All, OK, we finally got some figures in today on rabies. These were supplied by CDC in Atlanta and were taken from "Rabies Surveillance in the United States During 1992" ; J.W. Krebs, MS; T.W. Strine, BA; J.E. Childs, ScD published in JAVMA, Vol. 203, No. 12, December 15,1993; Special Report 1721. Year: 1992 Confirmed Rabies Cases Cat 290 Dog 182 Cattle 184 Horses/Mules 49 Sheep/Goats 23 Ferrets 2 (1 in S.C.; 1 in VA) Swine 1 Llama 1 [end of article] Now, taking the estimated number of dogs (50 million) and the estimated number of domestic ferrets (10 million) and normalizing; we would have statistics showing that the dog is over 18 times more likely to develop rabies than is the domestic ferret. Going back in the past 5 years of available data (1988 - 1992) from similar data we find: year Dog Cat Livestock Ferret 1992 182 290 258 2 1991 155 189 308 0 1990 148 176 229 0 1989 160 212 211 0 1988 128 192 230 0 Over the period reported in by the American Ferret Association Report (where the above data came from) which covers 1980 to 1992, we find the following total cases of rabies: Dog Cat Livestock Ferret 1996 2537 3935 12 Since 1950 to present (1994), CDC reports a total of 16 confirmed cases of rabies in ferrets (private conversation with CDC). Using that same ratio of 5:1 (dogs:ferrets); the dog is shown to be over 33 times more likely to have contracted rabies. The 5:1 ratio is very conservative since the number of ferrets in recent years has grown rapidly. CDFA estimated in their 1990 report that there were 8 million ferrets compared with 46 million dogs ( 5.7 :1 ). 1988 estimates published in a reply to a previous article by Dr. Hoffman in "FDA Veterinarian"; September/ October 1991, were 50 million dogs and 3 million ferrets ( 16:1 ). In this same article, Dr Hoffman states that the normalized bite rate (bites per year per animal) showed that a dog was over 200 times more likely to bite than a ferret (8.8 bites per year per 10,000 dogs vs 0.04 bites per year per 10,000 ferrets.) The "Compendium of Animal Rabies Control, 1994" published by the National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians, Inc. now lists two (2) approved rabies vaccines for ferrets: IMRAB-3 by Rhone Merieux, Inc.; and PRORAB 1 by Intervet, Inc. An approved rabies vaccine was not available for ferrets until 1990. Hope this helps those of you needing data. Dick B. [Posted in FML issue 0786]