Bob -
This is a quick rundown and right off the top of my head. Dick suggests
depositions in response to these allegations ASAP. Sal needs to send
something to the Appeals Court so they know he is responding. I'm sure he
is aware of that but just to make sure.
Find out what type of assessment they make. Have someone call and ask for
dogs, cats, horses, rodents, rabbits, ferrets and if it differs for species.
Maybe your attorney can request it and get it more quickly. If he has a
problem request it under the information act. Your state should have one.
And get Dr. Leis in to check on Kodo ASAP so she can testify that he is
healthy.
Here are some rabies positive stats for you, taken directly from the yearly
rabies surveillance tables.
Rabies in dogs, cats, bats, skunks, fox, raccoon, livestock - Michigan
1995 0 0 43 0 0 0 0
1994 0 1 13 0 0 0 0
1993 0 1 16 1 0 0 0
1992 1 0 10 1 0 0 3
1991 2 0 32 2 0 0 0
1990 0 3 46 1 1 0 0
1989 1 1 24 2 0 1 0
On Mon, 19 May 1997, Robert Jacobs wrote:
>8. Rabies consultations by the Department with local health departments
>are always based on an assessment of risk
A true risk assessment determines Kodo is not a risk. What does their risk
assessment consist of? Speceism I'm sure.
>9. Public health officials are often in a difficult position of having
>to choose human health over the life of an animal. While these are not
>pleasant decisions, and no one likes having to make such a choice,
>because rabies is essentially fatal for people once symptoms develop,
>public health officials will always choose the safest option when making
>decisions on animal verses human life.
There is no choice. There was no exposure. What risk assessement did they
use? A housebound, caged when not supervised, properly vaccinated ferret is
a risk? I don't think so.
>10. The facts and information cited below compel our department to
>recommend that the ferret in this case be immediately euthanized and
>tested for rabies.
And how many times has their department been compelled to kill and test
ferrets with negative results? Since 1994 - 212
>11. In Michigan, there are two federal documents upon which we base our
>recommendations concerning rabies control and prevention.
>
>12. The first document is titled, "Rabies Prevention - United States,
>1991, Recommendations of the Immunization Practices Advisory Committee
>(ACIP)" published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in
>Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, (MMWR) March 22, 1991.
That's the one I thought they were using. I have this document. It is the
same one that caused problems here in Kansas. It has not been updated. I
wrote to the chair of the committee last year, and guess what - he didn't
respond.
>13. The second document is the Compendium of Animal Rabies Control
>published by the National Association o State Public Health
>Veterinarians on an annual basis.
And updated on a yearly basis because of new research results.
>14. Michigan's Communicable Disease Rules, last updated in 1993, adopts
>by reference, the 1992 version of the Compendium of Animal Rabies Control.
OUTDATED WITH FALSE INFORMATION
>15. Both of these documents are the products of advisory communities
>and represent the consensus view on rabies prevention by experts from
>the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, academia, other
>government agencies and clinical practice.
As of the year they were published, not current information. Why are they
using outdated and incorrect data? That is lethal in other aspects as well.
>16 Both of these documents serve as the basis for rabies guidelines in
>all species of animals, including dogs and cats.
The ACIP Report hasn't been updated. It takes info directly from the
Compendium, therefore it is no longer correct and should not be used.
>17. The 1997 version of the compendium does not differ from the 1992
>version with regard to ferrets and the provision of a post-bite ...
Yes it does. Ferrets are to be vaccinated against rabies and IMRAB 3 is
listed for use in ferrets. Ferrets are also listed with dogs and cats. In
the 1992 version they were listed with wild animals and wolf hybrids. We
also did not have the US ferret shedding studies in 1992. In the 1997
version it recommends a risk assessment for ferrets (use Jenkins letter
which explicitly states this), the 1992 version recommended kill and test.
>18. Rabies is a viral disease that attacks the neurologic system. It
>is an ivariably fatal disease. Virus-laden saliva of a rabid animal is
>introduced by a bite or scratch.
There has to be a suspect animal here. If the animal has not been exposed
it isn't a suspect and does not cause a potential exposure. If there has
been an exposure, it must be secreting the virus in it's saliva and there
must be a bite or contact with mucous membranes. Research studies have
determined that ferrets do not secrete the skunk strain and that they do
secrete the raccoon strain 2-3 days before showing symptoms. These are the
only 2 strains ferrets have been found to be naturally infected with here in
the US. If Kodo was secreting the raccoon strain he would have shown
symptoms by the 3rd day and be dead by day 8.
>19. the incubation period of rabies in humans is usually 3-8 weeks,
>although there have been rare instances of incubation periods greater
>than one year. The incubation period is defined as the time interval
>between initial contact with an infectious agent and the first
>appearance of symptoms associated with the infection.
In one case 18 years. I'll have to check references but I thought it was 6
months not 3-8 weeks.
>20. Prophylactic vaccination is safe and effective in preventing rabies
>if given shortly after the bite-exposure occurs. The effectiveness of
>the preventive intervention declines as time passes since the exposure,
>but it is believed to be of potential value up until the time that
>symptoms of rabies begin.
So why aren't they pressuring the gentleman to take the post-exposure
treatment? Because they know Kodo is not rabid.
>22. There have been between 14 and 52 exposures of people, or pets to
>laboratory proven rabid animals each year in Michigan since 1990.
>Michigan did identify a laboratory confirmed rabid ferret in 1985
>Ontonagon county that involved human exposure. Rabies positive bats and
>other animals are reported throughout the state every year, thus no area
>of Michigan is considered to be free of rabies. Michigan's last case of
>human rabies occurred in a six-year-old child in 1983.
