Message Number: YG9414 | New FHL Archives Search
From: sukieferret
Date: 2001-12-15 16:24:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Bites, rabies, and ER docs..... my 2 cents for what its
worth!

One thing that I have found is that even though emergency
rooms are SUPPOSED to be aware of the _Compendium of
Animal Rabies Control_ and to FIRST call the state public health
vet who is charge of rabies policy many do not call -- they just
panic or make assumptions, or if they call they do call they don't
even think to ask for the specialist in rabies polices,
epidemiology, and veterinary medicine.

There was a scary article in a journal for Emergency Physicians
few years ago, several years after ferrets were covered by the
_Compendium of Animal Rabies Control_, several years after
the CDC published extensive research which supported the
inclusion of ferrets in the Compendium, and about 10 years after
the USDA agreed that IMRAB 3 meets its strict criteria for use as
an approved rabies vaccine for ferrets. This was supposedly a
peer-reviewed journal but NO public health vets were asked for
any info, the compendium was not used as a resource, no stats
of bite numbers per (estimated) capita animal were used, the
writer who was also an emergency room physician had no
knowledge that IMRAB 3 even exists as an approved rabies
vaccine for ferrets, the USDA was not used as a resource, and
NO CDC publications were used. How's that for shoddy work
which got widely distributed to physicians in a publication that is
supposed to be reputable? It told them that there are no rabies
vaccines for ferrets than work, that ferrets pose a rabies risk, that
any biting ferret must be sacrificed to be safe, that ferrets are
prone to biting, etc.

Not only that, but it wound up being widely copied elsewhere in
an anti-ferret panic flare-up.

You simply can NOT assume that these folks know their stuff in
regard to bites; some do (and should be congratulated) but too
many do not, so make the info available and DO get copies of
the three parts of the _Compendium of Animal Rabies Control_
http://www.avma.org/pubhlth/rabcont.asp to emergency rooms.


--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., Steve Austin <kazpat1@j...> wrote:
> That is true, in NJ there was a rabies case a couple years ago
> in a man. The first in like 40 years, anyway it was from a
> bat. So, the most likely cause here is bats, then other
> wild animals before dogs and cats, but the statistics
> show that there are cases of rabies in dogs and cats each
year,
> so if the animal is a stray and can't be watched best to
> start the rabies protocal, now for someone like you, maybe
> consider getting vaccinated?
>
> Also, I would say that not everyone,even in the medical field
> would be up on this stuff, and many many people think rabies
> when they are bit, even if a bacterial infection is much more
> likely, or they worry about tetanus. Go to an ER and say you
> were bit by a ferret, I bet many would not have a clue-
> happened where I work, everyone panicked ,made a big stink,
> took several phone calls, and still wanted the person started
> on rabies shots, even when they knew the ferret was at a pet
> store and could be watched, I came in the next day to find
> out and was a bit upset, couldn't believe it, but they really had
> no clue,and many didn't even know what a ferret was.
>
> The person that was bit may insist the ferret be tested, and
> if there is no protective law where they live, the ferret may
> be put to death to be tested- it could happen depending on
> the rules and reglations where you live.
>
> Patty
> :
> > Hi there,
> >
> > The chance of developing rabies from the bite of an
> > animal is so minimal that most docs, at least in
> > Minnesota, do not consider this as a worry. The worry
> > instead is the danger of pastuerella infection. This
> > is true with all carnivores, but particularily cats...
> >
> > Just wanted to give ya my 2 cents!!!!!!
> >
> > Carolyn
> >
> >
>
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