INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM
 DATE:       November 26, 1997
 TO:         County Health Department Administrators / Directors
             Environmental Health Directors
 THROUGH:    Richard G. Hunter, PH.D
             Deputy State Health Officer
 FROM:       Richard S. Hopkins, M.D., M.S.P.H.
             Bureau Chief, State Epidemiologist
 
 SUBJECT:    Rabies Quarantine Period Now Recognized for Ferrets
 
 ACTION
 REQUIRED:   Please comply with policy change below.
 
 EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY
 
  ---------------------------------------------------------
 
Based on the results of recent viral shedding studies of ferrets conducted
by the U.S. Public Health Services, Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention and other collaborators, the National Association of State
Public Health Veterinarians Inc.  is recommending that ferrets be managed
in the same way that dogs and cats are managed.  These studies using
strains of rabies isolates from skunks, raccoons, coyotes and several
species of bats have shown that ferrets like dogs and cats, rarely excrete
virus in their saliva more than a few days before developing clinical signs
and symptoms.  Therefore, the conclusion has been that the same quarantine
and observation period is appropriate as for dogs and cats.
 
The Florida Department of Health and it's multiagency Rabies Control
Advisory Committee has now endorsed the recommendations of the National
Association of State Public Health Veterinarians Inc., which will be
published soon in the 1998 edition of the National Compendium of Animal
Rabies Control.  Effective as of this date, all county health departments
need to quarantine ferrets that bite or expose people and observe them for
(10) days (unless owners want them tested for rabies).  Additionally, a
ferret bitten by a rabid or suspect rabid animal must be quarantined for
45 days IF the ferret has been appropriately vaccinated for rabies by a
licensed veterinarian OR 180 days if the ferret is not currently
vaccinated.  County health departments should notify animal control
agencies and Humane Society affiliates in their jurisdiction about this
change in departmental policy.
 
These changes will be detailed in the new 1998 Florida Prevention and
Control Compendium now being printed.  If you have questions about this
issue, please call Dr. William Bigler, Special Studies Epidemiologist; Dr.
Steven Wiersma, Deputy State Epidemiologist; or Dr. Richard S. Hopkins,
Bureau Chief and State Epidemiologist, at (850) 488 - 2905 or
SunCom 278 - 2905
 
RSH/WJB/cgp
[Posted in FML issue 2456]