Tim and Joanne
You must act immediately to get up-to-date ferret and rabies info in the
hands of officials.  I don't know how Canadian officials will respond to US
info, but the National Association of State Public Health Veterninarians
recommends quarantines in ferret bite cases.
 
You can find the 1998 Compendium of Rabies Control, the "bible" in the US
for how to handle these situations, at
 
http://www.avma.org/pubhlth/rabcontb.html
 
Note especially section B 6 "Management of animals that bite humans."  It
recommends the same 10-day quarantine period for ferrets as for dogs and
cats.
 
At http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Estates/3308/memorandum.html
you can find a memorandum written by Dr Suzanne Jenkins that accompanied
the 1998 Compendium.  It discusses the results of the extensive ferret
rabies studies completed at that time.  Here is part of the summary from
that memo:
 
"In all but one case, shedding was concomitant with onset of recognizable
signs; one animal may have shed virus for as long as 4 days prior to onset
of signs.  The longest an animal may have shed virus prior to death was 6
days.  A confinement and observation period of 10 days after a ferret bites
a person should be sufficient to protect public health."
 
The recently released 1999 Compendium makes no major changes to the
previous one, and the accompanying memo mentions that 2 more strains of
rabies virus have been tested in ferrets with results consistent with other
studies.
 
Does anyone have a web reference for the 1999 Compendium and memo??
 
If you can provide names, phone and fax numbers for the officials who need
persuading, we can send them information.
 
We will be praying for the safety of Sydney.
 
Linda Iroff
Raisin Retreat Ferret Shelter
Oberlin, OH
http://www.oberlin.edu/~liroff/ncfs.html
 
To help in raisin' funds for the Raisin Retreat, go here
http://www.iGive.com/html/ssi.cfm?cid=3585&mid=30146
[Posted in FML issue 2571]