Kevin has an excellent post in the FML today after an anonymous rumor,
and great recent posts in the FHL:

http://ferrethealth.org/archive/FHL13453

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/message/15065

This vet post is ESSENTIAL for ferrets with an undocumented vaccine
history and the following non-vet one with vet refs may also prove
helpful:

http://ferrethealth.org/archive/FHL13457
(What to do to improve safety -- very, very important for adoptive
homes and shelters.)

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/message/15085
(CDV survival outside body, human subclinical infections of CDV when
there has not been a measles vaccine or a previous case of measles, and
more)

So, working from Kevin's figures:

72 total ferrets
45 ferrets did not get sick
27 got sick.
3 of those did not have vaccines on board due to serious health problems.

That takes it down to 24.

8 more arrived at the same time as the infected ferret so had not been
vaccinated; and 24 - 8 = 16.

So, now the figures are down to only 16 of 72 with vaccines on board
who got ill which is about 22%. Now if my memory serves, something
around 98% effectiveness is the expected vaccine effectiveness for any
CDV (canine distemper virus) vaccine, so 2% of that might be in the
noise, leaving about 20% (14.4 individuals) to explain and for which a
common factor was found.

What did those 16 ferrets have in common? They did not have
documentation of having the complete kit series of distemper vaccines
and at least some were known for certain to NOT have the kit series
past the one original farm vaccine.

It's very upsetting when people send around rumors based on
speculation, especially when they are kicking people who are already
"down" (in fight parlance) due to dealing with difficult circumstances.
I want to congratulate Kevin for having the morals, courage, and
fortitude to take this public so that others can learn despite there
being some people who appear to *perhaps* care more about rumors than
about getting info out there which can save other ferrets.

Sukie (not a vet)

Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/
http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
all ferret topics:
http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/archives/ferret-search.html

"All hail the procrastinators for they shall rule the world tomorrow."
(2010, Steve Crandall)
On change for its own sake: "You can go really fast if you just jump
off the cliff." (2010, Steve Crandall)

[Posted in FML 7099]