Well I went web surfing last night looking for information on rabies and
ferrets.  I've done this before, but now that I'm looking for stuff to
include in a rabies website, I've got a different view of what I'm looking
for.
 
I did find a website with lots of rabies stuff, but I'd like to publish
more.  Stuff that is complementary to it, (why reinvent the wheel when
they've done so much work.) I haven't checked out all the links on this site
but there is clearly a lot of stuff there now.  The URL is:
http://www.acmeferret.com/info_toc.htm
 
For those of you who want to start getting stuff together to protect your
own ferts in case a problem arises, this is a great place to start.  (So
make a note of that URL and put it with your ferrets health information!)
There is a sample letter there you can give to your vet (or vets in the
area) to be mailed out to appropriate officials, urging an end to the
senseless killing.  Please, please, make time to give a copy to your vet(s)
and encourage them to sign and send it.  Better yet, encourage them to
personalize it with their own comments!  If you make it easy for your vet to
do, they'll be more likely to do it.  If possible, provide it in electronic
format for them, as well as a printed copy for their review.
 
This morning (Wed), Paula A Bryder wrote:
>Burns decided to kill the animal, despite years of studies which
>demonstrate conclusively that a >rabies-infected ferret will die within
>3-5 days of exposure.
 
Not quite- the rabies FAQ file compiled by Troy Lynn Eckhart states: " A
study conducted in 1995 at CDC Headquarters on the skunk strain established
that ferrets do not shed this virus in their saliva, incubation periods
ranged from 2 weeks to >3 months, and disease duration is approximately 4
days.  "
 
The disease duration is the time from onset of symptoms to (in the case of
rabies) death, as opposed to the time from initial exposure to death.  A
ferret incubating rabies might not exhibit symptoms for months.  (I don't
have stats on what incubation periods have been in tests, so I don't know
how common an incubation of more than one month would be.) This is in part
why there is a common practice of automatically killing and testing them.
They could theoretically already be incubating the disease at the time of
their last vaccination.  IMO this is a valid concern where exposure is a
real possibility and the ferret has only been recently vaccinated for the
first time, or recently vaccinated following a lapse in vaccinations, but if
the animal has been under the continuous protection of vaccination for (I'm
just picking a number here) 6 months or more, then I've got a big problem
with anyone suggesting killing the animal!!
 
So if you want to use rabies vaccination history to protect your ferts in
the case of a bite report, I recommend that you don't allow any lapse in
protection!!
 
- Ilena Ayala
[Posted in FML issue 1927]