I never heard of that being a game, but I remember Sarah Ferguson making a
reference to it once. She was talking about when she was overweight, and had
a bit of a tummy. She was likening her jiggly tummy to having a bunch of
ferrets in her pants. Make for a rather interesting mental image, huh?
 
I got a fax from Dr Knoxx, the vet that gave me the Mo rabies info.  Its the
compendium of animal rabies control 1997.  Here's what it says under
ferrets:
 
"Last year we reported on the first of a series of studies designed to
determine basic parameters of rabies pathogenesis in the domestic ferret,
including susceptibilty, incubation period, definitive clinic signs,
duration of illness, and period of viral shedding.  In that study 37 of 54
ferrets that had been inoculated with rabies virus of the north-central
skunk variant had developed rabies, but none had detectable virus in their
saliva.  One ferret had positive salivary glands.  In addition, the carcass
of an unvaccinated ferret from CT also had virus in the salivary glands.
The lack of shedding was consistent with a prior study that had been carried
out in Europe using the Europe red fox variant.  Although the lack of
shedding in these studies was encouraging, the Compedium committee felt that
the raccoon rabies variant should be used in the next study because most
rabid ferrets have been reported from the raccoon rabies area."
 
"The raccoon virus portion of the study got a late start this summer and was
not completed at the time of the Compnedium meeting.  The researchers plan
to release the results when the study in complete, probably in Dec.  The
perliminary oral report that was given at the Compendium meeting included
information that some of the ferrets infected with the raccoon virus had
shed rabies in their saliva."
 
"Given this information, the Compendium committe decided that the safest
course of action was to make no change in the recommendations for management
of ferrets that bit humans until more data is available.  The committee also
suggested that a study using bat virus variants will proabably be indicated.
The committee did change some wording in the Compendium document to
elaborate on the kind of info required to do a risk assessment when an
animal other than a cat or dog, such as a ferret, bites a person and
encourage rabies vaccination of ferrets."
 
"As part of our public health outreach to practicing vets,we need to remind
them to be aware of the potential for ferrets to develope rabies and to
consider rabies in the differential diagnoses of sick animals.  This is of
particular importance if the animal is unvaccinated, has spent time outdoors
unattended or has a wound of unknown origin.  If a ferret from your state is
diagnosed with rabies, please send it to the CDC rabies lab so that the
salivary glands can be examined for virus.  If it is a relativly fresh
carcass or head, ship it immediately on cold packs.  If the material is
questionable as to freshness, or if there will be a significant delay in
shipment, it can be frozen at -70C or colder and sent on dry ice."
 
F.T. Satalovich, DVM, MSPH
State public health vet
 
This is Sue again-If you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions, you
can contact Dr Satalovich at 800/392-0272 or email at
[log in to unmask]
 
Sue
Nicki (thats not your sock, its mine!)
[Posted in FML issue 2014]