Well, I publicly praised Answers.com to the skies too quickly yesterday.
It really saddens me to have to tell this to the many thousands of
members of the FML with a Cc to <[log in to unmask]>.  The site has
returned today, Tuesday, 8/29 using the GLARINGLY INCORRECT mention of
ferrets as a major rabies vector: http://www.answers.com/rabies
 
>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.
 
taken from
http://www.medicinenet.com/rabies/article.htm
which is equally incorrect and which is administered by WebMD
 
PLEASE, write to
[log in to unmask]
and ask why they returned to the incorrect quote after they originally
made corrections by quoting a different section of MedicineNet
 
Meanwhile, having totally given up on the standard content content
administrators for MedicineNet and WebMD, I have written DIRECTLY to
three MedicineNet editors for whom I could find addresses and who seemed
the best fits.  Unfortunately, Dr. William Shiel, their editor in chief
at that division does not have a listing I could find though POLITE snail
mail letters with accurate information and resource listings could go to
him at UCI Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of California
Irvine Medical Center, or the public listings for practice for him In
mission Viejo and Laguna Hills, but hopefully that will not be needed.
I WAS able to find direct email addresses for Dr. Ruchi Mathur who is
one of the senior editors, Dr. Eric Daar who is their infectious diseases
editor, and a less direct route to Dr. Melissa Stoppler who is their
pathology editor.
 
Some points:
In the section which addresses vector animals ferrets are listed instead
of raccoons (a major vector animal, especially in the Eastern U.S.).
This is incorrect on a huge number of levels.
 
Reasons this is dangerous to humans:
A. Over-reaction to any injury from ferrets
B. Failure to address exposures to infected raccoons
 
Reasons this adds to the workload of health departments:
A: It ignores raccoons, a true major rabies vector animal
B. It gives an entirely false statement about ferrets, causing
   needless testing from panic.
1. Ferrets are one of the three (dogs, cats, and ferrets) domestic
   species studied extensively in relation to rabies in the U.S.,
   France, and Germany
2. Domestic ferrets are not a wild species
3. Worldwide there has never been even one documented case of a
   ferret transmitting rabies.  It totally undermines the validity of
   a site to call an animal which has never been found to have been a
   vector a major one.
4. Ferrets are usually kept indoors where they are unlikely to have
   an exposure
5. There have been more cases of rabies in humans than in ferrets.
6. There is an effective rabies vaccine for ferrets, IMRAB 3, which
   met strict USDA strict criteria for approval in 1990.
7. Ferrets are not easy to infect with rabies.  Unlike dogs they can not
   acquire it by eating infected animals, and for studies a direct route
   to the CNS needed to be used to infect enough animals (a procedure
   used first in ferrets in French studies as far as I can find).
8. After extensive studies by the nation's best rabies experts (who are
   at the CDC and associated universities) of multiple strains of rabies
   given to ferrets, the ultimate experts in rabies vector animals:
   the members of the National Association of State Public Health
   Veterinarians, who are both veterinarians and epidemiologists voted
   in late 1997 to change the Compendium of Animal Rabies Prevention
   and Control to include ferrets as having the same precautions as
   dogs and cats.
9. In a comparative bite rate (per capita animal) study of Freddie Ann
   Hoffman, MD, the serious bite rate of domestic ferrets is pretty much
   equal to that of domestic rabbits.
 
Reasons that it is simply cruel to list the wrong animal:
A. It can lead to needless deaths of treasured and loving companion
animals.  (If you have ever doubted that ferrets are loving and caring,
please, know that this last Spring when our furnace malfunctioned and
my husband was out on an early walk our Hilbert gently and persistently
wakened me and made me get up as our home filled with fumes.  Due to my
still having been asleep and having asthma I amy owe my life to Hilbert's
actions and then to my own to address the issue.  In 25 years with
ferrets we have found them devoted, four-footed family members.)
 
Some resources you can quote:
>Some resources which ARE UP TO DATE and based upon facts rather
>than supposition or typos:
>E-mail: [log in to unmask]  (YES, you CAN verify fact on rabies with the
>CDC itself.  Dr. Charles Rupprecht heads the division and is a
>wonderful soul.)
> 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:
> https://njlmn.rutgers.edu/cdr/docs/Breakout3_Campbell_Frese.pdf
> 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
>Freddie Ann Hoffman, MD; FDA Veterinarian; May/June 1991; Vol VI
[Posted in FML issue 5350]