Dear WebMD Editor in charge of MedicineNet content, Sadly, http://www.medicinenet.com/rabies/article.htm which is administered by WebMD STILL contains this as of this afternoon, 8/26/06: >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. so while WebMD itself has better content, your staff needs to correct MedicineNet, still. I think it must be a typo where someone meant to put in "raccoons" which are a major vector species but thought "mask" and wrote in "ferrets" because it has NEVER been true that ferrets are a rabies vector, let alone a major one. There has NEVER been a case of transmission of rabies to a human or anything else WORLDWIDE. This is probably because the ferrets have died before the brain stage is over so the virus doesn't get a chance to pass intact from the brain which is the final point when the infectious stage begins in animals which transmit rabies. Might it happen at some point in the future with a ferret? Yes, because in studies (U.S., France, and Germany) something like perhaps a half dozen or fewer of the test animals in total have passed *inviable* virus segments to the saliva from the brain, so one very hardy individual might *someday* survive long enough to pass enough viable virus to be infectious but it has not happened to date so in some studies they and polecats are treated as dead-end species for the infection. Nor do ferrets even acquire rabies easily. Unlike dogs they can not be infected by eating an infected animal, early studies had to perfect a way to infect ferrets by direct transmission of the virus to the Central Nervous System because it was so hard to get infection to survive in them otherwise, and ferrets these days are commonly indoor animals so unlikely to be exposed. (BTW, there are many millions of pet ferrets in United States alone. Ken Wells of the Wall Street Journal estimated several years ago that ferrets then made up about 2 billion (one 16th) of the then 32 billion dollars spent annually on pets in the U.S. In addition, ferrets have had an effective rabies vaccine which meets strict USDA standards since 1990, and ferrets have had the same public health recommendations as dogs and cats since Nov. 1997 (published Jan. 1998) due to extensive studies. Note, too (in the Rutgers public health presentation link below) that rabbits were 4 times more likely (and cats over 100 times more likely) to to be found having acquired rabies (per specimen) than ferrets in the years covered, and in materials by Dr. Freddie Ann Hoffman, pediatrician, that the rate of severe bites by ferrets (***per capita animal***) was the same in national figures as that of severe bites by pet rabbits. That is not to say that rabbits or cats are bad pets because they are wonderful pets, but it does get across that ferrets have been demonized to an unwarranted degree. Wrongly "accusing" them through that typo of being a major vector of a disease they have NEVER transmitted makes MedicineNet look more like an unscientific propaganda tool than a resource based upon actual facts -- and that undermines your reputation as a resource. With millions of ferret people in the U.S. alone that makes for a real predicament if that typo is not rapidly corrected.) It would make sense to use a link in each of your rabies articles to the main rabies CDC page which is a wonderful resource: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/rabies/ Here are some reputable references. The two most knowledgeable sources of information on rabies in the United States are the CDC's rabies branch (medical and transmission aspects), and the National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians which is composed to experts who are BOTH veterinarians AND epidemiologists (vectors and much more). >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 and there are many more PLEASE, PROMPTLY CORRECT THAT MedicineNet TYPO WHICH HAS *NEVER* BEEN ACCURATE. -- Sukie Crandall [Posted in FML issue 5347]