Edward Lipinski asked valid, if somewhat panic-inducing, questions about
transmission of HIV between people and ferrets, to which i have several
responses:
 
>The two kinds of virus appear to be animal and human; further, animal to
 
There are viruses similar to HIV in animals.  Only chimps, gibbons, and
pigtail macaques have been found to support HIV-1 (the retrovirus humans
contract).  Only one chimp has developed AIDS.  Cats, cows, and sheep get
similar immunodeficiency viruses, but humans can't contract these.
(http://www.critpath.org/scimed/1329)
 
>possibly perspiration.  Human/animal(H/A) tx most certainly occurs too,
 
Ed, please quote your source on the H/A transmission (tx).
 
From http://safersex.org/hiv/howisaidstransmitted.html, i pulled the
following information (CDC = Center for Disease Control):
 
} KISSING: Casual contact through closed-mouth or "social" kissing is not
} a risk for transmission of HIV.  Because of the theoretical potential
} for contact with blood during "French" or open-mouthed kissing, CDC
} recommends against engaging in this activity with an infected person.
} However, no case of AIDS reported to CDC can be attributed to
} transmission through any kind of kissing.
 
} SALIVA, TEARS, & SWEAT: HIV has been found in saliva and tears in only
} minute quantities from some AIDS patients. It is important to understand
} that finding a small amount of HIV in a body fluid does not necessarily
} mean that HIV can be transmitted by that body fluid. HIV has not been
} recovered from the sweat of HIV-infected persons. Contact with saliva,
} tears, or sweat has never been shown to result in transmission of HIV.
 
At http://www.aegis.com/aegis/news/re1996/re960690.html, i found info
stating that ONE case of human saliva-blood tx had happened.
 
If human incidence of saliva, tears, or sweat, tx is so rare, what should
lead anyone to believe that HIV - which is UTTERLY unable to survive and
replicate outside a very limited environmental set of conditions - could be
tx'ed to a *ferret* and then back to a human depending on ferret saliva as a
vector?  The same should hold true even if a ferret bites and draws blood -
the HIV is so sensitive that it very likely would not survive the blood to
ferret saliva tx - the virus would die in the ferret's mouth and therefore
the ferret COULD NOT TRANSMIT IT to another human.  See the CDC article for
stats on how in laboratory tests with solutions that contained very high
concentrations of HIV (in order to obtain results at all, the concentration
had to be kept artificially high), changing environmental conditions killed
90-99% of the virus within hours.
 
At http://safersex.org/hiv/aidsodds.html, Dr. Robert S. Walker discusses
transmission vectors. Please also look up the paper he references:
 
} With respect to non-sex or drug modes of transmission, all one can say is
} that there have been no documented cases of transmission through insect
} bites, shared utensils, shared occupational space or equipment, food
} handling, and so on.  Theoretical risks for an infinite number of imagined
} scenarios can be computed, but in the actual world there are no data
} supporting transmission in these scenarios.  An excellent survey of 14
} principal articles searching for data on other routes of transmission can
} be found in: Robyn R.N Gershon et al, "The Risk of Transmission of HIV-1
} Through Non-Percutaneous, Non-Sexual Modes: A Review," Department of
} Environmental Health Sciences and Department of Epidemiology, The Johns
} Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, distribut- ed by
} New York City's Gay Men's Health Crisis, AIDS Clinical Update, October 1,
} 1990.
 
At http://www.ama-assn.org/special/hiv/guidelin/mmwr/rr4408pe.htm, the
American Medical Association discusses precautions (against secondary
infection) that should be taken by HIV-positive people who own animals.
See http://www.aegis.com/aegis/aidsline/med9411/m94b0520.html for the
statement that the risks of owning pets do NOT outweigh the benefits.
 
Ed says:
>The conjoined homosexual embrace is the most well known mechanism enhancing
>the travel of HI viral particles between warm sweaty bodies and certainly
>not difficult for one to image the lip-locking and tonsil-tickling kissing
>that occurrs in the heat of passion.  Without detailing any further, oral
>engulfments also take place.  Seems reasonable to assume that human saliva
>would be a near-perfect short term medium for the survival of the HI viral
>particles.
 
Ed, you might want to tone down your imagery a bit there and just use the
phrase "homosexual intercourse."  Sweat and saliva and tears DO NOT TRANSMIT
HIV.  The articles I cite refute your assumption COMPLETELY.  It is not
'reasonable' to assume such - it's uninformed and paranoid!
 
I did a Yahoo search, explored the sites listed there, and found only one
reference to the possibility of HIV tx through household pets (Dr Walker's
article).  I did keyword searches for 'HIV transmission, animal' through all
of the HIV/AIDS sites I visited and found virtually nothing.  I encourage
you to do searches of your own and quote medical sources for successful HIV
human-pet-human tx.  I encourage you to even find REFERENCE to a study that
is exploring that possibility - the fact that there are none out there
indicates how infinitesimal the chances of such tx are.
 
According to all info available that I had the time and resources to look
at (several hours of WWW searching) IT IS NOT A POSSIBILITY.  PLEASE
contact an HIV specialist at your local university or hospital if you
still have concerns! The sources i quote should also adequately refute
anyone's claim that they contracted HIV through the pet of an HIV+ person.
 
Besides, if you're an HIV positive patient who owns pets that are biting and
regularly drawing blood from you, you have worse concerns: infection from
the animal bite and rabies kill-and-test threats from people who your pets
may bite.
 
Please direct further discussion of this topic to the newsgroup
sci.med.aids.
 
Melissa
 
 ___ Melissa Litwicki __ [log in to unmask] ___
 By the whole newsgroup devoted tennis showing
     it after scarfing fork and laughters
[Posted in FML issue 1830]