And how many dogs and cats? What type of animal transmitted rabies to the
child? The rabid ferret was BEFORE ferrets were legal in Michigan and
BEFORE the USDA licensed vaccine for use in ferrets.
>23. Vaccination of any animal, even dogs and cats, with a USDA approved
>rabies vaccine is no guarantee that rabies will be prevented. that is
>why, if a dog or a cat bites a person, the animal is placed in 10 days
>of confinement and observation whether or not it is vaccinated.
What is their procedure with horse bites? Otters???? There are no shedding
studies on these animals. Unvaccinated dogs are quarantined. They are more
likely to be exposed to rabies vectors since they are indoor/outdoor animals
and many are allowed to roam outside unsupervised. Dogs have been shown to
incubate the virus for years and shed the virus intermittently without
showing symptoms.
What is their procedure on hamsters, gerbils, rabbits, guinea pigs? Ferrets
have never transmitted the rabies virus.
Why are ferrets required by state law to be vaccinated if the state health
dept will kill them anyway? This goes back to risk assessment. Pin them
down on how they assess ferrets.
>24. We know from scientific studies and from many years of world wide
>experience, that the virus shedding period for a dog or cat is only a
>few days.
And that dogs may intermittently shed the virus in their saliva over a
period of years and without showing any symptoms. Not so with ferrets.
Studies have shown that ferrets do not secrete the skunk strain and they do
secrete the raccoon strain 2-3 days before showing symptoms and die within 8
days.
Cats have also been shown to incubate the virus for years and shed the virus
from 1 day before to 8 days after onset of symptoms. Cats have a more
independent nature and are natural predators with more opportunity for
exposure. Rabid cats often become aggressive which further increases the
risk to human exposure.
FERRETS HAVE NEVER TRANSMITTED THE VIRUS TO HUMANS OR ANOTHER ANIMAL. THERE
HAVE BEEN LESS THAN 25 CASES OF RABIES IN FERRETS IN THE ENTIRE TIME OF CDC
RABIES SURVEILLANCE.
>25 The "virus shedding period" for a particular species refers to the
>time period in which the virus is available at the exit portal, such as
>saliva. During this period, the animal is capable of transmitting the
>rabies virus by biting a person.
We have the results from the ferret shedding studies with the only rabies
variants that ferrets are found to be naturally infected with.
>26. thus, when a dog or cat bites a person, it will be showing signs of
>rabies at that time or within a few days. If signs of disease occur in
>the dog or cat during confinement, there is time to administer the
>lifesaving post-exposure treatement to the person who has been bitten.
Not necessarily. Dogs have been shown to shed the virus intermittently and
without symptoms. Again, what about horses, guinea pigs, hamsters, rabbits?
>27. In contrast to dogs and cats, the period between onset of bat
>variant rabies shedding in saliva and development of recognizable signs
>of rabies has not yet been established for ferrets. We are aware that
>studies are currently underway to try ot determine a virus shedding
>period for the bat variant strain of rabies virus in ferrets, but these
>studies have not been completed.
Ferrets have never been found to be naturally infected with bat rabies.
Dogs and cats have.
>28. This is of penultimate importance in Michigan because the
>overwhelming majority of rabies positive animals in Michigan are bats
>presumed to be infected with the bat variant strain. In the last 5
>years, 111 of 121 (92%) of rabid animals were bats. In addition, the
>characterization of rabies virus isolates from rabid animals other than
>bats that were tested, indicates that the vast majority are caused by
>the bat variant strain.
AGAIN, ferrets have never been found to be naturally infected with bat
rabies. It is highly unlikely a rabid bat would fly into Bob and Kathy's
home and choose to crawl under a blanket to bite Kodo when larger and more
easily accesible targets are available such as the humans. Ferrets are less
likely to be exposed to a rabid bat than any other domestic animal. Ferrets
are normally caged when not supervised and they are not allowed to roam
freely outdoors.
>29. While the ferret rabies virus shedding period for the skunk rabies
>variant and the raccoon rabies variant have been studied, the ferret
>shedding period for the bat rabies virus has not.
AGAIN, ferrets have never been found to be naturally infected with bat
rabies. And what about horses, rodents and rabits?
>30. Studies show that there are significant differences in the ferret
>rabies virus shedding period between the skunk rabies variant and
>raccoon rabies variant; thus we know that the virus variants are not
>homogeneous. It is therefore possible that once studied, the bat rabies
>variant shedding period may be lengthy.
Ahhh.. but the raccoon strain gave us the information we needed to set a
quarantine as it falls within the same guidelines as dogs and cats with the
ferret being only moderately susceptible and less likely to be exposed.
>31. Information provided by the Bay County Animal Control and the
>exposed individual himself imply that a true through-the-skin bite
>exposure to saliva of the ferret at issue is likely to have occured.
Excuse me? I thought the individual has signed a statement releasing the
state from liability and that he was not bitten. Is it anatomically
possible that a scratch could have occurred? It seems highly unlikely.
I've tried with mine and have not been able to produce the same results.
The canine lies against the lower jaw. Unless Kodo's teeth are razor sharp
I just can't see it happening. His mouth was closed there was no saliva on
the tooth.
>32. Our department is compelled to recommend that the ferret at issue
>be immediately euthanized and tested for rabies of on the basis of the
>careful consideration of ...
Careful consideration? What risk assessment did they use? That needs to be
stated. And when the bat study is done what next? The current
recommmendations are for risk assessment not kill and test because the
animal involved is a ferret.
[Posted in FML issue 1942]
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