Mary, you missed my post that was sent later (but appeared earlier in
the FML).
 
At the time when Rebecca and I were first seeking it on CNN it had NOT
yet been put on their website, NOR was there any information available
elsewhere.
 
During that hour all that was happening was that CNN kept scrolling
that ferrets had been infected with SARS.
 
When they put up the actual report an hour later Rebecca found it and
then alerted me to it.
 
The "Nature" report itself came out today (Thursday).  CNN was releasing
info before the release of the "Nature" article.
 
You can see that the reason she and I didn't know why the scroll bar
said that at first was because CNN had not posted the report, because
the "Nature" article itself wasn't available until close to a full day
afterward, and because there was not information to be found elsewhere
AT THAT TIME (including the CDC, WHO, and multiple news sites).
 
Mary wrote:
>Nope.  If you look on the web site for the journal Nature, you'll find
>the report of the actual study.  Here's the link (since it's a long
>link, you'll have to copy and paste - if it doesn't work for you, try
>going to the Nature home page at http://www.nature.com/):
>http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v425/
>n6961/abs/425915a_fs.html&dynoptions=doi1067527652 ...
>ferrets don't *spontaneously* get SARS -- meaning that house-bound
>animals are not going to pick it up...
 
It's an infection.  Exposure would have to happen, of course, and SARS
is a very rare type of disease which makes exposure unlikely.  Nor is it
known how easily they can get it, and experiemtn flaws mean that it is
not known if they can transmit it .
 
>ferrets are not referred to as domesticated animals in the study (yup,
>they call 'em wild).
 
Annoying.  That is a basic which someone in that position SHOULD know:
that they are domestics.
 
>these two distantly related carnivores can so easily be infected with
>the virus indicates that the reservoir for this pathogen may involve a
>range of animal species."ferret-l
 
It was known already that a wide range of members of Carnivora can get
it.  In Asia within the food market the infected animals included a canid
(Raccoon dog, which is a canid rather than a procyonid), viverrids (the
imported civet cats who appear to be perhaps the original species in that
Chinese market with the illness), and a mustelid (ferret badger).  Later
during the outbreak there were infected cats in one of the apartment
buildings with infected people.
 
Hope that clarifies the timing (that we were seeking things which weren't
up till an hour later) and some other things.  Thanks much for the link!
[Posted in FML issue 4317]