Just received the W.V. Information Paper on Ferret Rabies which was
forwarded to me through Diane Rogers.  As you folks in that state know
there's a problem with autonomous local departments, but you'll be glad to
see that the education efforts there are better than they are in some states
in which the municipal departments are supposed to call the state one before
taking any action.  Here are excerpts:
 
"The American Ferret Association estimates that the ferret population,
_Mustela putorius furo_, in the United States, is in the area of 10 to 12
million... There are 23 cases of ferret rabies documented in the medical
literature..."
 
It then goes on to talk about the recently published skunk rabies study in
American Journal of Veterinary Research. Volume 58, No. 11, November, 1997,
and the consistencies between two of the U.S. and European studies. Then it
goes into the following:
 
"_New Recommendations_
Based upon this and other studies, the National Association of State Public
Health Veterinarians (NASPHV), the group responsible for the Compendium of
Animal Rabies Control, has recommended that ferrets be treated the same as
dogs and cats in regards to a 10 day quarantine period in the case of a
human being bitten by a ferret.  If the animal is healthy and eating at the
end of 10 days, it is to be regarded as not shedding the rabies virus at
the time of the bite.
 
A vaccine was licensed for use in ferrets in 1990.  Ferret owners should be
at least as responsible as dog and cat owners in having their animals
vaccinated for rabies"
 
Sukie (who thinks of the 23 ever above (U.S.? world?) and then thinks of
the approximately 600 dead in less than a year in only two states, and is
grateful again for the '98 Compendium)
 
Oh, if you have the new 8.1 system for your mac, but have an HP printer the
computer may have trouble recognizing your printer.  Disable PCI extension
for a quick fix till the re-write.  (It gave me the WORST problems with some
of this quarantine stuff, and I don't want you folks who are informing your
municipal depts to get hung up with this.) This is brand new stuff.
[Posted in FML issue 2208]