It is NOT known if ferrets can get this casually the last i read. http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/message/10281 has some older info by a few days and some not below. This one is a large update and some new: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/message/10331 The ferrets in whom testing is being done have had the disease imposed upon them so it is not yet known if they can get this one casually. http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/MUMA-7RL7Z5?OpenDocument BEGIN QUOTE In relation to the laboratory results; in the two first confirmed cases in the United States, virus A/California/04/2009 and A/California/05/2009 were isolated. They show a pattern of genetic reassortment of a virus of swine influenza from the Americas with a swine influenza virus from Eurasia. This particular genetic combination had not been detected in the past. Both proved to be resistant to amantadine and rimantadine, but sensitive to neuraminidase inhibitors, oseltamivir and zanamivir. Both have been cultured in MDCK cells and inoculated in ferrets for the production of antisera. The complete genome of the virus A/California/04/2009 has been published and is available in the database of the GISAID (www.gisaid.org). The viruses of other confirmed cases in the United States correspond to the same new strain. END QUOTE (also the many, many news reports -- my tip on that score is to listen to ONLY the medical professionals' comments because in too many places the writers for the talking heads have been going for sensation rather than reliable data) So, use the same precautions as always: wash hands whenever you have been touching public things touched by many hands (especially before touching ferrets and before touching your eyes, nose, mouth...), if you get sick then cough or sneeze into your hand then wash, or use a handkerchief and then wash. (There have been some people postulating that the lack of childhood vaccinations in Mexico may partly explain why so many have been lost there compared to here where the only death has been a Mexican child visiting over the border in Texas. Of course, the health care there is lacking for too many, too, so alternative health care is used by a large amount of the population and it does not seem to be up to this challenge or might even in some cases contribute to the risk factors.) In NYC which has the most cases in the U.S. and Canada it has been behaving like a standard influenza in the infected people so far. So, if you get fever, ache and pains, trouble breathing, etc -- standard influenza symptoms -- take precautions and get the same professional medical care that you would get for another influenza, but call your physician first and describe because some are seeing such patients through back doors to avoid risk of spreading it in a waiting room. (There have been a few individuals in the U.S. and Canada who also had intestinal symptoms but that appears to be very uncommon with this.) (People are unsure now if it has caused cytokine storms and also unsure if the influenza itself may be at the root of most of the deaths in Mexico so it is best to just be safest and most careful. In the next half week or so many more specimens will be tested to see if those people had this influenza. In humans very few cases have been below the age of 3 years or above the age of 59 years, so part of being sicker still may be a stronger than needed immune system response.) A study looking at a possible derivation relationship to the 1918 influenza: http://www.k-state.edu/media/newsreleases/april09/swineflu43009.html BEGIN QUOTE Swine flu is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza that regularly causes outbreaks of influenza among the animals and can be transmitted to humans. It is a typical zoonotic agent. ... For the study, the researchers used the 1918 pandemic virus and a 1930 H1N1 influenza virus for experimental infections in swine. The 1930 virus was chosen as a virus because it is thought to be a descendent of the 1918 virus, Richt said. The researchers did not find a significant difference in effects from the 1918 and 1930 viruses in infected pigs. This was surprising, since the 1918 virus killed more than 20 million people and was lethal to ferrets, mice and macaques. Another surprising finding from the study was the rapid antibody response in the animals infected with the 1918 virus, which is not typically reported for the swine influenza virus. END QUOTE ON HOW TO USE SOCIAL SEPARATION TO STOP SPREAD: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-04/bc-sss043009.php http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genomes/FLU/SwineFlu.html In http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez See and link to latest citations from BEGIN QUOTE NLM/NCBI Swine Flu Resources: Newest swine influenza A (H1N1) sequences Citations recently added to PubMed MedlinePlus (consumer health information) Enviro-Health Links END QUOTE and the rest may well interest a number of FHL Members. ALL FHL members will find at least one of the links from the green box next to that to be worthy reading for protecting ferrets and their people. Veterinary resources: http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/enviro/swineflu.html#a5 Great info explaining it and telling what you can do: http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/enviro/swineflu.html#a5 http://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/habits.htm Sukie (not a vet) Recommended ferret health links: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/ http://ferrethealth.org/archive/ http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html http://www.miamiferret.org/ http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/ http://www.ferretcongress.org/ http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html [Posted in FML 6319]