I got some notes from a few people who didn't know what a cold
technically, how colds differ from bacterial sinus infections, and
that antibiotics work on bacteria but not on viruses.
 
Here are the basics:
 
Ferrets do NOT get true colds.  True colds are caused by rhinoviruses
which ferrets do NOT get (much to the woe of pharmaceutical development).
 
What ferrets DO get AND what antibiotics DO work on -- with the SAME
symptoms as colds unless they get very bad -- are bacterial sinus
infections.  Some people call these "colds' for simplicity but they
aren't: they differ in the potential for fever, the potential to get a
lot worse, the potential for secondary problems, the way to treat, etc..
 
This is important to know for your own health, too, as well as their's
since sinus infections are more serious, more likely to result in lower
respiratory tract infections, and CAN be passed back and forth between
humans and ferrets.  Sinus infections can cause fevers.  They can infect
ears and sometimes eyes (depending on if certain drainage duct values are
present or not) and they can even be gotten at times from bad teeth or
from root canal work if the roots extend into the sinuses.  A really bad
one can even extend an abscess through bone and exit through a fistula
somewhere else.  The bones of one of the Nazi criminals, I believe it
was Mengela (spelling?), was identified partly due to the bone damage of
one of these which went right through his cheek to drain.  There is a
fascinating article by Snow on that work, and I think that Marple may
have written a bit about it, too.
 
BTW, antibiotics DO work on bacteria and are for treating bacterial
infections rather than viral infections for which they are pretty well
useless (except when a secondary bacterial infection starts).
 
For more info, I know that Dr. Bruce Williams, veterinary pathologist,
explained this is some detail at one point, but do NOT recall if it was
in the FML, FHL, or elsewhere and don't have the time to check right
now, but folks can always search those archives:
http://listserv.cuny.edu/archives/ferret-search.html
http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org
 
So (for the same set of symptoms if there is a sinus infection which
hasn't gotten worse):
Colds: humans but not ferrets, antibiotics won't work, viral
Sinus infections: humans AND ferrets, antibiotics DO work, bacterial
 
Sometimes, humans will have a mild influenza (thinking it is a cold)
but then the ferrets catch it and break with a full-fledged influenza
(Strain A).
 
Ferrets can also get forms of pneumonia and pleurisy.
 
It's important to tell the things apart because if a vet who doesn't
know ferrets thinks "cold" for a ferret then the vet won't even try
antibiotics since they don't work on rhinoviruses, so it is important
to think "bacterial sinus infection".
[Posted in FML issue 4454]