From:
sukieferret
Date: 2002-03-08 18:54:00 UTC
Subject: tuberculosis -- more
Okay, the bovine form of tuberculosis in ferrets appears to differ
greatly from the avian form and for the bovine form death is
recommended in a text I have here; that is because humans can
also contract it readily enough (also true with M. tuberculosis).
The bovine form, BTW, has almost disappeared in U.S. ferrets
due to the feeding of pelleted foods rather than raw animal parts,
and due to raw milk not typically being available according to
Fox's _Biology and Diseases of the Ferret_.
About the avian form the chapter reads: "Although M. avium is
not a disease reportable to public health officials, its presence
may present a zoonotic risk, particularly to immunocompromised
humans. If other ferrets have been exposed, they should be
tuberculin-tested (which may be helpful), or other diagnostic
tests should be performed to ascertain their disease status.
Personnel at risk should also be screened with appropriate
tuberculin tests." As you can see, it does not call for death of
the animals with M. avium, but for testing.