From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2008-07-02 17:09:37 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] IMRAB 3 rabies vaccine is NOT rated as 3 years for ferrets, Fervac (CD)
To: 3hoots@COMCAST.NET, ferret-list@cunyvm.cuny.edu, fhl <ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com>
Another answer given in FML that needs to be in both archives so am
carrying to the FHL...
IMRAB 3 is rated for 3 years in some animals that it has been TESTED
in for three years of effectiveness (which is why "3" is in the name
and that often causes confusion). Ferrets have NOT been tested on
that score so it is considered to be effective for ONE YEAR, POSSIBLY
more but how much more remains unknown. Vaccines do NOT always behave
the same in different species. Example: When rabies vaccines were
first being tested starting back in about 1988 or so in ferrets one of
the OTHER vaccines that worked a more than one year in some other
species provided only 6 months of protection for ferrets. After 6
months when they were challenged with rabies virus they were able to
contract rabies. (It took 10 years to get from that point to having
many ferret lives saved by improvements in the compendium after
thorough CDC work on rabies in ferrets had been completed. This year
is the 10th anniversary of that success being enacted in the U.S. for
the ferret community.)
Rabies info:
http://www.nasphv.org/
(National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians)
Here is the latest (Dec 2007 and it will being the Jan 2008 JAVMA
(Journal of the American Medical Veterinary Association)
Compendium of Animal Rabies Control and Prevention:
http://www.nasphv.org/Documents/RabiesCompendium.pdf
People will want to know that rabbits and beavers have been joining
groundhogs as too often unexpected rabies vectors that are
increasing. The first two are rare vector animals but ground hogs
have been known to be among the vector animals for some time now.
Notice in Section III for IMRAB 3:
>Ferrets 1 ml 3 months Annually SC
which is species, dose, age of first vaccination, how often to
repeat, how to give the vaccine. Ferrets are NOT considered to be
vaccinated if more than a year has passed.
The animals for which IMRAB 3 is 3 year vaccine are dogs, cats and
sheep. Cattle , horses, and ferrets need it each year.
More rabies info:
http://www.avma.org/issues/policy/rabies_control.asp
(Guidelines for ordinances)
http://www.cdc.gov/rabies/
(Loads of info at many different reading levels; even good ones as
resources for a kid's school composition)
http://www.microbiologybytes.com/virology/bushmeat/bush4.html
http://www.vaccineinformation.org/rabies/qandadis.asp
http://www.lawrencefire.com/safety_tips/rabies/rabies.asp
This is not the first time that the "3" in the name of IMRAB 3 has
caused some confusion and it won't be the last...
I am a bit surprised that any non-expired Fervac-D was found to
vaccinate your ferret. United stopped making it. Usually people use
Purevax which does have a lower rate of reactions in testing that was
done both in lab and clinics and which is fully tested for use in
ferrets, or Galaxy-D (not fully tested in ferrets, though there was
one short (21 days if memory serves) test of a few male kits, and the
vaccine which was its "parent", Frome- D (spelling ? since it has been
a long time) was tested in ferrets though Galaxy is NOT the same
vaccine).
This is another case of some useful info for all so carrying it to two
lists.
Sukie (not a vet)
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:ferrethealth-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:ferrethealth-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
ferrethealth-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/