Dr. Suzanne Jenkins, chairperson of the Compendium of Animal Rabies Control,
sent a response on October 4 to a letter she had received from LIFE's
veterinary consultant, Dr. Jean Wardell DVM, questioning the rationale of
the current ferret bite protocol.
 
Dr. Wardell shared this letter with me, and I will pass along the most
important points.  In general the tone of Jenkins' letter is polite but
defensive.  She said the 1994 "Statement on Ferrets" was "not intended to be
alarmist.  We wanted to acknowledge that ferrets were becoming popular pets
and to point out some problems that might occur from owning such animals.
In addition, we wanted to encourage appropriate studies to provide the data
needed to more definitively answer some of the questions about the risks
posed by ferrets."
 
She denied that the bite statistics (which show much smaller incidence among
ferrets than dogs) prove much of anything, owing to what she called "the
lack of objective numbers on the populations of these animals."
 
Regarding the Forster and Blancou studies, Jenkins said the Committee was
familiar with them but deemed them of limited value because of "the small
number of animals used and the rabies virus types with which the ferrets
were infected."
 
Dr. Jenkins also cautioned against any expectation that the CDC-sponsored
studies would be completed anytime soon.  "Most scientific conclusions and
recommendations... are based on multiple studies done under a variety of
conditions." More specifically, she said that "If the results of the raccoon
virus study presently under way are equivacable, we would not want to make a
premature decision that would endanger any human lives so we are hesitant to
make a projection on the number of studies that will be required."
 
In conclusion, Jenkins promised that "we will discuss your letter and your
concerns at the upcoming [October 10-11] Rabies Compendium meeting and I
will let you know if there are to be any changes to the Compendium document
on the management of ferrets."
 
We won't be holding our breath.  It is possible, though, that other members
of the Committee are uncomfortable with her policy and may put pressure on
her to shorten the shedding program.
 
The full text of the letter will be up on LIFE's Rabies Information Page on
the Web in a day or two.
[Posted in FML issue 1716]