HIV cannot live outside of a host for any more then a very short period of time. Animals aren't carriers of HIV--otherwise, I'm sure we'd hear from hysterical people over dog bites. Remember back when people thought you could become infected through mosquitoes or flea bites? That was proven to be completely untrue. Your ferret will be fine even if he bites an infected person, and he will not be able to pass the virus on. As far as your mom's health goes, she probably wants to play it safe and not clean the litter boxes (due to the very small risk of toxoplasmosis) and be careful around sneezy ferrets, as some colds can go back and forth. I've known a few HIV+ people to have ferrets and have had no problems with them. Feel free to contact me directly if you want some more scientific information or citations. Lela Health Educator [Posted in FML issue 1797]