Sadly, http://www.medicinenet.com/rabies/article.htm which is administered by WebMD STILL contains this: >What animals carry rabies? > >In the United States, domesticated dogs and cats are not primary >carriers of the rabies virus. Rather, raccoons, skunks, foxes, bats, >and ferrets are more likely to harbor the disease and directly infect >humans. When domesticated pets are infected, there may be a history >of previous interaction with these wild animals. so while WebMD itself has better content it needs to correct MedicineNet, still. I think it must be a typo where someone meant to put in "raccoons" which are a major vector species but thought "mask" and wrote in "ferrets" because it has NEVER been true. so more letters are needed to the editors of that company to make sure that ALL of their websites are cleaned up. Answers.com removed that quote and instead used a different section of the MedicineNet.com article, though it still contains a link. Answers.com ADDED a link to the main rabies CDC page and marked it BEST OF THE WEB which is great because that can lead people to accurate ferret info. Hopefully, the NASPHV will allow a link the current compendium or another group the NASPHV has allowed to host the current compendium will do so, but honestly the one year old one the CDC makes available is the same in ferret content as far as I can see, so it doesn't matter. Below is the addy of the WebMD editor; WebMD administers MedicineNet as well as some reference links. Be sure to point out that MedicineNet STILL needs to be fixed, and pass along references. Here are some reputable references. Please, politely point out, that the statement has never been true and must have been a case of someone MEANING to type "raccoons" which would be accurate, and that the two most knowledgeable sources of information on rabies in the United States are the CDC's rabies branch, and the National Association of State Public Health veterinarians. [log in to unmask] > Some resources which ARE UP TO DATE and based upon facts rather > than supposition or typos: > E-mail: [log in to unmask] > http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/rabies/Ques&Ans/q&a.htm > http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/rabies/default.htm > http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5403a1.htm > http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/rabies/Professional/professi.htm > http://www.nasphv.org/ > http://s94745432.onlinehome.us/RabiesCompendium.pdf These may also prove useful: http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=11&cat=1283&articleid=562 http://www.avma.org/communications/brochures/rabies/rabies_brochure.asp http://www.cste.org/ specifically http://www.cste.org/pdffiles/2006/2006RabiesCompendium.pdf http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~sprite/RABIES.HTML http://www.ferret-fact.org/Rabies.htm http://www.mass.gov/dph/cdc/epii/rabies/rabdcf.htm http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/rabies/ques&ans/rabies_q_a_.pdf http://www.michigan.gov/documents/rabies_pets_flowchart_134247_7.pdf http://www.uga.edu/scwds/topic_index/1998/FerretRabiesPolicyChanged.pdf <http://chfs.ky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/ 51133FDB-C335-4BF9-B786-3499BF88D2C1/0/RABIES200613.pdf> (It is not unusual to find any state's health dept. providing info like this) http://chfs.ky.gov/dph/epi/rabies.htm http://www.oneidacounty.org/oneidacty/gov/dept/health/Rabies/ 2006ClinicScheduleRabies.pdf http://www.trifl.org/politics.shtml and there are plenty more -- Sukie (not a vet, and not speaking for any of the below in my private posts) Recommended health resources to help ferrets and the people who love them: Ferret Health List http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth FHL Archives http://ferrethealth.org/archive/ AFIP Ferret Pathology http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html Miamiferrets http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/ International Ferret Congress Critical References http://www.ferretcongress.org [Posted in FML issue 5347]
