From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2002-09-05 06:20:08 UTC
Subject: Re: Rabies Vaccine
To: hferretluv@msn.com, ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-Id: <p05111701b99ca28c3a66@[192.168.1.102]>
>1. Is rabies vaccine currently on the market all that safe?
IMRAB 3 is the only one which is USDA approved. When rabies vaccine
were first being tested (partly through donations of vets, of one
major breeder, and of some ferret people) there were several tested.
Some simply did not work. Some did raise the titers enough but had
bad side effects and I know that a vet who gave time to this effort
personally adopted such ferrets to give them the extra forever-care
they needed. One vaccine worked but only if it was given every 6
months so that one was out.
While it is possible to have an allergic reaction to a rabies vaccine
few individuals do react to it. There have been a good deal more
reactions to Canine Distemper vaccines which is why Merial developed
Purevax ferret CVD vaccine which has reduced that risk. Many ferret
people became involved in encouraging the development and marketing
of that vaccine.
>2. Is a rabies vaccine for ferrets even really necessary? I have
>seen at >various sites, that there has not been one recorded case of
>a ferret with >rabies. Is all this true?
>I'm also, not a vet. But I would very much appreciate knowing the
>answers to >these questions.
Also not a vet, either, but it's a topic i know a little about.
There certainly have been multiple ferrets with rabies, but it is
rare for several reasons, with the three perhaps-top ones being:
1. they are indoors usually (though that is not a perfect guarantee
of safety since rabid wild animals have gotten into households or
non-vaccinated domestic animals have brought it in)
2. A large portion of ferret people is careful to vaccinate because
of knowing fully well how many ferrets died due to even allegations
of bites or scratches, or even kissing of open cuts from other causes
before the Compendium of Animal rabies Control was changed, so they
recognize the risk of such allegations for ferrets who lack proof of
vaccination
3. In the U.S. and in Europe the rate of rabies exposures has been
markedly reduced specifically by the use of vaccines for domestic
animals and more recently with the addition of rabies baits for some
types of wild ones. This is the sort of situation where if many
vaccinate the risk is low, but if many figure it is safe due to the
risk being low then the risk rises again because the protection
(vaccination) that lowered the risk in the first place has been
removed.
It took around ten years of work to first get a USDA approved rabies
vaccine for ferrets, then to have the testing needed to know that
they do not pose a risk beyond that which dogs or cats pose, and
finally to change the Compendium and change either regulations or
laws (depending on the state). A good number of people who wanted to
save ferret lives spent many hundreds of hours of donated labor and
thousands of dollars of their own funds working on this because it
was so badly needed. At least two of them are moderators here.