Message Number: SG14551 | New FHL Archives Search
From: sukiec@optonline.net
Date: 2005-06-28 16:59:45 UTC
Subject: RE: Shared viruses between ferts, humans and other domestics???
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <364285.1119977985091.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>

Lesie, what you are wondering about are zoonotic disease (zoonoses). There is quite a range. Minor things tend to not be listed. A minor GI bug that all get could do this, ditto shared food poisoning. (We've found in the past when we had a water backwash problem locally from a senile old man who used to attach an ancient hose to a hydrant that the ferrets seemed to be able to tell when the water was unsafe and we've been told that dogs tend to often be pretty good at this.)

There are a range of sources on this topic:

http://research.ucsb.edu/connect/pro/disease.html#b7

http://www.anapsid.org/worell.html

http://www.bioone.org/bioone/?request=get-document&issn=0022-3395&volume=091&issue=01&page=0179

http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/bss/ohs/dogsbred.htm

http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/bss/ohs/dogsnotbred.htm

http://www.reginahs.ca/reginahs?pageid=126

http://www.hehd.clemson.edu/MSP/general_zoo.htm

None of these are complete, and there are a number more sites. The VIN site has something which looks promising but if you are not a member the "cancel" button on the sign in is NOT working and you will get your browser hung-up. There is also a site from a California vet which speaks of "many" bites without defining number, time frame, or area. He also speaks of 13 ferrets with rabies "most from pet stores" without defining area covered (my impression is that he means the entire U.S. since ferrets can't be sold in California, and does not say over how many years -- but having seen rates in the past unless there was some major incident which went largely unremarked this would have to encompass a great many years added together.)