...
...
>"I was relieved," says Yoon, who worried that the ferrets, like swine,
>might have been a "mixing vessel" of influenza viruses from different
>species.
>
>the Iowa study is "very, very relevant," as it indicates that the
>ferret "is not going to work for us as a model" to help tease out
>how a swine H1N1 mutated to become transmissible between humans.
END QUOTED SEGMENTS
Sukie (not a vet)
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/http://ferrethealth.org/archive/http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.htmlhttp://www.miamiferret.org/http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/http://www.ferretcongress.org/http://www.trifl.org/index.shtmlhttp://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
[Posted in FML 6319]
