I agree with McDuff's post on the rabies study. Also its not just a case of disclaimer's for more funding, or the scientists obsession for absolutes, its also government bureacracy's standard CYA (cover your a**). No one person wants to be the one to come out and say - the quarantine period should be 10 days - just in case the impossible happens and fingerpointing starts down the food chain to them. Another reason to support McDuff's argument. It seems, in general, that if a person is to contract rabies it is most likely to occur directly from a "wild" animal source. I.e. a rabid racoon, bat, skunk etc. The reason to vaccinate dogs, cats, ferrets ets. is more to stop another vector from developing and compounding the spread of the disease first and secondly to protect humans. If rabies were a large frequent threat to humans wouldn't health authorities recommend that humans get the rabies vaccine as a matter of course like measels? I know its deadly but there is a preventative vaccine for humans! There are shots for after the bite! There is a vaccine to prevent the disease in ferrets! This makes the unwillingness to provide a quarantine period for ferrets based on the current research for ferrets crap! Personally I feel very comfortable with the amount of research done (actually I didn't care if they did any more after they found the ferret vaccine viable). I think its time to say no more wasted dollars on research - give us a quarantine period! Mary [Posted in FML issue 2104]