It sounds like either someone or some agency is grossly misinformed, or
the media is doing it's usual job of completely misunderstanding what's
going on.
 
Especially considering that if Fuji had been presented immediately,
by the time the pathological results had been acquired, the child would
have been half way thru the injection series anyways.
 
Why in hell did they suspect rabies?  Was there *any* indication that
any of the ferrets could have been rabid?  Or, are all ferrets presumed
to be rabid on sight?  Our reading, and the vet confirms, seems to
indicate that there have been only a few (2 or 3) cases of rabies in
pet ferrets ever reported, one or two of which were as a result of the
injection of the wrong rabies vaccine.
 
Are ferrets legal in Virginia?
 
I'm by no means an expert on rabies, but I have followed some of the
stuff regarding rabies in the Province of Ontario, and I have a number
of impressions (which could be completely out to lunch) on how things
are done here.  The Province of Ontario (pop. 8-9 million) has one
of the highest incidences of rabies in wildlife (primarily skunks and
foxes) anywhere.  The Ministry of Health quite rightly takes immediate,
prompt and (sometimes) extreme action whenever rabies is suspected.
The MOH initiates rabies treatment in some 1100 to 1500 people per year.
Because of their prompt action, we haven't had an active case of rabies
in a human since 1958.  Which is pretty amazing considering the number
of confirmed rabies-carrying animals that are reported (several
hundred per year).  To give you an idea of what we occasionally have to deal
with, I give you a currently occuring situation (reminicent of the
(truly awful) horror movie "Rabid"):
 
        In the more northern areas of Ontario, most people don't bother
        to have their pets vaccinated.  Partially because of a myth about
        rabies being primarily localized around the big cities in the
        south.
 
        20 or so miles from the city of Sudbury (heavy-industry/mining
        medium size city about 400 miles north of Toronto) there is a
        small town with approximately 400 people.  During the last
        couple of months, approximately 75 animals have been found to
        have *confirmed* cases of rabies.  About half of them
        were wild foxes, most of the rest were pet cats - rabies has
        also been confirmed in skunks, pet dogs and a few farm animals
        (eg: cattle and horses).  Most of the cats have developed the
        "furious" form of the disease and have attacked their owners
        and other people or animals.
 
        About 150 residents of the town have had, or are currently going
        through, the complete rabies injection series.  The situation is
        so bad that MNR (M. of Natural Resources) personnel, OPP
        (Ontario Provincial Police) officers, and some town residents are
        shooting *all* loose cats, foxes or skunks on sight.  Almost *every*
        single animal killed has turned out to have rabies.  Needless to say,
        everybody is now keeping their pets indoors and are having them
        vaccinated.
 
This is what I've gleaned over the years:
 
  - When a pet is suspected of having rabies, the animal is *not*
    killed and examined.  The animal is put under strict quarantine for
    two weeks.  If the animal dies or shows explicit symptoms by the
    end of this period, then and only then is the animal killed and
    the brain examined.  This is partially due to the possibility that
    the animal may actually have the virus, but it hasn't had a chance
    to be detectable by pathology yet - they give the virus a chance
    to grow.  Of course this may only apply to cats and dogs.  This is
    also what some of the animal rescue books (and our vet) recommend
    for potentially infected wildlife (for those of you following
    the saga of Popcan the Weasel - who is perfectly fine BTW)
  - The traditional rabies treatment for humans is an extremely painful
    and potentially dangerous (regarding possible side-effects) sequence
    of injections for approximately 2 weeks.  HOWEVER, approximately 2
    or 3 years ago a *new* therapy has been approved here which is
    considerably better in all respects - being virtually painless,
    requiring only one or two injections and side-effects are almost
    unknown.  Thus, the MOH no longer hesitates to give the vaccine
    (though the rates given above are averages since prior to the
    new vaccine), and really only needs to quarantine the animal to
    verify whether it needs to be destroyed.
  - I was unaware that the rabies vaccine had to be approved for each
    type of animal.  This is particularly wierd considering the amount
    of work done with ferret culturing and testing of rabies and
    distemper vaccines for dogs and cats.
 
Is there any evidence that ferrets (or any other animal for that matter)
can carry the rabies virus without succumbing to it?  Our vet indicates
that a ferret would die within a matter of 1-2 days if it became infected
(of course, factoring in the incubation period).
 
I'm going to see if I can get some official Government literature on the
subject.
                                                                          
[Posted in FML 0028]